To save rare birds, New Zealand is relying on backyard trappers : NPR

Like many student volunteers, the kids in the group Town Belt Kaitiaki look after their neighborhood parks — planting trees, weeding, clearing paths. But they also do something less common: exterminating animals.

"So we have a possum trap — the white ones that are up on the trees," says Finn Hibbert, age 18, pointing to a white and metal box designed to kill brushtail possums, an Australian marsupial. Other traps scattered throughout the park also kill rats.

"The whole reason we trap these sorts of creatures is they can be damaging to native birds and other native animals that you want here," says Mila McKenzie, age 13, who also volunteers with Town Belt Kaitiaki.

The group's trapping project is part of a nationwide effort, one of the most ambitious conservation projects in the world.