Eight AI cameras in Auckland are learning to spot the predators volunteers can't watch for

Across Auckland's Devonport-Takapuna area, eight pest-control cameras are being installed — two already working in Hauraki, with sites around Milford, Castor Bay and Takapuna under study. Each camera takes three photos when triggered, and AI sorts the images so volunteers no longer have to scroll thousands of frames to find a stoat at midnight. The cameras record mustelids — the introduced predators that devastate native birds — as well as tūī and actual predation events. Catherine Fairbairn, who leads the Restoring Takarunga Hauraki and Pupuke Birdsong projects, says the data will also become teaching material for local schools. New Zealand's birds evolved without mammalian predators; giving their human defenders better eyes is a fairer fight.

SDG 15 · Life on land — Mechanism: tech innovation