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Tallulah Wilkes and her family have only been in NZ for five weeks, and love their new home’s sea life. From left, Rose, Clara and Jason Dique know that “even the little stuff counts” when removing rubbish. Peter Jackson’s ‘prize possum’ is believed to have drowned, before washing up on the shore of Te Haruhi Bay. From left, Abby, Elijah (back) and Josh Sigmon enjoy their post clean-up goodies.
A dead possum was the biggest find at Shakespear Open Sanctuary’s family beach clean-up on Sunday March 3.
While the clean-up was intended to protect wildlife from plastic, Shakespear Open Sanctuary Society Inc. (SOSSI) chair Peter Jackson found what could have been potentially a more serious threat at Te Haruhi Bay, one of the sanctuary’s three beaches.
The 35 local volunteers, including several families with young children, also collected a good haul of litter, which mainly consisted of fishing wire, rope, and small pieces of plastic and glass.
Creatures lurking within the rockpools were a popular find, too, with the clean-up crew’s youngest members being all too keen to pick them up.
SOSSI’s clean-up event kicked off Seaweek, which saw conservation events running nationwide until March 10.
