Environment Southland is investigating a possible wallaby sighting near Te Anau after a contractor identified possible wallaby scat and a detector dog found the potential presence of an animal in the area.
Environment Southland said a wallaby has, however, not been confirmed by professional sighting.
Biosecurity and biodiversity operations manager at Environment Southland Ali Meade said wallabies are exclusion pests in Southland, meaning there are no established populations.
Meade urged locals not to go out looking for the potential pest, but let trained professionals do their work.
“Public interference risks the success of the operation and increases health and safety issues during the work. It also puts our efforts to maintain wallabies as an exclusion pest at risk,” Meade said.
Wallabies can cause significant economic and environmental impacts as they eat grass, native shrubs and trees. They can damage pasture and fences, add to erosion issues and damage young tree seedlings.
There have been two reports of wallabies near Te Anau this year, with three reports on the Te Anau-Mossburn Highway since 2022.
No wallabies were found after any of the reports, except for a live wallaby found in Invercargill in 2016.
