The two attached papers might be of interest for those working with Kiwi or Weka.
Fairly obvious that the original working group mucked up by saying standard length boxes with135 mm from entrance to trap was Kiwi safe, it would have been better to have required them to be the longer Weka length boxes.
Fairly upsetting to find a kiwi with a smashed Bill still lying there in shock, also they can wander off an die in the bush and you never know.
DOC have approved the extensions to standard length Boxes as per the design covered here.
The other option I had looked was just converting double set boxes to single set to give the longer safe length
doc 200 extensions.pdf (397.0 KB)
Kiwi safe box.pdf (778.2 KB)
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Thanks for this Dave. What are the chances of a kiwi putting its bill through the wire at the other end of the box and also setting off the trap? If for example someone had made a box with larger guage wire, would that then be a possibility? Might be a dumb suggestion lol but best to raise it while people are looking at solutions. Cheers, Tony
Hi Tony
personally I would not go bigger than the std 20mm mesh, I can see the logic if people if people want to use larger mesh as it looks more open and run through but it depends on your situation what you are trying to protect and NON targets in your area.
I think the death of non targets is way under reported, if they are just injured they wander off and die, and you never know, plus people are reluctant to report deaths as then the blame game starts from which we learn nothing, solutions are better.
More Weka are also being killed in DOC type boxes as they are spreading into areas where they were not present before and Trap Boxes are not up to Weka spec.
cheers
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Hi Dave,
Would you be able to share a photo of the trap box that got the kiwi hurt, with itās top lid open?
Thanks for the detailed information on adding an extension to the box.
Cheers,
Simon
Hi
I donāt have any photos of ours, one was still in the trap and the other was lying outside the box with a smashed Bill, the attached photo is the DOC one made and serviced by DOC Rangers, this made the Herald earlier in the year as a tramper came across it.
the internal Baffle looks a bit suspect to me but DOC told me the measurements all stacked up with best practice and I know better than to argue with them as you canāt win
DOC did release a report a couple of years ago on the number of reported Kiwi deaths , canāt remember what the number was but I know it was not accurate as I know of a couple that were not there. I had hoped that DOC would engage more with groups about a redesign of trap enclosures but that doesnāt look like it will happen
Our trap boxes since2006 already weka approved length and working well.as we have always had weka. Last summer we worked through all of our traps -around 800 and checked mesh at bait end on single sets with the pokey bill of kiwi in mind. We had no evidence of injuries on our patch but those bill tip injuries would just sulk off and starve so have to run precaution. We are all learning all the time!!Anything with larger gauge netting was re meshed with smaller gauge. Sorry canāt remember measurements. Heart breaking to unnecessarily injure what we are trying to protect.
If you canāt afford to replace all traps straight away there are pipe retrofit options to extend entry endā¦though these need to be careful maintained.
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Hi
All our new Trap boxes we have been using 10mm stainless mesh from excluder, we would have been happy using 20mm stainless but 10mm is what Excluder stock at a very reasonable price
we switched to stainless as the quality of Hot Dipped galv mesh is very variable and a real pain to have to try and changed clapped out mesh in the field.
we have also gone to using 16mm narrow gauge stainless staples put in with a battery stapler
Hi. Iām involved with pest trapping on Mt. Pirongia and we have over 100 double DOC 200 trap boxes along with a smaller number of 250 single trap boxes. Reading Daveās material and other sources it seems our options with the 200s is an extension and conversion to single trap boxes. With the 250ās Iām not at all sure.
We are at the early stage of planning for a kiwi introduction and we would be grateful for any practical suggestion around this, important, issue.
NgÄ mihi.
Brian Bowell
Hi Brian
well done on your Kokako project looks like itās going really well
firstly DOC have NOT made the longer length Boxes a requirement where there are Kiwi, what they might be planning or if they ever will I have no idea, but the logic of longer length Boxes stacks up especially when you have an in situ breeding situation.
I hate to tell you that after working with both Kiwi and Kokako, Kiwi are 10 time the work and 10 times the Heartbreak.
I have swapped pest control info with your group previously when you were getting Kokako.
Seeing as you are in the planning stage it will pay to have a good look at trap requirements for Kiwi, Ferrets are going to be more of a problem so a good number of 250ās will be required, obviously they still catch stoats in fact they should catch more with the bigger opening. Obviously I donāt fully know your pest control situation, but for example one part of your planning for upgrading traps might be to say any new traps will be 250ās in longer length Boxes.
You will get conflicting info from different sources like, just make your boxes side entry thatās good enough, do a full scale drawing and check safe distances will show that is wrong, adding Novaflow tube etc is really not a longer term solution.
No reason why you canāt make similar extensions for the 250ās it is just working out the costs and other factors like if the current boxes are getting old it might just be work scraping them and starting again.
If you have not read it there is a new best practice for animal pest control for Kiwi which came out about 6 months ago, covers recommended trap density etc
The safe distance, external opening to trap on a standard DOC best practice Trap Box approved for use where there are Kiwi is 135mm.
The attached photo is from the paper of a Northland Kiwi release earlier this year
No way would this Bird be safe around a std length DOC Box.
It is definitely a big bird with a long Bill and I have not seen one this big in the BOP,
but it is exactly the type of breeding stock you do not want to lose in a trap
Hi Dave, and many thanks. I do so agree with you re. conflicting advice and experts. The kÅkako work was before my time but I have been involved with several translocations since the start and they seem to be thriving, seen and heard regularly and currently nesting.
Cold we continue the chat about kiwi bill damage using email direct please?
Brian Bowell
Hi Brian thatās fine if you want a second opinion on something, I donāt know what it is but I think there is a method to contact directly,