Predators on the remote Cooper Island in Fiordland National Park should be living in fear as a push to rid the place of them moves up a gear.
The Department of Conservation and tourism operator Real Journeys have teamed up to give endangered native birds on the sound's third largest island a better chance of survival.
The project has so far seen 200 traps set on the remote and rugged little island.
Over the next two years a total of 1,000 self-resetting traps will be placed across the whole island.
"These islands can become like lifeboats for some of these really rare and threatened species that we can then hopefully get back on the mainland," DOC's Lindsay Wilson told 1 NEWS.
Real Journeys, who've been bringing tourists into the sound for 60 years, is contributing half a million dollars to the project over four years.
"It used to be the place where kakapo last bred and we'd love to see kakapo back here, but that takes a bit of effort," Richard Lauder from Real Journeys said.
Effort that will surely be appreciated by the rare birdlife on the island.
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