Photo: Supplied/Whakatipu Wildlife Trust
A restored wetland on the edge of Queenstown is drawing rare native wildlife back to an area once dry and barren, but conservationists say roaming pet cats could undo years of community-led work.
Just after a rare and elusive bird species was spotted at the Shotover Wetland, the Whakatipu Wildlife Trust said trail cameras detected 44 cats over three weeks.
Executive officer Anna Harding-Shaw was the first to spot the pair of marsh crakes, which are a native species so notoriously "secretive and cryptic" that their total population numbers are unknown.
"I don't think I've ever been that excited to see a bird before," she said.
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