Rats on notice with 240 traps on the way

PESTS: Goodnature staff member Sean O'Brien installing an A24 self-resetting trap at a Wellington location.PHOTO/SUPPLIED

Pukaha Mount Bruce will have 240 Goodnature A24 self-resetting rat traps installed by February, adding to Pukaha's arsenal against predators, says general manager Helen Tickner.

Mrs Tickner said a "substantial donation" from Pub Charity had enabled Pukaha to purchase the rat traps which supplement the reserve's existing pest and predator control.

"Anything that we can add to our arsenal of trapping and pest control is a good thing," she said.

"These self-resetting traps will hopefully keep rats out of our other traps, keeping them free to kill mustelids like weasels, stoats, and ferrets."

Mrs Tickner said the DOC250 traps Pukaha has at the moment must be manually reset after killing a predator.

"The DOC250 traps can be reset the same night the rat goes into it, but because the cycle of checking is every 4 weeks, a rat could be caught in it and in the meantime, we might have missed trapping and killing mustelids which are big nasties."

Earlier this year two rare white kiwi chicks were among seven kiwi killed in the reserve within a three month span.

"I want to stress that this is supplementing our current trapping," Mrs Tickner said.

"We're not stopping or replacing anything, but this is certainly giving us another opportunity to kill many other predators."

The Goodnature A24 rat traps attract rats with potent long-life rat lure.

Sean O'Brien from Goodnature said as the rat brushes past the sensitive leaf-trigger, the trap is set into action.

"A CO2 pressurised piston strikes the rat's head, killing it instantly and then retracts on a light spring," he said.

"The dead rat falls to the ground and the trap automatically resets itself ready for the next pest to arrive."

Greater Wellington Regional Council's trapping programme in Pukaha's buffer zone recorded 79 feral cats, 17 ferrets, three stoats, 216 hedgehogs and 495 rats during the 2014/15 servicing year.

The A24 can kill up to 24 rats, mice and stoats per compressed CO2 canister. Because 240 of these traps will be installed, a potential total of up to 5,760 predators can be killed without the trap being tended to.