About The Team
Leona Kirk
Dog handler, field worker and director
Leona grew up on Tui Nature Reserve and has been involved with the project from an early age.
She started training the rodent dogs in 2009 and has been operating in that field for the past 12 years. She's worked on many of the islands and projects in the Marlborough Sounds, Abel Tasman, Wellington, Fiordland, Auckland, Chathams and sub-antarctic regions. She spent 14 months on Macquarie Island in 2013/14, where she and the dogs made up half of the rodent detection team deployed on the sub-Antarctic island.
Has experience operating 7m vessels and worked in harsh terrain and conditions.
Is fully set up for ferret control and monitoring for TBFree.
Most recently been doing wild pine tree control in the McKenzie country.
Tickets/Licenses
- CSL (controlled substances license) for the use of potassium cyanide, sodium cyanide, sodium fluoroacetate (1080), pindone, para-aminopropiophenone (PAPP)
- All Terrain Vehicle
- Light Utility Vehicle
- 4x4 Vehicle
- Full drivers
- First Aid
- Firearms
- Veterinary Certificate in Animal Care
- Chainsaw
- Pest Control Operator
Leona Kirk with rodent detection dogs Bail & Odin
Stefaan Kirk
Track cutter, predator control and monitoring field worker
Originally from Southland/Otago regions, Stefaan has experience in track cutting the Fiordland and Marlborough areas, as well as extensive predator control in advanced terrain, including Fiordland National Park, Central Otago, West Coast, Stewart Island, Southland and Marlborough.
Experienced in ferret trapping for TBFree and fully set up with the right gear and required licences.
Track cutting skills have most recently been put to the test with the huge amount of wild pine tree control WPS has been involved with this year in the McKenzie country. From small, hand-tooled seedlings grid searched, to large mature trees on steep terrain, working amongst team mates.
Also experienced in:
- Helicopter sling-loading
- Mountainous terrain
- Predator poisoning
- Trapping
- Hunting/spotlighting/thermal imaging
- Solo bush work
- Operating IRB watercraft
Tickets/Licenses
- Valid First Aid
- Full drivers license
- Light Utility Vehicle
- 4x4 Vehicle
- Quad bike
- 2 wheeler
- Chainsaw
- Pest Control Operator
Stefaan Kirk