Traps

Source Author Year Title Quote
www.keaconservation.co.nz 16/01/2014 T. Orr-Walker 2014 Trialling of a surface bird repellent to deter kea from interfacing with human objects “Kill traps and some bait delivery systems, used to control mammalian pests, may be directly responsible for kea deaths (through their accessibility), However the likelihood of kea proof systems being developed is some way off (ie manufacturers spoken to all state that kea proofing their systems is in the “too hard basket”).”
www.keaconservation.co.nz 16/01/2014 T. Orr-Walker 2014 Trialling of a surface bird repellent to deter kea from interfacing with human objects “Identifying a surface repellent that would instantly put kea off from investigating the systems would be an appropriate way forward. This would solve one very important issue impacting on kea – that of inadvertent by-kill during pest control operations.”
www.keaconservation.co.nz 16/01/2014 T. Orr-Walker 2014 Trialling of a surface bird repellent to deter kea from interfacing with human objects “In conjunction with the KCT’s bird repellent trials (conducted at a number of facilities around the country, including Auckland, and now being taken on by DOC to be used in all 1080 pre-feed and poison drops in kea habitat), this will ensure kea deaths are kept to a minimum during pest control operations.”
Green Party NZ website NZ Green Party 2014 More and better pest control: 1080 as last resort “We’re about to propose a Green New Deal package to train and employ more people to deliver effective pest control alternatives on the ground. For example trapping possums for fur can create jobs and improve forest health.”
Academia 2014 Lorne Roberts 2014 Population estimates of wild Kea (Nestor notabilis) “7 paired field researchers/observers per site will survey a minimum of 4 ridges each…over an 8 day period in mid-January. This will be timed to co-incide with fledglings leaving the nest…Observers will…capture and band all kea where possible. Associated with satellite and radio tracking of individual birds, banding will be used…collection and storage of blood samples at the time of capture will provide samples for other organisations…Each paired group of researchers must therefore have combined experience in trapping, banding, blood collection and storage, and attachment of tracking equipment.”
Otago Daily Times Online News 7/12/13 Rebecca Fox 2013 Beech 1080 blitz possible: Doc “The Mohua Charitable Trust had been doing trapping work in the Makarora Valley and it would be the first time Doc had considered a 1080 programme there”
Kea Conservation Trust updates 16/12/13 Kea Conservation Trust 2013 Kea Conservation Trust (KCT) Update “…released at Canaan Downs (named Asterix) has died as the result of getting caught in a stoat trap. Aterix’s body was found by trapping volunteers (who were obviously most upset) on the 13th November. It appears that he managed to pry the screwed down lid off the trap to gain access. A warning has been sent out to other trapping groups in kea habitat to check their lids are secured firmly.”
Kea Conservation Trust updates 16/12/13 Kea Conservation Trust 2013 Kea Conservation Trust (KCT) Update “At Nelson Lakes, “Ceejay” is still sitting on 1 chick (pictured to the right)…and Rachel is sitting on 2 chicks. If both nests are successful, it will be the first time that more than one nest per year has avoided predation. Both nests are surrounded by a network of stoat and possum traps…which may be contributing to this success”
Kea Conservation Trust updates 16/12/13 Kea Conservation Trust 2013 Kea Conservation Trust (KCT) Update “Bucket died in a stoat trap – she was a victim of her own intelligence and curiosity and we were devastated when we lost her. She was the matriarch of the colony – I will never forget the year she fledged two of the healthiest young I have ever seen…”
DoC G. Harper et. Al. 2013 Rotoiti Nature Recovery Project Annual Report 2011-12 “On-going mustelid trapping in the Mainland Island kept the mustelid tracking indices below 4% during 2011-12, whist tracking at the non-treatment site at Lake Rotoroa exceeded 22%.”
DoC G. Harper et. Al. 2013 Rotoiti Nature Recovery Project Annual Report 2011-12 “The involvement of the local and wider community in the RNRP is essential for the success of the project and there is a strong theme of advocacy and participation. Deer control is currently not part of the RNRP pest control programme, but has been supplemented…principally through local NZ Deerstalkers’ Association”
DoC G. Harper et. Al. 2013 Rotoiti Nature Recovery Project Annual Report 2011-12 “During 2011-12, mustelid tracking rates were again below 5%…highlighting the ability of the form of trapping programme being used to maintain pressure on an invasive predator population”
DoC G. Harper et. Al. 2013 Rotoiti Nature Recovery Project Annual Report 2011-12 “After a DOC review of the use of brodifacoum, a switch to snap-trapping at a density of 1 trap/ha proved ineffective at controlling rat populations…in the spring of 2010, over 600 ha of the Core Area using diphacinone in bait stations. Rat tracking in the Core Area declined from 50% to <4% within 6 weeks after the start of the poison operation.”
