New method may help control stoats and feral cats

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2022-11-07 03:00

New Zealand

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Currently, there aren’t many effective pest control methods that directly target stoats and feral cats in NZ. Stoats, for example, are mainly controlled through kill traps and through secondary poisoning by eating rats that have consumed aerial 1080 pellets. To test out a new method, researchers hand laid non-toxic sausage baits at two locations to see whether stoats in Fiordland and feral cats in the Mackenzie Basin could track them down and wanted to eat them. Not only did both species find and eat the baits, native species overall didn't seem that interested, which the team says is an encouraging finding. They call for future studies to look into whether adding a toxin changes the baits’ palatability.