Domigan & Hughey—Tunnel vision in trap design

New Zealand Journal of Zoology abstracts

Trapping tunnel design incorporating behavioural preferences of stoats

Ian R. Domigan

Natural Resources Engineering Group
Environment, Society and Design Division
PO Box 84
Lincoln University
Lincoln 7647
Canterbury, New Zealand

Kenneth F. D. Hughey

Environmental Management Group
Environment, Society and Design Division
PO Box 84
Lincoln University
Lincoln 7647
Canterbury, New Zealand

Abstract Stoats (Mustela erminea) are introduced pests in New Zealand, and there is an urgent need for effective trapping systems that kill the animal in a humane manner. A treadle trap was designed, the Dominus trap, that utilised an earlier-proven humane killing system enhanced by the addition of a treadle plate trigger. This system enabled the trap to be classified as a Class A trap under the National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee (NAWAC) guidelines for animal kill traps, by successfully rendering 10/10 animals unconscious within 30 s. The Dominus trap mimics a tunnel, which by its very shape entices the animal to enter, but weighs only 600 g. A trial at Flea Bay, on Banks Peninsula, used 35 Dominus traps placed alternately between 35 Fenn Mk VI traps set over 3150 trap nights (TN). The trial was conducted from March to May 2007 and was repeated for a further 7740 trap nights from January to March 2008, using 20 Dominus traps. The Dominus trap caught stoats consistently at the rate of 0.22 stoats/100 TN in both years, compared with 0 and 0.14/100 TN in Fenn traps, so potentially provides a humane alternative to the Fenn.

Keywords design approach; Mustela erminea; stoats; tracking tunnels; traps

Z07050; Online publication date 4 July 2008; Received 3 September 2008; accepted 2 May 2008

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