Wily weasel trap works
The National Wetland Trust has caught two weasels that somehow made their way inside the predator exclusion fence at Lake Rotopiko.
After detecting weasel footprints on their tracking cards last November, trust volunteers put out about 30 traps to try and catch the wily pest.
Catching the weasel was crucial to the trust, which is developing a haven for native wetland birds inside the Rotopiko fence.
After almost four months with no catches, the trust changed tack and tried something novel. Trust executive officer Karen Denyer says they tried every type of food lure they could think of, but what finally worked was the scent of a larger predator — the superlure.
“Within a week they caught not one, but two weasels,” she says. “Volunteer Dan Howie found the weasels, which were collected the next day by another volunteer, Brian Gordon.
“An autopsy performed by Dr Kim King of Waikato University revealed that one was a male, one a female (not pregnant) and both were about six months old.”
The trust is hoping to get DNA tests done to see if they are related, which might indicate they were born from a single pregnant female that got into the reserve. “If that’s the case, there may yet be more to catch,” says Karen.
The superlure, currently being developed by Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research, is based on the scent of a larger predator, such as a cat or ferret.
While it’s not yet known exactly why the weasels would be drawn by the scent of a bigger predator, Karen says it may be a case of “the devil you know” — finding out who else is out there that may compete with or even prey on them.