My Brother, Dad and I go trapping in our bush at the back of our house. We trap for pests such as rodents, possums and mustelids. The government aims for New Zealand to be predator free by 2050. We, along with others in our community actively trap these pests. We have just finished our most recent pulse, this time we have taken out 46 pests; this is our best trapping pulse yet. I completed my service hours by doing this trapping and I look forward to hearing and seeing the bird life in the spring. We already have a good variety of birds in our bush. We have native ones like the Kereru, Tui and Fantail and we have the more common ones like the Blackbird, Sparrows and Quail. I really enjoy trapping because I feel that we are making a difference to our bird life and we are helping the environment grow. I look forward to getting the traps back in and seeing what we get next time.

If anyone would like any more information please visit the TrapNZ website at www.trap.nz. The more people that help the quicker we’ll make a difference.

Bella Murphy, Year 7