Tasman Bay lifestyler Sonya rates her Goodnature A24 self-resetting trap 10 out of 10 –   calling it “the ultimate ‘no mess’ rat eradicator!”

Sonya bought a Goodnature Strike Counter to get a more accurate picture of the work her A24 trap was doing at her duckpond.

“It has been amazing to watch the counter click off the number of kills, and no rats have ever been sighted in the morning when the trap was checked.” In all, Sonya has had 49 kills counted and no dead rates sighted.

The reason Sonya and many other Goodnature trappers don’t see the full impact they have with their A24 trap is because of scavenging.

Goodnature director and trap co-inventor Robbie van Dam says it’s the animal kingdom out there “and there are plenty of critters happy to have a free lunch when our trap automatically releases its kill upon resetting”.

So powerful is the picture the counter paints of the A24’s impact, that Goodnature this autumn launched the A24 Trap and Counter Kit.

“We surveyed hundreds of our trap users and got a clear signal that people want counters with their traps,” says Robbie. “Sonya’s trap would have still knocked off those 49 rodents without a counter, but it gave her that peace of mind that she’d made a smart investment.”

That 10 out of 10 rating meant Sonya was happy to purchase another A24 trap. She’s part of a growing number of Kiwis who own multiple Goodnature humane and toxin-free traps.

For example, Laurence farms near Morrinsville and he hasn’t seen any rats or damage since buying five A24 traps. Kerry has 10 A12 possum traps on Banks Peninsula and is admiring the growing population of kereru wood pigeon, thanks to the absence of rats, on his farm.

In each case these customers like the traps because, rather than waiting to be cleared and reset, they’re instead waiting for the next pest to come along.

Department of Conservation predator experts call Goodnature’s traps the best they’ve ever tested and that’s because they’ve cleared rats from large tracts of forest within months and kept it that way.

“It’s great for instance to see Rotorua Canopy Tours using their tourism business to educate about conservation while also protecting it through using our traps,” says Robbie. The award-winning tourism operator last year deployed 100 hectares’ worth of Goodnature trap network that has removed all rats from their zipline area and beyond.

“Whether it’s home, the bach or the bush, Goodnature traps are great for your backyard, however big,” says Robbie.