A Knock Out
Fri, 29 Jan 2010 9:27 am – Posted by Mandy | 6 Comments
Three local product designers who created the world’s first multi-kill trap are now on the brink of unveiling a whole new suite to pest-killing devices.
Named after pioneering conservationist and kakapo lover, Richard Henry, the tree mounted trap delivers a blow to the head of stoats using a CO2 powered piston, and then re-sets itself.
Each trap is set with long-life meat. The trap works on the principle that other stoats will cache the trap’s victim, and then return to the site to see if there is more food.
Since the launch in September over 900 traps have been sold to community based conservation groups across the country.
One of the partners of the company Robbie Grieg say it has been particularly useful in hard-to-reach areas with few volunteers, such as Tongariro river where Blue Duck are known to reside.
After graduating from design school five years ago, Grieg followed a well trodden path into furniture design, then took an unusual foray into industrial design for the Department of Conservation.
He found himself creating gecko observation units and underground cameras, and then set himself the challenge of tackling DOC’s $100 million question – how to effectively get rid of pests?
The group were given a $250,000 innovation grant by DOC to answer this question and came up with Henry - a super-light trap (400g instead of 6kg) that could re-set itself.
Of course, the problem boiled down to maths. The trap he and his colleagues developed costs between $160 - $180 and re-sets itself 12 times. After this, the gas canister needs to be changed at a cost of $8
In contrast, a conventional ‘DOC 200’ trap checked twelve times a year costs $96.
The trap has been in development for the past two years to ensure there was no by-catch from kea and weka, however they are still in a testing phase to ensure the trap meets animal welfare guidelines.
If it is proven to meet these guidelines, Greig is confident it will be adopted by the Department of Conservation.
For now, his company is busy refining the trap and working on different iterations of it, so that it will work well on other nasties, such rats, possums, rabbits and ferrets.
Where can you buy these?
I am involved in quite a large pest control project close to an urban area and these traps (providing they work) would make life a lot easier (and cheaper for us.
Great example of innovation, lets just hope it proves itself in the field. It will be real interesting to start to read peoples experiences with these traps when they have been given a decent go.
Here’s the link to their site - http://www.goodnature.co.nz/
I have seen these traps in action and they certainly do work! One problem tho’ is that as someone who is involved in catching predators as a volunteer it seems to be an essential part of volunteers’ enthusiasm to know how many of the little beggars are being despatched - and as yet this can’t be done with this device…. or at least not without a substantial increase in the cost.
One of the traps advantages is however the fact that they can be set and left to presumably get on with the job - could this lead to a tendency to miss “catching” opporunities if the canisters are not regularly changed?
oh, and another thing - they are currently working on a similar device for possums.
It’s a real encouragement seeing the dead animal at the foot of a trap but the nature doesn’t allow it to last for long - the other morning while checking a trap there was a happy ruru munching the rat at the trap!
The number of times the trap sets off was developed with two primary drivers, the number of current checks we undertake for successful predator control and the home range of the target species. So on average, most projects visit traps once a month (higher kills in summer = more checks) but rarely are the same traps full each check . This of course is different in each forest type, checking labour available and geography. Rats tend to have a density of approx. 9-12 per hectare (Landcare. 2008-09) and home ranges relatively similar to most trap networks. The affect of having a trap like this, we hope, is that the resident population is exposed to a trap that’s ready to kill all the time - rather than however often we can get round them. Perhaps the initial bottle will be run down in less than a year but as we get on top of their breeding rate, this should become less and less.
Goodnature is developing a counter for the traps, long life baits and a possum trap - but these things take a little time… we hope to have it as soon as possible!!
Its great to hear what works and we rely on the doers to make these things better so thanks for your the feedback!
THANKS, Robbie.