Newspaper Article 1997 – Small HB firm beats world

Small HB firm beats world

A small Havelock North electronics firm has beat off world-wide competition to win a contract with the Norwegian Government conservation ministry.

Sirtrack Ltd has won preferred supplier status with the Norwegian Institute for Nature learning more Research (NINA), the  Norwegian equivalent of New Zealand’s Department of Conservation.

The Havelock North company, with only seven employees, will supply the Norwegians with tracking devices for reindeer, caribou, moose and Wolverines.

Sirtrack’s manager, Dave Ward, said reindeer were very important to Laplanders in northern Norway, Sweden and Finland. “Santa may not need our devices to find Rudolf but Norwegian scientists would like to track reindeer. They are very interested in learning more about predation and the survival of young reindeer,” Mr Ward said.

Sirtrack won the contract ahead of European and United States companies which could not supply as quickly or with the same quality.

Sirtrack has more than 30 years’ experience designing and building radio-tracking and telemetry equipment for wildlife research. Sirtrack is a subsidiary of Landcare Research.

Its products are used around the world, including tracking several species of penguins in Antarctica and following hunting dogs in Africa.

In New Zealand, Sirtrack supplies scientists from the universities, the conservation department and Landcare Research.

They use the company’s products to track native birds such as the kiwi, kakapo, kereu and even the giant weta.

Photo caption – Mr Ward…with a tracking device.