Sound Lures: Domestic Cats: Modifying trap deployment review DS1

Having spent two weeks deploying the sound lure by exposing it to Autumn elements a variation has been made, with the same sound profile, to see what affect that this has on the images. 

Cat standing on sound lure box

A second trap box has been deployed adjacent to the first.   This is in place with two small mouse traps held inside.   There is clear evidence that a small animal is entering the larger tunnel and stripping off the peanut butter that is placed on the larger trap.  The animal is such that it is not causing the rat trap to activate, nor the trail camera to detect it as when there is clear evidence that this is occurring (bait is missing) the camera has not deteceted as image, on a twenty second delay.   To deter this smaller mouse traps have been placed in the second box, the result of this has seen three small mice being removed from the environment.

The major change is placing the sound lure inside the tunnel box.   This has been done to test how this affects interactions with the lure.   For the first two nights of this there was two significant differences one which was illustrated in the photographs.    On the first night an animal of some description moved the second box one metre or so away from where it was placed.   Unfortunately due to human error there was no recording of this event or animal.  It would have to be either a possum or a cat (perhaps jumping onto the box).   

cat returns to sound lure box 

The second nights major activities are highlighted here in the case of the domestic cat. 

In a series of photographs the cat can be seen interacting with the box - but in this case climbing over the box (instead of as has been typical with this cat previously interacting around the base of it). 

This cat is one of two domestic cats at this location, which also includes a large dog.    As has been noted repeatedly on this blog the reason that the testing of the units needs to move away from this location is the factor that these animals are present.   The cat shown here is regularly approaching the site where the lure is, either on camera or waiting in the area.   There is a direct correlation between the first arrival on camera of the two domestic cats, after five days and a 118 activations of animals (typically rats and mice) to a further twelve days and another 28 activations which are almost exclusively cats.   The featured cat has had interactions with the lure over a number of months, since the start of the first trial with the sound lure but is continuing to interact directly with and spend considerable time in the area where the sound lure is deployed.  Feral cats are an issue in a number of areas and this would suggest the lure would be useful in attracting them. 

In addition to the sound lure trap area at the house/field area nearby there is a further DOC2000 Stoat trap (baited with an egg which has had no activations since being deployed).   There is another monitored trap on the property outside with a temperature probe (no activations during this deployment) as well as six internal traps at various locations in either outbuildings or the main house (none of which has recorded any activations during the latest testing phase).    The final trap at this location is a live capture trap.   This has been deployed baited with fruit over the past three years.  It has resulted in the capture of sixteen brushtailed possums, 13 in the first year, two in February of this year within three days and a further capture on Friday.    This possum was identified as regularly raiding the compost bin and was targetted for capture with the trap.  The sound lure was not used in conjunction with this capture as the sound lure would have been at a location where it would have been clearly heard at the house.

The lure will be delpoyed for another two weeks at this location inside the tunnel.  It does need to be pointed out that this tunnel is not custom made for the lure (as will be constructed at some point) it is simply able to fit inside the lure so there has been little thought to acoustic noise, design of the tunnel etc.   This is another project for another time.

Sound Lures: Domestic/Feral Cats: Weekly review DS1

 As New Zealand enters stage two of the lockdown due to Corona Virus/Covid 19 it is allows us to push forward with external deployment of sound lures to locations that vary significantly from the deployment areas from the last six months.    We have some consistents from the limited deployments to this point.   We have been able with the use of tracking cameras to identify and track and produce evidence of a number of species. 

The original sound profile and project was directed towards Stoats, however since its inception and limited deployment it has become obvious that Possums and certainly Cats are interacting specifically with the lure itself.   Recent evidence would also suggest that this is the case with Rats/Mice.

A week of deployment at the deployment site one location has resulted in during the course of six nights 136 animal activations (one nights activity had to be disreguarded due to technical errors in recording).   Currently 42% of these activations (58/136) have been produced by domestic cats.     The other 58% (78/136) have been produced by rats/mice.   During the first four nights of lure deployment there was no cat activity and to that point, the sixth and seven nights were dominated by cat activity as the cats were responsible for 58 out of the 72 activations, representing a figure of 81%.   It is intended that the sound lure and camera will now be maintained at this location moving forward, with only slight subtle changes to allow a greater understanding of potential data and information being collected.

There have been no possum interactions with the sound lure in the past seven days.    There is currently a local trapping program in place immediate across the river from the lure location and there has been active shooting by a local farmer.  He has reported low number of possums (in general) at this present time.    There is also little evidence of possum activity in the vicinity (as this is near a property where the owner has had a baited live capture trap [with fruit].   This set up, without sound lure has been present for three years and resulted in the live capture of fifteen possums.   Thirteen were caught in the first six months, then there was a break of over a calendar year and two further possums were caught in February of this year (2020) within a three day time span.   The propery concerned is relatively small but has about a dozen or so mature trees.

