When is the rat bait out around Whakatāne and Ōhope?

The regional council plans September and March each year, through to 2028. Go by the signs rather than the calendar, because the risk to dogs lasts after the bait has gone down.

Who deals with a wasp nest on my property?

You do. In the Bay of Plenty, German and common wasps are in the regional council's advisory programme, so managing them is the landowner's or occupier's responsibility. Leave the nest alone and get a pest business to look at it.

What if I spot mud packed into timber?

Don't disturb it, and call MPI. Mud in gaps in timber and mud tunnels up walls are the termite signs MPI describes, and a suspected find is a biosecurity report, not a pest job.

Pest control Whakatāne: rats, wasps and kiwi country

Got a dog near the reserves?

Bay of Plenty Regional Council warns that poison baits or carcasses from its rat operation are deadly to dogs, and the risk lasts until carcasses have rotted, which may take several months. Don't touch bait or carcasses, and watch children at all times. If you think a pet has eaten bait, ring your vet now. If a child has swallowed bait, call the National Poisons Centre on 0800 764 766, or 111 if they're unconscious, struggling to breathe or look very ill.

What's different in Whakatāne

Rat bait, twice a year

The regional council says rats will be controlled in reserves around Whakatāne and Ōhope for three years, with pindone bait going out from 8 September 2025 and planned for September and March through to 2028. Warning signs go up before it starts. While they're up, residues may still be present in baits or animals.

Which reserves

The programme's sites include Ōhope Scenic Reserve, Kōhī Point Scenic Reserve and Mokorua Bush Scenic Reserve. The regional council runs it with Ngāti Awa, DOC, Whakatāne District Council and the Whakatāne Kiwi Trust, among others.

Kiwi close to town

The Whakatāne Kiwi Trust says more than 90 km of trapping lines cover over 2000 hectares of kiwi habitat, and kiwi numbers have grown from 4 adult pairs to over 350. Volunteers do most of it, going after stoats and other mustelids, rats, possums and feral cats.

Wasps in the same bush

The Trust has more recently started wasp control in its project area, because wasps compete with native birds for food. On your own land, the regional council's advisory programme leaves German and common wasps to the landowner or occupier.

Sunny, with more frost than you'd guess

NIWA says Whakatāne records 2237 hours of sunshine a year on average. Its table for the airport also averages 19.0 air frosts a year, against 3.9 at Tauranga Airport, and the airport's morning humidity runs at 83% against Tauranga's 78%.

Ants and mynas

DOC lists the Bay of Plenty among the places Argentine ants are known. Common mynas live throughout the North Island north of 40 degrees south, and they'll nest in cavities, including the eaves of a house.

What does the reserve programme mean at your place?

It stops at the reserve boundary. If rats are in your ceiling, that's still a job for your own house, and the reserve next door is one more reason to talk it through with the technician before any bait goes down.

Tell them if you live near a reserve and if you've got a dog or cat. Bait stations (locked boxes that hold rodent bait) are the usual tool, and what matters is where they go, how often they're checked and what gets written down. Ask what product they'd use, its full name, and for the safety data sheet.

Possums come up too. They're among the pests the programme lists at its sites, and DOC calls them one of the greatest threats to New Zealand's natural environment. Thumping on the roof at night is a good reason to read our possum page.

What would make us think twice about a quote?

Bait laid loose where a dog or a child could get to it.
No name for the product, or no safety data sheet when you ask.
A rat treatment with no look at how they're getting in.
A promise that the rats won't come back.
No written record of what was used, where it went and when they'll return.

If it were our house in Whakatāne

If we walked a dog around Ōhope, we'd read the sign at every track entrance and keep the dog close while the signs are up. At home, we'd mention the dog to the pest business before anything else, then let them work out the rest.

Want someone to look at it?

Tell us what you've seen and your postcode, and a local pest business that handles exactly that calls you to talk it through.

What have you seen?