PEST CONTROL
A new weapon
against the greys
The alien North American grey squirrel (Sciurus
carolinensis) is a huge challenge for UK foresters,especially those wanting to grow hardwoods for timber.
Annual losses to timber through these critters’ endearinghabit of debarking trees is estimated at £40 million by the
European Squirrel Initiative. For many timber growers,it is public enemy number one and its numbers need
controlling. Here Dr John Jackson reports on a novel new
weapon.56 AUGUST 20 19 FORESTRYJOURNAL.CO.UKT
RAPPING and shooting are currently
the only lawful means of grey squirrel
control, but they are not always
efficient or cost-effective ways of
keeping populations down.
Trapping is the more efficient of the two
(simply because traps work without an
attendant human), but the effort involved in
checking them is costly, tedious and often
discouraging.
With the withdrawal of warfarin as a
commercial bait in hoppers for greys, a
niche market opened up for a different
system. Could a novel multi-catch trap
system alleviate things – and was there one
around?
Look no further than New Zealand, where
mankind has let loose a menagerie of alien
mammals that have thrived to become
pest species in their new-found home.
A number of ingenious and sometimes
drastic strategies have been developed to
combat introduced rodents and other small
mammals such as rats, stoats and opossums.
The company GoodNature has developed
a range of multi-catch traps for dealing with
such problem mammals.
Under the new Spring Traps Approval
Orders, the long-awaited GoodNature A1 8
Grey Squirrel Trap was approved in England
and Scotland from 1 January 2019, availablefor sale in the UK.
The conditions of use for the GoodNature
A18 are different for each devolved country
in the UK and sometimes each region too. For
example, the trap would not be allowed in
areas where red squirrels hang on because
of the danger of by-catch.
As a self-resetting, multiple trap, it has
considerable potential benefits in efforts to
control grey squirrels – not least, it promises
to reduce the workload considerably.
The manufacturers claim their range of
GoodNature traps have revolutionized pest
control – being self-resetting, toxin-free and
humane. A world first, they say. Forgetting
the PR and media hype, their product is
certainly different.HOW DOES IT WORK?
A GoodNature trap is not a conventional one.
It isn’t a medieval-looking, metal contraption
with springs and jaws. Instead, the outside
casing is tough plastic, and its hidden
internal mechanism is powered by the force
of compressed gas (carbon dioxide) from a
small screw-in cartridge. The A18 is intended
to be fastened prominently to a tree at a
height of around 1.5 metres.
The closed top end houses the bait or
lure. The animal only has to poke its head in
from the open bottom end of the trap, trying
to reach the bait inside, and brushes aside
a fine wire trigger. Powered by the small
compressed gas cartridge, a captive piston
about as thick as a pinkie finger is released
and hits the back of the animal’s head. The