JOURNAL ARTICLE
RESEARCH SUPPORT, NON-U.S. GOV'T
Add like
Add dislike
Add to saved papers

Modifying the Victor® easy Set® rat trap to improve the animal welfare of stoats and ship rats trapped in New Zealand.

Stoats (Mustela erminea) and ship rats (Rattus rattus) in New Zealand are targeted by trapping to mitigate their predation on native wildlife. Internationally recognized guidelines for assessing the effectiveness and welfare performance of kill traps are supported by New Zealand legislation under the Animal Welfare Act 1999. The Victor® Easy Set® rat trap was tested and passed a similar standard for killing short-tailed weasels in Canada but failed for stoats when tested in New Zealand in 2002 (short-tailed weasels and stoats are the same species). We tested a modified version of the trap in 2011-12, modified by changing the treadle trigger to a pull trigger and adding a plastic shroud to direct and align approach by animals to the front of the trap. These traps, in vertical and horizontal sets, were tested with both stoats and ship rats. During each test the trap had to render 10 of 10 animals irreversibly unconscious within 3 minutes to meet approval requirements. The modified trap passed with both species in both trap sets. All stoats were struck across the cranium whereas rats were struck either on the cranium or neck. We recommend this trap design for use by community conservation groups for targeting stoats and ship rats in New Zealand.

Full text links

We have located links that may give you full text access.
Can't access the paper?
Try logging in through your university/institutional subscription. For a smoother one-click institutional access experience, please use our mobile app.

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app

Mobile app image

Get seemless 1-tap access through your institution/university

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app

All material on this website is protected by copyright, Copyright © 1994-2024 by WebMD LLC.
This website also contains material copyrighted by 3rd parties.

By using this service, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy.

Your Privacy Choices Toggle icon

You can now claim free CME credits for this literature searchClaim now

Get seemless 1-tap access through your institution/university

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app