Wallabies are public enemy number one in Otago - and they're invading the region.
Funding to kill off the breakaway population has increased, allowing hunters to take to the skies to get on top of it.
Armed with a shotgun, thermal camera and helicopter, Trap and Trigger contractors have one thing in their sights - wallabies. They're flying around the wilderness of Otago trying to eradicate the introduced pest.
"It's all about getting ahead of that problem and bringing it back and containing it, it might cost a lot per wallaby but in the long term the cost benefits are far outweighed," said Trap and Trigger director Jordan Munn.
That's because wallabies shouldn't be here, outside the containment zone covering from the Waitaki River north past Geraldine and inland as far as Tekapo.
"If we don't contain them in Otago then they're going to be like they are in southern Canterbury which is really really high numbers competing with farms, competing with forests," Munn warned.
That costs an estimated $84 million in damage across the country every year.
"They're very efficient at breeding and a small population can grow into a big problem very quickly," ORC project lead Gavin Udy said.
To get on top of it hunters are hitting the skies with thermal imaging equipment to pick up heat signals. It gives hunters the best tool to cover hundreds of kilometres of isolated backcountry. If they find a wallaby, they're able to cull it straight away. Animals killed in Otago are analysed to understand which area they've come from.
"The ears are removed and used to DNA so we can look at the relatedness of that animal and other animals," Udy said.
On the ground dogs are used to sniff out traces of the pest, attacking the invading population from every direction.
"Come in with the aerial surveillance, locate the animal and you can kill it on the spot, in Otago we've had a 100 percent detection rate on encounter v kill," Munn said.
A step close to eradication - one wallaby at a time.
