Learning the art of trapping
Waimea College’s Cooper Phipps checking a trap in the Kaiteriteri Mountain Bike Park. Photo: Supplied.
New Zealand is home to many unique and ancient species of birds, frogs, lizards and plants.
Our animal and plant life is distinct because we have been geologically isolated for 85 million years since we split from the supercontinent of Gondwana. Many of our species are found nowhere else on Earth and this isolation makes them vulnerable to introduced predators such as rats, stoats and possums.
New Zealand is working its way towards a very ambitious goal of being predator-free by 2050. To be successful it’s requiring new collaborations, innovation and active communities.
Recently a group of year 11-13 students (16-18years old) have had the opportunity to learn about predator control in the form of ground-based, pest-control traplines.
A trapline is a route along which a trapper sets traps to catch predators. Traps are used to target specific pests such as stoats, rats and hedgehogs and they are designed not to attract or harm other species. This type of pest control is vital to ensure our unique native species survive.
“The state of our environment can be overwhelming for us all, our programme teaches our young people that they can have a positive impact on the environment,” explains Rosey Joyce, lead instructor of the Environmental Sustainability programme offered through Whenua Iti Outdoors.
“Majority of the students on the four-week course had never touched a trap a before, so to see them go from no trapline knowledge to competent to the extent some intend to set up their own traps at home in their back yards is really cool.”
Part of the course involves educating the students on the purpose of trapping and understanding animal behaviour.
Trapping can help save our native species, prevent costly property damage, keep homegrown food and crops safe, prevent an infestation, and halt the spread of diseases by rats. The group also learnt how to not only check the traps but also maintain them.
The group has been involved in different trapline operations. They had a great time checking and carrying out maintenance on traplines in the Kaiteriteri Mountain Bike Park as well as time spent at the Healthpost Nature Trust eco-sanctuary on Cape Farewell in Golden Bay.
The sanctuary features a predator-proof fence to protect a bird nesting site where rare and endangered species such as pāteke (brown teal), diving petrels and fluttering shearwaters are being reintroduced.
“It’s been really cool for us to be involved in different levels of trapping, some have technology that we had not seen before like trail cameras and the predator-proof fence,” Rosey adds.
“By providing opportunities for students to take their learnings outside of the classroom and into a practical setting, while still gaining NCEA credits, the students get the freedom to connect with the environment and to species that we are trying to protect,” explains Rosey.
“They take that sense of connection with them when they leave the course, they feel and understand that they are Kaitiaki - caretakers of the land.”
Whenua Iti Outdoors have also established a community trapline on their 7.5-hectare grounds located in Lower Moutere.
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“We really want to support other community groups that want to establish traplines and are not sure how to get started,” says Rosey.
“We have different traps so we can show people how to use a range of traps, it’s a free resource and we are happy to show anyone who is interested.”