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.

Further Developments from Ongoing Projects

 

It is currently the school holidays in New Zealand, we have a number of students who are currently running trials during the school holiday break, focussed on possums and using a sound lure in conjunction with a Timms Possum Trap, as seen left.    We have seen extremely encouraging initial results from these latest trials, including having possums entering into buildings (barns) to engage with sound lures and subsequently traps.   We have also have results coming from outdoor trials of the sound lures - again the initial results from these trials appear to be extremely positive showing increased possum activity at locations where the sound lure is being deployed.   These sites have double blind situations with two different locations on the same farm one featuring a sound lure and Timms and the other just a Timms.   Both locations are being monitored by Browning trail cameras.

At deployment site one we have noticed a significant change in the activity.   We have started in the last two weeks to use the 'feather' unit which is an adapted version of the sound lure.   There is the basic unit but we have the motor working in conjunction with the unit, when the sound lures is activated there is a motor that runs at the same time.   This is currently turning a feather, however we are going to develop this further trying addiitonal material and movement items.   At least one feral cat (pictured) appears to have taken up residence in the area by the river.   The result is that we have seen a significant reduction in mice and rats in the area.   While we have taken a short break with our recording at this location the cat was visible prior to the break starting and is now featuring significantly at the site.   We are not interested in trapping cats at this stage however the cat is shown significant interest in the lure, which is currently making possum noises. (We have in the past seen cats show significant interst in chicks or chirping bird sounds).

Finally we would like to acknowledge the support on Fonterra again to allow our project to continue with a stoat focus.   We also need to thank Bryan and Feral Control who are currently running trials for us using a number of our units.

This trial has not yet been completed however there are already some results of significance - the photograph on the left showing one of the 'distress rabbit' sound lure units which has been deployed inside of a DOC200.  As can be shown from the photograph a stoat has entered the trap and been disposed of as a result.

We are awaiting the results of this trial and looking to modify the units as a consequence of the feedback and the expertise that are available to us.   We will publish the full results of this trial when it is complete.  

Of considerable interest to us is this is the second time of recording a stoat strike on one of the sound lures in an unusually short space of time.  We have previously detailed how at the New Plymouth Airport we caught a stoat within three days of our first deployment at a location that stoats were not suppossed to be at.   While the capture above is not such an area, as stoats were known to be operating here, the capture is in a very short space of time - four days after the setting of the trap.