DoC G. Harper et. Al. 2013 Rotoiti Nature Recovery Project Annual Report 2011-12 “Feral cats (Felis cattus) were targeted in and around the RNRP during 2011-12 using cage traps with a huge amount of effort put in by trappers. Autumn was found to be the most effective time to cage trap; however a less labour-intensive weka-proof cat trap is required. Trapping of possums…has continued at a high level, targeting areas where fresh sign is found. Other pest species under management include ungulates, pigs (Sus scrofa) and hedgehogs (Erinaceous europaeus) using a mixture of methods.”
Nestor Notabilis 6 Kea Conservation Trust. Ed. T. Orr-Walker 2012 2011- The highs and lows in brief February-March 2012 “Two young boys from Nelson saved Jake the one-legged kea. Jake was caught in a leg hold trap and had his leg amputated as a result.”
Otago Daily Times Online News 02/07/2012 Mark Price 2012 Kea using sticks as tools “…kea in Fiordland had been observed grasping sticks in their powerful beaks and triggering stoat traps with them. That way, the “cheeky” mountain parrots were able to get their beaks on the egg used as bait in the trap…The unfortunate irony is that the traps are set to protect kea nests from predation by stoats.”
Nestor Notabilis 6 T. Orr-Walker 2012 Letter from the Chair “2011 has been a challenging year…a number of extreme lows – kea shot in Arthur’s Pass, minimal nesting success at two key study sites and pest control related deaths on the West Coast…keas George and Jake – casualties of lead and leg-hold traps respectively”
Nestor Notabilis 6 Dr Lorne Roberts 2012 Education and advocacy in Conservation- What’s the measure? “For those of us lucky enough to visit the South Island frequently or live there, there is very clear evidence to suggest that visitors still feed kea, sometimes directly in front of the very signs that tell them not to. It is therefore clear that, although the signs may have a positive impact on reducing the number of humans feeding kea, quite what that impact is, nobody knows”
Otago Daily Times Online News 17/06/10 Mike Bennett 2010 1080 use is a money-go-round “…rabbits disturbed even by the bark of a dog will head for the safety of their burrows. If the money spent on aerial 1080 was spent hitting rabbits where they actually live-….there would in a few short years be no rabbit problem…no animal can possibly survive constant pressure on where it actually loves in a contained environment. It surely has to be better than another century of the hit-and-miss methods of the past, and the ill-informed use of 1080.”
The adventures of PK Maebo & Jimjam 9/2/09 Jaimie Stewart 2009 A day out in Okarito “She gave us a map and some instructions to follow some old stoat trap lines and find these little ink pad things which record nasty voracious predators have been passing by….The map is fascinating, and graphically shows what a unique area the Okarito forest is…The dense rimu forest has provided sanctuary to the final population of Rowi and people have helped buffer the defences in the last ten years or so…Interestingly the article states that the ‘stoat trapping operation in this sanctuary is thought to be the largest in the world’. The extensive network of tracks and dots (representing traps) enabling this operation can be seen on the map we used….A decision has been made now to mothball the trapping programme, relying instead on strategic use of 1080, which is why Franny and Brent are here…But what is left is an amazing network of tracks”
Environmental Risk Management Authority Submissions p911 2007 ERMA reassessment of 1080 “We have proven that by encouraging coordinated and targeted trapping that possums (and rats as a by-product)..can be controlled to low numbers (using humane and kill traps) and harvesting a valuable resource”
NZ J Ecology 29: 69-82 D. Kelly et al. 2005 Can stoat (Mustela erminea) trapping increase bellbird (Anthornis melanura) populations and benefit misteltoe (Peraxilla tetrapetala) pollination? “Several studies on other forest birds have found that trapping can reduce the high predation pressure during stoat irruptions. O’Donnell et al. (1996) found that a very intensive trapping programme significantly reduced stoat predation on breeding mohua during a stoat irruption.”
Science for Conservation 237 J. Parkes & E. Murphy 2004 Risk assessment of stoat control methods for New Zealand “Kill-trapping is currently the main stoat control method used by DOC covering c. 100 000 ha in 51 mainland operations…”
Science for Conservation 237 J. Parkes & E. Murphy 2004 Risk assessment of stoat control methods for New Zealand “The advantages of traps are that they are a proven technique that can reduce stoat numbers sufficiently to protect native biota, e.g. In mainland…”
Science for Conservation 237 J. Parkes & E. Murphy 2004 Risk assessment of stoat control methods for New Zealand “The main risk in the use of traps is that the most commonly used ones (Fenn Mk 4 and Mk6) do not meet the national Animal Welfare Advisory Committee (NAWC) draft guidelines for humaneness…”
Rarebits 52 DoC 2004 Newsletter “The stoat control line in the Landsborough Valley has recently been extended down to Harper Flat, just above the confluence with the Clarke River. There are now 189 tunnels with two traps per tunnel in the valley, with 41 of these on the recent extension. On the last few trips it has been extremely encouraging to notice that mohua are more abundant; the results of November’s mohua monitoring confirm this abundance. We heard an average of 1.03 mohua per five minute bird count, a total of 183 mohua. This is a very positive result compared to the previous averages of 0.60 in 2002 and 0.52 in 1998.   Following a beech mast in 2000 and corresponding stoat plague in 2001, stoat numbers have steadily declined in 2002/03. Seven stoats were caught over a 10 week period this year compared with 23 from the same period in 2001.”
