Flying trampoline invades Dunedin ecosanctuary – no escapes recorded

A trampoline found a temporary new home, after it flew hundreds of metres before an unauthorised landing inside Dunedin’s Orokonui Ecosanctuary.

After severe weather events, including high winds, it was protocol for staff to do a routine inspection of the two-metre high predator-proof surrounding the ecosanctuary.

Those inspections could find a fence damaged by a felled tree, which would not only pose a risk in letting kiwi, tuatara and takahē out, but let predators in, science communicator Taylor Davies-Colley said.

But during this inspection in March, which has only been made public now, staff found something very different.

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Part of the fence was dented and a quick search inside the sanctuary revealed a family-sized trampoline a long way from home.

Any suggestion it was a cunning ploy from one of the resident kākā, was quickly dispelled, Davies-Colley said.

‘’Kākā are quite interested in novel objects, and while we didn’t see any having a bounce, I’m sure if they had found it they would have looked at it.’’

Instead, the trampoline was identified as coming from a residential property several hundred metres away.

“It didn’t try and sneak under the fence or anything like that . . . it definitely flew there.’’

‘’We know exactly where it came from, and we’ve sent it back.’’

But the trampoline’s days of adventure maybe be over as the high-flying incident made it “not jumpable,’’ Davies-Colley said.

On a more serious matter the unwanted excursion could have led to a stoat entering the sanctuary, which also hosts ruru, kārearea, Otago skink and jewelled gecko, and that could be devastating.

In 2015, a stoat den was uncovered inside the ecosanctuary, on the same day as the then Prince Charles and Camilla visited the site.

A camera inside the deep burrow later found the remains of a dead kaka, with the predator thought to have entered the sanctuary after a significant snowfall.

Davies-Colley said the latest incident was a reminder for trampoline owners, ‘’regardless whether it is hitting a sanctuary’s fence, or someone’s house . . . to secure them’’.