Meet Shelley: From Bird Lover to Predator Control Champion
If you'd told Shelley a few years ago that she'd become "secretly competitive" about catching rats and stoats, she probably wouldn't have believed you.
Her first encounter with a rat trap certainly wasn't encouraging: "I was retching over a rat covered in maggots!"
These days, though, she can laugh about it.
Shelley first joined the Karioi Project because she wanted to help birds. Like many volunteers, she imagined she'd spend most of her time focusing on the wildlife itself.
"I originally volunteered for the birds," she says. "I didn't realise how much of the work was actually about the predators. Then I realised that's what it's really about – protecting the birds from them. And then… the game begins!"
That realisation changed everything.
What started as volunteering for seabirds soon became an appreciation for the vital role predator control plays in conservation. Every rat or stoat removed from the landscape means one less threat to nesting birds and their chicks.
Now, three breeding seasons later, Shelley and her "burrow buddy" Anna are still out there together, checking burrows, celebrating every chick that successfully fledges, and keeping one step ahead of the predators.
Their dedication has helped achieve something remarkable.
Together with the Karioi Project team, Shelley and Anna have helped more than 38 ōi (grey-faced petrel) chicks and 12 kororā (little penguin) chicks fledge over the past three years, contributing to the return of thriving seabird colonies along the Whāingaroa coastline.
It's a reminder that conservation isn't only about the animals we love to see. Often, it's about the less glamorous work that happens behind the scenes – checking traps, monitoring burrows, and protecting vulnerable wildlife from introduced predators.
And somewhere along the way, Shelley discovered she enjoys that challenge more than she ever expected.
Who would've thought that a self-confessed bird lover would end up getting so much satisfaction from an empty trap… or a full one!