One of my hobbies is trapping stoats.
I don’t hold any personal grudges against Stoats. None of them have ever called me names, pinched my car or even insulted by beloved Chelsea. The problem with Stoats is that they are one of the major predators of New Zealand’s National bird the Kiwi.
Adult Kiwi are quite large birds and can generally fend off Stoats, the young however cannot. Without control of stoat numbers mortality rates of kiwi chicks are as high as 95%.
There are still some native populations of Kiwi on the South Island. On the North Island however, the only places they are found is in zoos or protected reserves.
Several years ago an organisation called The Rimutuka Forest Trust established a new Kiwi reserve in the local Rimutuka mountain range. Kiwi have been released into a relatively confined area, which is ringed by many hundreds of stoat traps. The idea being to minimise stoat numbers and therefore keep predation to a minimum.
In reality we catch far more rats and hedgehogs than stoats. The numbers of stoats caught is relatively small with most being caught in January and February. This corresponds with the time young stoats leave their parents and forage for themselves.
The low stoat numbers are a testament to an effective trapping campaign. Stoats are nomadic by nature, and travel great distances - so ongoing trapping is essential.
My friend Simon and I run a line of traps which we inspect every few weeks in the summer and every month or so in the winter. The area we trap in is very beautiful, but also involves a long slog up a big hill. The weather is also usually less than perfect.
It is also great fun and a good excuse to get out into the bush.
A month or so back, while stoat tracking we bumped into a Rimutuka Forest Trust member, who kindly took this photo of us doing our stuff. The guilty parties are Bruce McDonald, Me, Paul Galvin and Simon Grant. Simon is the one who is visible from outer space.
If you want to find out more about the Rimutuka Forest Trust then click on the following link - http://www.rimutakatrust.org.nz/index.html.
I don’t hold any personal grudges against Stoats. None of them have ever called me names, pinched my car or even insulted by beloved Chelsea. The problem with Stoats is that they are one of the major predators of New Zealand’s National bird the Kiwi.
Adult Kiwi are quite large birds and can generally fend off Stoats, the young however cannot. Without control of stoat numbers mortality rates of kiwi chicks are as high as 95%.
There are still some native populations of Kiwi on the South Island. On the North Island however, the only places they are found is in zoos or protected reserves.
Several years ago an organisation called The Rimutuka Forest Trust established a new Kiwi reserve in the local Rimutuka mountain range. Kiwi have been released into a relatively confined area, which is ringed by many hundreds of stoat traps. The idea being to minimise stoat numbers and therefore keep predation to a minimum.
In reality we catch far more rats and hedgehogs than stoats. The numbers of stoats caught is relatively small with most being caught in January and February. This corresponds with the time young stoats leave their parents and forage for themselves.
The low stoat numbers are a testament to an effective trapping campaign. Stoats are nomadic by nature, and travel great distances - so ongoing trapping is essential.
My friend Simon and I run a line of traps which we inspect every few weeks in the summer and every month or so in the winter. The area we trap in is very beautiful, but also involves a long slog up a big hill. The weather is also usually less than perfect.
It is also great fun and a good excuse to get out into the bush.
A month or so back, while stoat tracking we bumped into a Rimutuka Forest Trust member, who kindly took this photo of us doing our stuff. The guilty parties are Bruce McDonald, Me, Paul Galvin and Simon Grant. Simon is the one who is visible from outer space.
If you want to find out more about the Rimutuka Forest Trust then click on the following link - http://www.rimutakatrust.org.nz/index.html.
