Adjusting to different trapping techniques
By Steve Caple.
IT has finally arrived, I have reached that point in my rural pest control career where I can now pick and choose as to whether I want to work or not. No, I have not fully retired but I am in the fortunate position of being able to do so if I wished. I love my job too much to be able to give it up completely, but I am relishing the newly-found freedom of not being tied to long-term contracts and commitments.
I still do the odd mole, squirrel, rat or rabbit in the garden type work, but not the large-scale, time-consuming large infestations which have been my life for the last 40 years or more. I am afraid the removal of certain types of traps from the Spring Traps Approval Order has hit me a lot harder than I thought it would. That, combined with new legislation regarding the trapping of certain species, has nowadays made the whole trapping profession a legal minefield.
With the demise of my beloved Imbra and Juby traps as humane methods of control, my rabbit-trapping options have now become severely restricted. I am virtually limited to using Mk 6 Fenns for burrow-trapping contracts and to using Magnums for fence line work.
Yes, I can still use cage traps and snares as I have always done but these are not always practical on the smaller jobs. In a way, the timing is perfect; rabbit numbers are in serious decline in certain areas and I have been operating under a self-imposed restraint for the last 12 months in the hopes that the rabbit population would significantly recover.
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