Feral Cats are a target animal in pest removal and the sound lure would appear to show evidence of attracting cats and having interaction with them.   It should be pointed out for the domestic cats that the lure is still working on them after six months and still causing them to have direct interaction with it.   This could be explained by its random selecting of nightime tracks and loop in waiting for a track to play so that the cats are not familiar with the lure itself and continue to interact with it. 

Once we start expanding the test area for the lure, including deployment at areas throughout the Taranaki Region we can start to measure and test the effectiveness of the unit.   We are continuing to see evidence that the unit is working, drawing successfully on the battery so that is running constantly and has remained water tight since the move detailed on this blog towards the commercial box.

Deployment SIte Two - Explanation of Site/Problem Solving

This video is a visual description showing Site Two for the camera deployment trial.  The intention is to show the area which it is being deployed in.   The purpose of this location is to put the unit under continued conditions outside to measure its viability.

Issues that we are associating with this location (two week summary):

• Powering Up the Unit - this unit is being run by the solar panel that is shown above on the box.   We have increased the size of the Lipo Battery and are monitoring and measuring.  We are monitoring the power level generated by the solar power, the intention has always been for the unit to charge during the day and play during the night and then continue the cycle.  This is an ongoing issue with the unit that we are attempting to resolve, and will involve considerable more testing, deveoping and prototyping.
• Morning Dew - there is already (it is the middle of summer) evidence of morning dew that is present on the solar panel, and it is accurring on the panel during darkness.   One of the issues moving forward would be protecting the electronic circuits from moisture, the early versions of our unit with 3D Printing have not had the ability to drain away moisture.
• Pests that are in the area - we have recorded Hedgehogs at this location and (domestic) cats which appear to be interacting with the sound lure although not attempting to  enter the box, which has been baited with peanut butter.   

Sound Lure Deployment: Site Two - One Week Update

 Rationale:
This site has been selected to run indefinitely with the existing electronic sound lure set up.   This sound lure has been placed inside a small tunnel trap, with the solar panel at the back of the trap, the electronics are inside a 3D Printed box, which is located inside the wooden structure.

This trap has been baited with peanut butter only - and other than the sound lure has no additional bait.    Its location is detailed in a video on this

blog.    In the course of the week of deployment there has been one significant rainfall which was of 6mm on the second night.

After a week of deployment the sound lure is operating successfully in a charge situation. 

In the week to date there has been one activation of the trap, which was not supported by camera footage and there was no additional evidence in the trap.   There has been activations in the area as shown by the photographs - the two shown here show a domestic cat and hedgehog neither of which interacted with the trap itself but were in the vicinity.

Sound Lure Project - Summary of 2019

The project stared during the 2019 Calendar Year.  Much of the detail of the project is contained within the 'Auro Rangers/Innovator Slideshow'.   This slide show details the start of the project and its development from a basic school project into the 123 Tech Competition Entry.  As the project began to progress it was obvious that the project would evolve further from this competition and also involve more specific work and information.

Above: Domestic Cat interacting with sound lure box. November 2019

In November 2019 the first of five units were deployed in the South Taranaki Area.   One unit was deployed at a river location, (location one) which had previously been monitored by a tracking camera.   When the sound lure was deployed at the site there was significant increase in the amount of pest animals that visited the site, including possums who had not previously been present.

One of the five lures was significantly damaged by water as a result of a significant amount of rainfall in November (60mm was recorded) that pooled in the storage box and caused the computer to stop working, another was held over for testing.   Three remained deployed and in use to test their effectiveness, robustness and viability.

Above: Possum climbing tree with sound lure November 2019

Location one showed significant evidence of pest species interacting with the lure.   The lure was in a shaded location, requiring the 'boosting' of the battery every three or so days.  This is being detailed in a separate post. 

Location two (first phase) was on a local farm belonging to one of the students - this was located on Rama Road.  At this site there was increased feral cat activity relating to the lure which had not previously been detected.  The first phase of deployment ended with the conclusion of the 2019 School Year and the 123 Tech Awards National Finals.  At that point the remaining lures were collected in and retired for the end of the school year.   Of the five units that were used in phase one, four of them were still working as of December 2019.       

The students had presented at Kapuni Fonterra during the school year, as a result of this the project was able to source an additional ten sound lure units to be deployed.   The intention at this stage (January 2020) is to deploy half of these units at New Plymouth Airport and half of these units at Lake Rotokare Reserve.

The start of phase two of the Sound Lure deployment will commence in January 2020 with a measured deployment at New Plymouth Airport.   These units will be deployed in conjunction with the New Plymouth Airport pest control program.