(Photo) This 43cm rat won the ‘Biggest Rat’ competition.
Predator Free BOP records biggest ever number of pests trapped in a month
April has proved to be a very successful month of trapping with Predator Free BOP recording their largest ever numbers since the programme launched in March 2018, with a total of 797 pest kills. That’s up 58% on last month and compared to April last year taking the cumulative total to 5521 pest kills and a total of 2471 registered trappers.
With the lockdown providing extra time for keen local trappers, Predator Free BOP ran a competition with a number of different prizes. The winner of the most rat trappings recorded 36 kills in 27 days and the winner of the biggest rat recorded a 43cm long catch.
‘We’re delighted to see our community making the most of their time at home to increase their backyard trapping,’ says Fiona Lavin, Predator Free BOP’s coordinator.
‘We were blown away by the amount of entries and it was heartening to see entire families getting involved. The next generation of trappers is looking strong!’
Trap distribution has been on hold until New Zealand reaches Covid 19 Alert Level 2, with over 100 locals joining a waitlist to receive traps as soon as possible.
The next step for Predator Free BOP is to continue distributing traps to Tauranga City and Western BOP communities and organise a trapping month with multiple events across the region once we return to an Alert level that allows the events.