Fur trade is keeping cruel gin trap in business

Press, 23 September 1980, Page 17

Fur trade is keeping cruel gin trap in business

By

GARRY ARTHUR

Dead kiwis caughf by opossum hunters last winter were being handed in ,to the Wildlife service at the rate of 20 a week. This winter kiwis are still being caught in opossum

traps — including two one-legged victims named Thursday and Friday now at the Orana Park kiwi rehabilitation centre — but the Wildlife Service is not getting many.

Mr Ralph 'Adams, director of the service, doubts whether 20 dead kiwis have been handed in altogether. This may mean that opossum hunters are being more cautious about

letting on when they catch kiwis, but Mr Adams hopes it means that fewer kiwis are being caught by accident. That was the purpose of the new trapping and poisoning permit, brought in a year ago with strict conditions about the setting of traps. Traps and poisons are not now allowed to be baited with anything attractive to birdlife, and Wintergreen, banana, raspberry, and rose lures are specifically prohibited. As far as possible, traps must-be set above ground level on log or timber sets, -and their chains must be long enough to prevent a trapped opossum from being held sus= pended. If a trap must be on the ground, the trapper is required to fence it around with rocks or vegetation to keep kiwis and wekas out. All traps must be cleared every 24 hours, and clearance must start as soon as possible after daylight. Many people have called for the banning of gin

traps, not only because of the danger to kiwis, but because of the pain and suffering an opossum must endure when caught by the leg in the trap’s steel jaws. But the Government is in a dilemma. Opossums cause very serious damage to the bush, particularly to the rata and kamahi forests of the West Coast, and trapping is one of the most effective ways of getting rid of them.

Cyanide poisoning.is the other main method, but it is not enough on its own. If there is a heavy dew or rain, the cyanide bait is affected' and an opossum will get a non-lethal dose. “He’ll get a headache,’’ says Alan Griffiths, a Forest Service environmental officer, “but he won’t die. Then he’ll be shy of the bait and won’t go near cyanide again.” Some trappers believe they can get a higher pro-

portion of the opossums in an area by using traps. The Wildlife Service itself is using gin traps on Little Barrier Island in the Hauraki gulf to try to eradicate cats. “We believe that because of the need to control opossums, until there is a satisfactory alternative to the gin trap we have just got to live with it,” Mr Adams says. “But we are not happy with it.” Alternative traps have

been invented from time to time, but Mr Adams says that none has proved entirely satisfactory so far. Either they fail to catch opossums, or they damage the fur, which makes them unpopular with trappers. One humane killer trap which caused a lot of interest when it was introduced last year is the Banya, invented by Leslie Broadmore of Wanganui,

He was concerned about the pain caused to opossums by gin traps. South Island opossum hunters have not taken to it. Mr Geoff Percy, Rangiora representative of Wilson Neil, agents for the trap, says the Banya trap requires more thought and care in setting, and trappers who have not had good initial results have not persevered with it. “Set properly,” he says, “they can be made as efficient as a gin trap, but the average trapper hasn’t got the time to spend.” ■ About 5000 Banya traps have been sold in the South Island, while North Island trappers have bought about 20,000. This is because trapping is the preferred method in the North Island, Mr Percy says, whereas South Island trappers tend to favour cyanide. The Banya costs $4.90, about the same as a gin trap, and is a little lighter to carry. Mr Percy says he has bought a lot of skins of opossums caught in the Banya trap, and has not noticed "any ' greater degree of fur damage compared with skins from gin traps.

Mr Nick Duff, a skin buyer who has.been a professional trapper in the North Island, calls the humane killer traps “sophisticated nonsense.” Such a trap kills some opossums, he says, but leaves others with broken noses. It also damages the fur around the . shoulders, which can reduce the value of the best SIS skin to a mere $1.50. He says this is the case with between 10 and 30 per cent of opossums caught in killer traps, “On the , whole, we discourage them” He is not impressed with the concern about opossums suffering through being caught in gin traps. He has caught up to 8000 opossums a year, he says, and 90 per cent of them would have been found asleep in the traps. “I’m not saying that they’re not in pain,” he says, “but it is hot so painful that' they, can’t sleep.” He has never seen a ffppfcMeft ; -behind .in a has 1 " seen ’ very",, few broken legs. In his seven years as a

professional opossum trapper, Mr Duff says he never caught a kiwi, but he has caught blackbirds, and many other creatures — cats, rats, ferrets, “chocks,” and pheasants. He knows of only one of 50 trappers in the Waikaremoana district who ever caught a kiwi in a gin trap. On the other hand, he is now developing a 1000acre farm on the West Coast, and feels sure many kiwis must die when the scrub is fired for land clearance. The Forest Service conducted trials of a number of traps at Taipo River in the Arthur’s Pass area early this year; none proved as effective as the gin trap at catching opossums. Mr Percy says the reason is that an opossum often just blunders into the gin trap, whereas he has to be persuaded to poke his head into the humane killer trap. “This means that the chap who doesn’t know much about trapping can still get results with the gin : trap;’’ If the gin trap is laid properly, it will not catch birds, Mr Adams says.

“But there is still the S.P.C.A. aspect,” he says. “The opossum is trapped by a leg.” He agrees that opossums are often found asleep in traps, but says this is because the animal very readily accepts pain. It does not mean that it is not feeling pain. Birds caught in traps behave differently. “A weka will thrash itself to death in a matter of hours.” He believes that an opossum will sometimes try to gnaw its leg to escape from a gin trap. *Tve caught a ’possum with only three paws.” Gin traps are banned in urban areas, and if Mr Frank Grimes, ■ the S.P.C.A.’s inspector, comes across any, he wastes no time in smashing them to bits. He picked up seven gin traps in a Burwood paddock three months ago and destroyed them all. Mr Grimes has been called out at night by people on the city, outskirts who- could ; hear opossums, caught in traps; sometimes he has found 3 just the .foot left.-- “Gin traps ’are no good, he says. “Tney’re a bad thing.”