Inventor warns of copied traps
Conservationists may unknowingly be using traps that are not endorsed by the Department of Conservation.
Phill Waddington, who developed the DOC 200 trap in the early 2000s to target stoats, rats and hedgehogs, is concerned with the availability of copies, or ‘‘fake’’ traps, that have not been tested for animal welfare.
While the original DOC 200, which is made under licence for the Department of Conservation by CMI Springs, had been tested by Landcare Research and met National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee (Nawac) guidelines, the copies had not. Waddington feared animals caught in the copies could suffer slow and inhumane deaths.
He identified two companies – Pest Control Research (PCR) and Combined Industries – selling copies that had not been tested to Nawac guidelines.
The copies were cheaper, on average, than the CMI-made traps.
There was no guarantee the copies would perform to the same standard.
‘‘The trigger needs to be set to the right weight. An animal could get halfway out [before setting the trap off] and die a slow death,’’ Waddington said.
‘‘They are selling thousands of these and conservation groups will think they are buying a cheaper alternative.’’
He believed the copies were damaging the reputation of the DOC 200.
People who had been using the copies had told him the DOC 200s were ineffective. Waddington stressed that he made ‘‘not a cent’’ from the DOC 200 traps as he had ‘‘gifted the design to the people of New Zealand’’.
PCR managing director Malcolm Thomas said he was confident the PCR traps were of a similar standard to the DOC 200.
DOC technical adviser Darren Peters said that because the ‘‘plagiarised’’ traps did not meet Nawac guidelines, the department could not endorse their use on conservation land.