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Fox Trapping Procedure
For Private Property
- Ensure the trap is in safe working order.
- Interested resident is to pick-up or arrange delivery of the cage trap.
- Reserves and Recreation staff will select an appropriate, sheltered site for the cage trap to be located.
- Cover the trap with hessian bags to provide extra shelter and to help conceal the trap.
- Lay sand at the entrance to the trap to record animal activity.
- Bait the trap with food scraps such as chicken, to be supplied by the resident (not sardines or sardine oil as this will attract cats).
- For the first two nights free feed (i.e. prop the trap open with a stick) to allow foxes to become familiar with the trap.
- After free feeding, set trap in the late afternoon.
- Check traps before dawn and allow a safe release of any non-target animals. If an animal is harmed, contact Reserves & Recreation Unit during business hours or your local veterinarian.
- If a fox is caught, contact the Reserves & Recreation Section during business hours that will take the fox (still within the cage).
- Close the trap during the day.
- Ensure that accurate records are kept for the trapping program by filling out the Fox Trapping Monitoring Sheet – Private Property on a daily basis.
- Programs should not run for longer than 2 weeks and trapping should not be undertaken on weekends (unless arrangements are made prior).
- At the end of the program, the trap will need to be returned to Reserves & Recreation Unit or Collected by Reserves & Recreation Staff and the receiving staff member will need to initial that the trap has been returned on the Fox Trapping Database.
- All native non-target species captured during this program should be recorded on Council’s Wildlife Watch Database.
Updated: 02 Dec 2011