Evidence of Possum Wrecking Deployment Site

While we are currently in a national lockdown we have limited sound lure testing in progress.  We are collating the data and information as we continue to modify and test the viability of various units.   This morning when checking a deployed camera there was a series of images that require explanation as they are quite striking.

In the first image in the series we can see a brush tailed possum approaching deployment site one.   There is an object that is visible just outside the rat box, when looking closely at the trap box you can see that the trap itself has not been sprung which would suggest that it is not a rodent, which is what originally was suspected, outside of the trap but another object which has ended up by the trap.

In the second sequence photo the possum can clearly be seen with this object in its mouth while it is in the area of the trap.    Again while we originally thought that the object could potentially have been a trapped rat and that the possum was feeding on this, a close examination of the photo shows that the t-rex rat trap has not been sprung which shows as evidence that it must be another object that the possum is carrying.

The third photo in the series which has occurred five minutes after the first shows the deployment site after

the possum has finished with it.   

This is typical of the interaction that we have seen of the brush tailed possum with the sound lure and in the sound lure area.   We see the objects like the rat box moved around which typically have been jumped on by the possum or knocked over in an attempt to investigate them further.   The lures themselves when not protected can be moved and wrecked, knocked over and pulled out (although we have had minimal unit damage and it is usually a case of physically resetting the trap area and the trap set up and putting everything back in place).

We will refine the trail cameras settings to increase the frequency of the photographs.

Note: We are currently in a national lockdown under level four restrictions - this monitoring is occurring at a private location which is next to a residence so no lockdown rules have been violated in carrying out this testing.