Feathered thieves break into stoat traps

Feathered thieves break into stoat traps

Cheeky keas have been breaking stoat traps designed to keep the southern takahē population safe, and a number of the inquisitive birds have died as a result.

Department of Conservation (DOC) senior ranger George Ledgard says the traps are housed in solid wooden boxes to deter kea but some birds gouged out the lid screws and prised the lids open to get to the egg and meat bait inside. Seven of the birds were killed by the traps as a result.

"Kea are naturally inquisitive and have meddled with traps in the Murchison Mountains before but this type of damage is new," Mr Ledgard says.

"We've modified the traps previously but these incidents have required us to design and fit a new bracket to stop the trap boxes from being opened."

The mountain birds also dug up the trap footings and rolled traps downhill, sometimes over bluffs and into Lake Te Anau.

The Murchison Mountain trap network protects New Zealand’s only remnant wild population of takahē from stoats and consists of 3500 double trap boxes over the 50,000-hectare area.

Over summer about 700 traps have been upgraded with longer screws and a specially designed bracket to keep the lids in place.

A wider trap check throughout the management area completed in past weeks confirmed no other kea had been caught in traps.

"We're confident the upgraded boxes will now keep kea out of the traps," Mr Ledgard says.

With more groups doing pest control in areas where kea live, DOC and the Kea Conservation Trust are keen to hear from anyone using traps where kea damage has been an issue or where kea have been inadvertently caught or killed. 

An observed increase of young kea within the takahē management area in recent years indicates kea are also benefitting from stoat protection.

Newshub.