Huka Trapping, Taupō celebrates catching their 500th rat. Volunteer organiser Clyff Harrington demonstrates the workings of the automatic possum and rat catching machine the AT220.
The local bike club now has a committee member in charge of environmental protection work, and they have just chalked up catching their 5000th rat.
Huka Trapping has spent the past four years trapping to reduce the animal pest population beside popular mountain biking trails in Taupō.
Before that, rats, possums, and mustelids (stoats and weasels) reigned supreme in Craters Mountain Bike Park and on the Huka Trails, next to the Waikato River between Spa Park and Aratiatia.
This month the 50-strong trapping group is celebrating catching 5440 rats, 1236 possums, and 101 mustelids over the past four years.
Organiser Clyff Harrington says the volunteers manage 15 trap lines, 439 traps and put in at least 30 volunteer hours per week.
The volunteers include business owners Dave and Ange Kilmister of Huka Falls River Cruise and Shelley Burnett of Hukafalls Jet who manage the trapping lines near their businesses.
A mountain biking group called Old Farts manage one of the trap lines in the Craters Mountain Bike Park, and the rest are individuals or groups who share the checking in different ways.
"Some people buddy up and manage the trap line with their friends, and it's a social thing. Others like to have complete ownership and take great pride in managing the entire trap line by themselves," Clyff says.
He says the 50 volunteers more or less manage themselves.
"They enter their results into the app, and at times have contact with me."
Huka Trapping organiser Clyff Harrington inspects a AT220 automatic trap on the Batts trapline located on the Huka Falls Rotary Ride mountain bike track. Photo / Rachel Canning
Volunteers are offered regular training and information sessions. In two weeks time there is a field session with pest control company Call of the Wild to check traps at an existing trap line. On another occasion, volunteers were invited to hear wildlife photographer Kacheeya Scarrow speak.
The results show they are making progress in the war against predators. However, a consistently higher catch on the eastern side of the Waikato River points to a tide of possums and rats entering from the pastures beside the Eastern Taupō Arterial.
Dead possums and rats at the base of an AT220 automatic rat catcher located just off the Huka Falls Rotary Ride mountain bike track. Photo / Rachel Canning
Clyff says Huka Trapping is looking to recruit more volunteers to manage a trap line along the Taupō District Council boundary in the irrigated area between the East Taupō Arterial and the Waikato River Corridor.
Huka Trapping started in 2018 after a donation from Huka Falls Jet, and since then has had financial support from Huka Lodge, Quality Print, Honey Hive, Contact Energy, Cheal Consultants, Waikato Regional Council, Wairakei Golf and Sanctuary, ITM Taupō, My Ride Taupō, the Department of Conservation (DoC) and Hunting & Fishing Taupō.
In late 2020, Bike Taupō updated its concession with Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) to include pest control, and this was the start of the Crater Trapping project. The joint project is now called Huka Trapping and Bike Taupō handles the Huka Trapping funds.
Clyff Harrington uploads an activity report from one of Huka Trappings AT220 automatic trapping machines. Photo / Rachel Canning
Clyff says a key part of Bike Taupō's culture is to address environmental issues and promote conservation. This year Bike Taupō has recognised Clyff's work in environment and conservation and have added the role to their committee.
Funding is an ongoing restriction, with the group going through $280 worth of dehydrated rabbit bait every two months, plus other consumables.
Traps are another expense, an A24 costs $150, the AT220s cost $400, the DOC 200s cost $120 and the Timms trap costs $70.
Clyff demonstrated the AT220 and it is this writer's opinion that it is worth every cent of its $400. The AT220 lures possums and rats in with a tasty squirt of mayonnaise, spits the dead possum or rat out, then resets itself, on repeat, leaving a collection of dead possums and rats at the base of the tree.
Huka Trapping recently celebrated catching the 100th stoat and the 5000th rat. Pictured is the 100th stoat caught by Jean Stephens. Photo / Supplied
One of the AT220 traps has been particularly successful, with 40 dead possums recorded so far. He says there were probably more, but the wild cats are eating the dead possums.
Huka Trapping is eyeing up trapping the mountain biking trail beside Lake Taupō, the Great Lake Trail, but Clyff says getting permission is a slow process with many hoops to jump through.
Huka Trapping
Get Involved:
Email Clyff if you would like to volunteer to regularly check and reset a trap line clyffalison@harrington.co.nz
