- Department of Conservation, Private Bag 3072, Hamilton 3240, Aotearoa New Zealand
- Department of Zoology, University of Otago, 340 Great King Street, North Dunedin, Dunedin, 9016, Aotearoa New Zealand
- Department of Conservation, Private Bag 4715, Christchurch Mail Centre, Christchurch 8140, Aotearoa New Zealand
In New Zealand, endemic bat species require conservation management involving suppression of mammalian pest populations to prevent bat population declines. Toxins are frequently used to control mammalian pests; however, lesser short-tailed bats (Mystacina tuberculata) are also susceptible to poisoning due to their unique forest floor foraging behaviour and willingness to sample different types of bait. Self-resetting traps may offer a suitable alternative to the use of toxins for control of rats if they do not also present a by-kill risk to bats. To evaluate this risk we video monitored Goodnature A24 TM traps in Pikiariki, Pureora Forest, that had been baited with lure, but not activated, and recorded bat activity using automatic bat monitoring devices. We detected high levels of activity of both New Zealand bat species in the vicinity of traps and captured footage of bats flying past traps on six occasions. However, we found no evidence of bats directly interacting with traps. This is a promising indication that A24 traps may be safe to use in areas with bats. However, next steps should be to experimentally operationalise re-setting traps and monitor bat survival at the population level using mark-recapture techniques. We caution against extrapolating the results of our study to different types of trap, lure, and trap positioning; we also recommend not locating traps close to Dactylanthus taylorii, a food source for short-tailed bats, as a precaution.