Boxed

 

Last week Linda at Lady Margaret's Curlers posted a distressing account of a young raccoon missing it's front left paw - possibly from an encounter with a trap.

I'd just put up a post about traps we run here and decided it needed refinement, photos, some explanation.

We use kill-traps. They are secured inside boxes that ensure no accidental harm to pets, livestock, native birds (even the curious ones - and we have them... ground parrots and wekas for instance). The hole in the mesh is 50mm (2 inches) for rats, or 60mm where we target stoats. The tunnel ensures the birds with long necks or sticky-beaks can't reach in to the trigger plate. The boxes even have an additional internal mesh guard with the opening on the left hand side so that the target animal has to chicane it's way into the danger zone.

I have been whacked on the wrist when I accidentally triggered one rebaiting it. I'm surprised I got away without broken bones. They are instant death to small animals.

Possums - which are about the same size as raccoons but without any of the cuteness - are not yet on our target list because the best kill-traps for them are very expensive and we (the resident's association) have to do some community fund raising before we can equip ourselves with those.