New Plymouth Airpot - Completing Deployment and Reflection

 

We have completed the deployment of our project at New Plymouth Airport.    We have collected the three units that have been deployed at the location for the past twelve months.

During that time the units contained within the two rat boxes and a DOC 200 stoat box have been exposed to outside elements including an extremely wet winter.  They have been placed at three seperate locations with the new solar panel set up.   Two have been using T-Rex rat traps and the third was set with the DOC 200.

In total there has been two years when the units have been deployed.   During this time there was a stoat that was caught within three days of the initial deployment of the first sound lure at the airpot, using peanut butter as a bait, in June 2020 and a distressed rabbit sound profile.      

While we had high hopes after this strike so soon after the deployment that was not the case following this incident.   Of note prior to the capture Stoats had not been sighted at the airport and there has been only a sole sighting following this and no active captures or trapping of any creatures that are targeted.

Interestingly and worth further investigating this was repeated when Feral Control were running experimental trials of the lure in April this year, a large stoat was trapped three days after the first use of the sound lure, in a very short time frame.   Again while there were initial success with the use of the sound lure with the same profile this was not repeated and the significant sound lure trial that feral control are running has yet to lead to success.

The evaluation of the units that were deployed at the airport has seen two of the three units ceasing to function due to weather conditions, although a timeframe for this cannot be established.  One of the units was operating as expected and continue to emit sounds despite the fact that it has been outside for a calendar year.   Two of the other units had damage to the solar panel connections that had been made, one where the connecting wire had separated from back of the panel and the other had water damage to the terminals.    There was considerable weathering on the solar panels, the wires and the units in general had clear discolouration.

Having said all this - the units have held up remarkably well and the fact that one unit has survived twelve months without needing attention is a significant development.   There has always been the consideration relating to the level of noise being emitted from the units (which we will be experimenting with in the future) that stoats are going to require something more subtle where-as the possum units are showing clear interactions and attacks on the units.    We have not targeted rats at this point as we are completing our obligations and data gathering for the curious minds project, however this is something that we will switch our attention to once this part of the project is complete.

It goes without saying that we owe a significant vote of thanks to New Plymouth Airport for allowing the deployment of the units over the past two years which has allowed us to conduct significant testing on the units to check their viability and effectiveness.

Credit: The Stoat Capture photo was supplied to us by Lance from Feral Control.

Confirmed Stoat Sighting - Deployment Site One

 

Please note: this monitored activity is taking place during a national Covid-19 Level Three lockdown, it is within close walking distance (deployment site one) of a residential house.   There was no violation of the lockdown rules.

While we have been continuing to monitor the effectiveness of the possum targeted sound lure, in preparation for our final deployment and we are continuing see strong results (with only a small fraction of the images capture being posted here) we can also now confirm that stoats are in the main deployment area (location one).

After two years of tracking stoats, including a close encounter when a ferret walked into school and came up the ramp to a classroom and was seen peering in the door window, there was this morning a verified stoat sighting in the area adjacent to the main possum testing area.   In the photograph on the left on the ledge that is immediately above the river a stoat was clearly seen making its way along the length of it a nine o'clock in the morning.   It could be identified by its colour, shape and there was the tell tale sign of the black tip on its tail.   This has meant that a focus has now shifted with an addition DOC200 being placed in the field adjacent to where the stoat was seen with chicken meat and a basic sound lure set up.   Once it is possible the site will be upgraded with a targeted sound lure and salted rabbit meat (this is not possible due to movement restrictions).    We will also be experimenting with various sound profiles targeting the stoats that we now know are in the area.  We have previously used this location as a testing site.

We have just started spring in New Zealand, which is the start of a new season and crucially a new stoat hunting season, as we know stoats are hunting during this time for their kitts.   

Also of note are a series of images from last night, again showing considerable interest in the sound lure as opposed to the bait that is in the general area. The brush tailed possum in these series of photos can be clearly seen crouching down to observe or interact the rat box (which is where the sound lure is operating from) it is doing so at the time that there is a variety of food items placed around the location of the trap.  The possum is not feeding on the food it is instead clearly concentrating on the sound.