NZ Carbon Farming takes half share in NZ AutoTraps

NZ AutoTraps' automatic possum and rat trap.

New Zealand Carbon Farming (NZCF) has taken a 50 per cent share of NZ AutoTraps in a deal the parties say will boost the country’s fight against predators and pests.

NZ AutoTraps lays claim to inventing the country’s only automatic resetting combined possum and rat trap.

NZCF is a large-scale planter of forests for the purpose of carbon dioxide sequestration and the creation of carbon credits under the Emissions Trading Scheme.

The parties said more than 25 million native birds, chicks and eggs are estimated to be eaten by predators – including rats, stoats and possums – each year.

Possums also consume an estimated 21,000 tonnes of vegetation per night, with many native trees and plants particularly favoured.

NZ AutoTraps created its Fieldays award-winning trap after inventor Kevin Bain saw traditional pest traps in the bush which had been triggered and the bait taken, without killing a predator.

After several years of development and practical trialling, the company’s latest trap features nightly auto-baiting and an automatic self-reset for up to 100 cycles, with the trap able to work for up to six months between servicing.

The trap is also programmed to be inactive during the day to protect native species.

The business currently supplies traps to Predator Free 2050 – the Government’s scheme aimed at making native species safe from extinction - large landscape projects, local and regional councils, Iwi, pest control companies and private landowners and farmers.

NZCF said it invests more than $1 million a year in what it says is the largest, privately-run pest control initiative in the country.

The programme, which includes the use of professional pest control contractors, has removed over 30,000 pest animals in the last 18 months, NZCF said.

Unlisted NZCF has 100,000 hectares of land either owned or leased in forestry and has 77 million trees owned or under management.