A rat sighting in New Zealand can trigger an urgent response. Meet the ‘ghostbusters’ hunting them down

Detector teams in Wellington react to ‘intel’ from the public about pest sightings as part of the country’s push to eradicate all introduced predatorsIn many places around the world, discovering a rat in your garden would barely register a second thought. But in parts of New Zealand, a single rat, possum or stoat can trigger an urgent response, as the country embarks on a world-leading project to eradicate introduced predators by 2050 to save its unique wildlife from further decimation.