We provide a co-ordinating forum for all those involved in vertebrate pest management in New Zealand.

Vertebrate pests carry disease and cause huge damage to native ecosystems. Their control is needed to:

• protect the farming industry from the effects of bovine Tb, and
• achieve conservation benefits and positive environmental outcomes.

Our work is mainly at a national level. It includes:

• Quality assurance to set minimum work quality standards and codes of practice for pest control. We do this by developing and periodically updating best practice guidelines and by administering a pest population monitoring accreditation scheme.
• Public relations to help promote public awareness of pest control work.
• Publications and audio visual media about vertebrate pest control – facts, research and 'how to' guides.
• Consultation about policy and operational issues in the vertebrate pest control industry.
• Annual NETS Conferences to:
  • inform the industry about new technology, regulations and standards
  • inform the industry about the latest research into vertebrate pest control
  • enable people in the industry to interact.
• Facilitation of training and professional development opportunities within the industry.

We undertake a range of special projects every year that include producing new or updated publications, supporting research into pest management, providing input to industry training and assisting in developing best practice standards in pest animal management.

History

NPCA was formerly the National Possum Control Agencies, established in the early 1990s to help co-ordinate possum control in New Zealand. In 2011, we changed our name to reflect the wider need to control all vertebrate pest populations in New Zealand. We became an incorporated society at the same time.