E-bikes haul dog team around Auckland

Special canine cabs towed by electric bikes transport Auckland’s biosecurity dogs around the city.

The terrier team ride from their home base to Auckland’s wharves where they check for pests on boats bound for Hauraki Gulf Islands.

“With traffic congestion in the city centre, it makes sense to use bikes to move our biosecurity dogs around the city,” mayor Phil Goff says.

The dogs are part of the Auckland Council’s biosecurity team working to prevent predators and pests from reaching the islands, sniffing out rodents, plague skinks, stoats and ferrets.

Their main duty is to patrol ferries, but they also respond to pest incursions, playing a vital role in protecting native species while ensuring they cause minimal disruption to the wharves’ operational activities.

“Pests pose a threat to our native species – if they reach the islands, they’d eat and displace our flora and fauna,” biosecurity team manager Jonathan Miles says.

“These dogs are preventing that.”