NZ J. Ecology P. Dilks et al. 2003 Large scale stoat control to protect mohua (Mohoua ochrocephala) and kaka (Nestor meridionalis) in the Eglinton Valley, Fiordland, New Zealand. “Research into control techniques for stoats has been undertaken in the Eglinton Valley since 1990…Trapping proved to be effective at significantly reducing stoat predation on breeding mohua during a stoat population irruption…We set out to assess the effectiveness of controlling stoats over the whole Eglinton Valley using a low density of Fenn traps that were set continuously”
Rarebits 46 DoC 2002 Newsletter “Okarito Kiwi Zone: The results from the rodent lines in March show that there has been a huge increase in rat abundance between March (3.5% tracking index) and August (80% tracking index). This correlates with our casual observations from the stoat trapping program which have indicated a much higher rat trapping rate than previously. We have also been noticing the capture of lactating female rat’s right throughout the winter months. It seems that rat numbers are higher within the sanctuary (80% tracking rate) as opposed to in the two areas in which do not have stoat trapping (38.6%)”
Tuberculosis 81: 191-202 J.D. Coleman, M.M. Cooke 2001 Mycobacterium bovis infections in wildlife in New Zealand “Tuberculosis has been recorded in a small number of stoats …Disease prevalences are unknown, and estimates of them are difficult, due to the rapid turnover of stoat populations and difficulty in trapping them.”
Conservation Advisory Notes 318, 9pp. B. Studholme 2000 Ship rat (Rattus rattus) irruptions in South Island beech (Nothofagus) forest “In 1985 a remnant population of mohua (yellowhead) was discovered in silver beech (Nothofagus menziesii) forest on Mt Stokes in the Marlborough Sounds. Over recent years, intensive pest control has been carried out on the mountain for possums, stoats, weasels, goats and pigs…However, over the winter of 1999, more than half of these birds went missing. Only 32 birds could be found in October 1999…Stoats and ship rats were caught on Mt Stokes traplines in October 1999…Few ship rats had been caught in these traplines previously…this high-altitude beech forest was thought to be unsuitable habitat for ship rats…Low numbers of stoats were caught on the mountain in 1997/98…and a beech mast seedfall occurred in autumn 1999. Reduced predation pressure and an increased food supply, coupled with a mild winter, may have contributed to increased ship rat numbers on the mountain.”
Conservation Advisory Notes 318, 9pp. B. Studholme 2000 Ship rat (Rattus rattus) irruptions in South Island beech (Nothofagus) forest “In January 2000, P. Gaze (pers. Comm.) found the abundance of mice of Mt Stokes to be thirty times greater in those areas subject to stoat control, indicating stoats were a major limiting factor on mouse numbers.”
Conservation Advisory Notes 318, 9pp. B. Studholme 2000 Ship rat (Rattus rattus) irruptions in South Island beech (Nothofagus) forest “Stoat trapping on Mt Stokes and at Craigieburn Forest Park has not lowered the threshold to ship rats on its own, because otherwise ship rats would have established in the area by now. However, in conjunction with other factors, i.e. an increase in food supply, stoat trapping might have lowered the threshold significantly to allow rats to survive in areas of marginal habitat.”
Rarebits 36 DoC 2000 Newsletter “The Mt Stokes mohua population has dropped dramatically. At the end of the 1998-99 summer there were around 90 birds, but now numbers are estimated at 27, of which only 6 are female. Predation by ship rats is thought to be the cause of the sudden decline…Intensive trapping of stoats had been sufficient to protect the birds because rats had almost never been recorded at this altitude on Mt Stokes.”
Rarebits 36 DoC 2000 Newsletter “Laurence services somewhere in the vicinity of 1000 bait stations and has recently completed a very thorough and comprehensive track marking and mapping exercise, which will enable volunteers and future workers to find every bait station! This summer Laurence got rats to low levels despite apparent rodent plagues in many parts of the country”
Rarebits 38 DoC 2000 Newsletter “continuous, low intensity stoat control has been undertaken using Mk VI Fenn traps. Trap sites are spaced at 200 m intervals along a 45 km line that runs the length of the valley, with a short line across the valley at the top and bottom. Each of the 198 sites consists of a wooden tunnel with two Fenn traps. Traps are baited with a hen’s egg or/and a piece of meat. The trapline takes 1+ days to service and is usually checked monthly…Further work is needed here on rat population dynamics in beech forests to determine whether lack of predators means a larger irruption in mast years or if climate is the major influence.”
