Next Tuesday is International Day of Rat Catchers!
What better time to celebrate the incredible rat-catching legends in your project? Let’s give a huge shoutout to the trap stars making a real difference!
We’d LOVE to see your stories, photos, and victories—big or small. Share the action and let’s celebrate the mighty work you’re doing to protect our wildlife
Hello Lenore
Thank you for email. We have been busy here in the Rakaia Gorge catching those rats. Over 1700 have we caught so far in our network of almost 600 traps. The birds have definitely come back and we now see regularly the beautiful kereru flying about or just sitting in tree branches overlooking the forest. It is very pleasing to see all this birdlife where a few years ago there was hardly any!
If we are celebrating the rat catching legends of our organisation then we must mention Sue and Jon, Marcel too and Lindsay. They have all been very good with volunteering and helping out with setting up the network.
Now to catch even more rats we are going to get more traps. To finance it all we have opened a Fantail Shop right down in the middle of the forest where we sell little souvenirs. They are only about five dollars each and they get paid online directly into the Fantails bank account.
It has been a roaring success. We have to re-stock the shop every week and the items get paid! We also have a visitors’ book in the same location and people use it a lot with lovely comments on the birdlife and on the walk itself. From all over the world they leave messages and thanks for the work we do.
We had an article in a local magazine about the shop and the area where the shop is located, together with the visitors’ book, the Weta Condo, the post box and a panel with information on the work of the trust. See below:
Would be nice if you could use it all and give our volunteers a big thank you!
Kind regards
Robert
I love this @Quickenberry. It’s great to see the innovative way you help raise funds for the trapping project and add a smile to those visiting the area and leaviing with a treasure.
That is the idea Lenore. Thank you so much for your comments. What is your intention with the rat catcher celebration. Are you giving out a medal or what, certificate or something. We have Jon and Sue, Marcel and Mel, Paul and Jo, Lindsay and Anthony. How can we make their day? Robert
@Quickenberry every name and story provided goes into the draw for a trap.nz wide brimmed oilskin hat
There are several issues for trappers in this post –
You need a powerful trap to kill large rats – a Victor pro is a great trap – even a large Norway will rarely pull out – but if it escapes it will often bleed out in the box or close by
Rats are climbers and they love to climb a ramp to check out the sent in the trap or from the last animal that ended up there – a flat board or n old branch works well
Rats often have a mate with them so a pair of traps will often get two rats – particularly Norways that seem to come in pairs
Traps need some TLC – a wire brush or some Prolan lubricant – I rarely throw out an old Victor and can often put it to good use under a hedge somewhere – they kill well for many years
Be careful with all traps – a black thumb nail can take six months to grow out
Many people prefer a user friendly rat trap – the Kness Snap-e is a great choice and is very powerful – it will kill a stoat – I work in a local 100 acre Park and our team will only use the Kness Snap-e – we have about 150 of them
Where did you get the TrapNZ hat from?
