It’s one of the country’s most infamous streets. Home to scarfies, house parties and couch fires.
Now Dunedin’s Castle Street is in for a makeover.
As part of New Zealand’s aim to make the country predator free by 2050, students are being given free pest traps, in hopes of catching rats, possums and mice.
“I think Castle street would definitely be high on the list of areas in New Zealand with predator numbers,” Predator Free Dunedin spokesperson Kimberley Collins said.
The project started in Orientation Week, with students asked what were the biggest pests roaming North Dunedin.
Some of the answers were frightening, with some flats claiming to have possums living in their walls and rats in their roofs.
Flats were then given cards filled with a bait, to find out exactly what sort of pest was roaming their area.
One in 10 student flats were then given traps to target the problem.
“There’s so many birds around, this is a great way to bring them back in to our neighbourhood,” second year Otago University student Oscar Thomas said.
As well as the birds, it might also help make the area a bit more inviting for when mum and dad come to visit.
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