Department of Conservation ranger demonstrates feral cat traps
Finlay Cox, a DOC Biodiversity Ranger, paid us a visit to demonstrate feral cat traps. Thank you, Finlay, for your visit and informative demo.
Feral cats are a threat to nesting birds, especially ground-nesting birds like penguins and the sooty shearwater (aka: titi or muttonbird). Nesting season has begun and will continue over a few months. We are very concerned about the impact feral cats will make on our beautiful nesting birds on Bluff Hill. So we are researching available control methods to determine which we feel are humane, effective and feasible.
Finlay demonstrated a modified Timms trap, a Steve Allan trap and a conibear trap. He talked about how to set them and bait them, their overall effectiveness and humaneness and their impact on non-target species.
Posted on: 5 October 2015
