Moth plant hunters will have to lift their games if they want to knock Nga Taonga Aroha Early Childhood Centre out of the gold medal spot.
The youngsters and their carers have again triumphed in the Pest Free South Auckland moth plant seed hunt, collecting a whopping 22,700 seed pods.
Four Auckland local boards, Ōtara-Papatoetoe, Manurewa, Papakura and Māngere-Ōtāhuhu help Pest Free with funding for the annual competition.
Ōtara-Papatoetoe chair Apulu Reece Autagavaia is staggered by the achievement of his area’s young eco-warriors.
“It’s really heartening that these young people are so involved with caring for their environment.
“It’s one thing to find the plants and even collect them, but the rules of the competition mean they have to be counted and photographed. The amount of work is amazing, so our congratulations and thanks go to the centre.”
Aorere Kindergarten came in second with another fine effort from the little ones.
Nga Taonga Aroha won its local board section but also took the overall prize. So good were the children that they even featured on TV3’s The Project here, on their way to collecting $1000 in prizemoney.
Māngere-Ōtāhuhu chair Tauanu’u Nanai Nic Bakulich admits his area has a way to go to catch Nga Taonga but says its great to see individuals and families joining schools and early childhood centres in the contest.
“Every pod collected takes thousands of seeds out of circulation and prevents a noxious plant spreading even further than it already has.
“I want to shout out to the Under 19 Ōtāhuhu Leopardess rugby league team which got 3384 pods – that’s an awful lot of points - and still came second, behind Team Jae’s 4432.”
Manurewa chair Glenn Murphy says everyone who takes part strikes a blow for the environment. “Engaging these students in the moth plant pod competition creates awareness and strikes a massive blow for saving our native environment.”
Papakura entered the competition for the first time this year, board chair Brent Catchpole says. “We could see how much fun everyone was having while a great result was being created. We might be new to the competition but don’t expect us to take long to get competitive. We’re hoping to grow our numbers and we have our eyes on that crown.”
Manurewa Local Board's Anne Candy and Māngere-Ōtāhuhu chair Tauanu’u Nanai Nic Bakulich grab a selfie with the Pest Free mascot.
Results
Ōtara Papatoetoe
Early childhood centres: Nga Taonga Aroha (22,770) 1 and overall champions, Aorere Kindergarten (8613) 2, Mayfield Kindergarten (1123) 3; Primary: East Tamaki Pohutukawa (4477) 1, East Tamaki Totara (3652) 2, Papatoetoe North (3445) 3, Bairds Mainfreight Combined (6039) highly commended; Intermediate: Papatoetoe (405) 1; Secondary: Papatoetoe High (550) 1, Aorere 3 (269) 2, Aorere 1 (254) 3.
Manurewa
Early childhood centres and primary: Everglade School (4107) 1, Weymouth Primaray (633) 2; Intermediate: Manurewa (1176) 1.
Māngere-Ōtāhuhu
Early childhood centres, primary and intermediate: Nga iwi (1397) 1, Waterlea Primary (1016) 2; Secondary: Pacific Advance (2,142) 1; Open and community: Team Jae (4432) 1, Otahuhu Leopardess U19 girl’s rugby league (3384) 2.
Papakura
Early childhood centres, primary and intermediate: Papakura Intermediate (700) 1; Open and community: Rollerson Community Gardens (2443) 1, and thicket vine cut.
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