It is the fourth weasel found in the Wellington sanctuary in the past six years (file images). Photo: composite
A dead weasel has been found in the Zealandia Wildlife Sanctuary, leaving staff wondering how it made its way in.
It is the fourth weasel found in the Wellington sanctuary in the past six years.
Chief executive Danielle Shanahan told Morning Report there were a few theories.
"With a nine-kilometre-long fence line, it makes figuring this one out quite tricky."
Dead weasel found in Zealandia Wildlife Sanctuary
The discovery has concerned staff due to weasels' ability as a predator.
"Weasels are great predators. They are very, very adept at hunting down animals and killing them. In the sanctuary we've got a number of rare species, and to keep them completely safe we need to keep our predators at zero."
Shanahan said while it was a shock to find the weasel, the fact it was found dead meant the risk to animals inside Zealandia was quite low.
Zealandia had a number of different systems in place to find predators, including sniffer dogs and camera traps.
"We've got a lot of protection systems in that mean that we're generally quite sure the place is predator-free."