It’s hatching season for the endangered tarapirohe, or black-fronted tern, along the banks of the Clarence River in the Kaikōura Ranges.
But, over the course of three nights, one feral cat destroyed a colony of 94 nests, with only eight surviving.
Speaking to Breakfast this morning, ecologist Baylee Connor McClean, who had been monitoring the tarapirohe population, said the number of birds had plunged from 180 to 20.
Although some of those were adults that had left their nests, McClean said it meant about 60 chicks had been killed.
“We had 20 cameras set up over different nests and, on the same three nights, it was the same cat that was doing the rounds.”
McClean said feral cats were a "huge problem" in the Molesworth Reserve.
"Because the Molesworth is so remote, there’s just predators left there to breed there and the population keeps increasing. You’ve got every kind of predator there basically."
McClean said the tarapirohe population was “going downwards” everywhere outside of conservation areas over time.
However, she added the Department of Conservation and Environment Canterbury had funded predator control and "island enhancements", which made channels around river islands more significant.
However, river flows were low at the moment and channels were becoming drier so predators, such as the feral cat, were able to cross.
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