Rarebits 38 DoC 2000 Newsletter “Blue Mountains mohua: 12 stoats were caught in 35,280 corrected trapnights (CTN). Over the five summers that the lines have been operated the number of stoats caught tallied 13, 6, 12, 5, and 12 respectively. Because of the extremely heavy beech seedfall of the preceding autumn and the predicted consequent mouse and stoat plague, a further three trap lines were installed in and about an area with a particularly high Mohua population. These lines were operated over November and December only and accounted for 11 stoats in 13,556.5 CTN. Given that the mouse index trapping undertaken in November 1999 resulted in a 33-fold increase in numbers caught compared with any of the preceding 5 years, the lack of a significant increase in the number of stoats caught was somewhat unexpected.”
Rarebits 38 DoC 2000 Newsletter “Performance-based contractors, who trap possums to less than a 5% residual trap catch, cover 50,000 ha of the northern Te Urewera National Park. Interspersed amongst this are ‘core areas’ where more intensive pest management takes place…Two…areas (Otamatuna and Mangaone) used ‘Pindone’ poison to control rats, whereas Onepu and Waikokopu used the novel non-poison technique of trapping rats in corflute tunnels baited with peanut butter. Surprisingly, the trapping outperformed the poisoning method, reducing rat tracking indices much faster and keeping them at very low levels for longer than the poisoning method.”
Rarebits 39 DoC 2000 Newsletter “Cat trapping   has been underway in the area since September, and 25 cats have been caught so far. Early indications are that there are high rat numbers in the areas, so lots of work will be needed controlling them around breeding burrows.”
Rarebits 39 DoC 2000 Newsletter “Rat captures in the Makarora and Dart Valleys are up on previous years, and rodents now appear to be a permanent feature of these permanent trap lines. Also, in the Dart stoat numbers are increasing as a result of the mast event last spring.”
Rarebits 40 DoC 2000 Newsletter “Trap lines for stoats in the Makarora Valley continue to catch stoats. Recently numbers are dropping off, and the rate of rat captures is increasing slightly.”
NZ J Ecology 23: 95-100 N.C. Alterio et al. 1999 Trappability and densities of stoats (Mustela erminea) and ship rats (Rattus rattus) in a South Island Nothofagus forest, New Zealand “…marked stoats were re-trapped more often in the latter sampling period, probably because mice (Mus musculus) were very scare”
NZ J Ecology 37: 41-50 N.C. Alterio et al. 1999 Trappability and densities of stoats (Mustela erminea) and ship rats (Rattus rattus) in a South Island Nothofagus forest, New Zealand “Long-term intensive trapping of mustelid and rodent populations through beech seedfall events would be valuable and are overdue.”
NZ J Ecology 23: 95-100 N.C. Alterio et al. 1999 Trappability and densities of stoats (Mustela erminea) and ship rats (Rattus rattus) in a South Island Nothofagus forest, New Zealand “Fluctuations in trap success suggest that stoats become very numerous in the summer and autumn following heavy seedfall, but remain at low abundance in the intervening times.”
NZ J Ecology 23: 95-100 N.C. Alterio et al. 1999 Trappability and densities of stoats (Mustela erminea) and ship rats (Rattus rattus) in a South Island Nothofagus forest, New Zealand “Mice may also prey on eggs and the role of weasels in killing adult and young birds is unknown. Accordingly, predator control operations should target all these predators to minimise predation risks to native wildlife, at least until the relative impacts of each species has been discerned”
NZ J Ecology 23: 95-100 E.C. Murphy & J.E. Dowding 1995 Ecology of the stoat in Nothofagus forest: Home range, habitat use and diet at different stages of the beech mast cycle “Our finding that a juvenile female (probably pregnant) dispersed at least 65 km within four weeks is of particular concern from a conservation perspective. Clearing stoats from sensitive areas (and even from large buffer zones around them as well) is only an effective strategy while trapping is continued; stoats may re-invade within a few weeks after trapping stoats.”
NZ J Ecology 5: 59-66 C.M. King & C.D. McMillan 1982 Population structure and dispersal of peak-year cohorts of stoats (Mustela erminea) in two New Zealand forests, with especial reference too control “Two important implications of these data for conservation are (a) kill-trapping over large areas at considerable effort (400m trap spacing) may only hasten an inevitable post-peak decline in stoat density, because the chances of capture are low and not the same for all stoats; and (b) those killed may be replaced by immigrants from over 20km away”