trap testing

[moley 115]

who tests traps for approval and where can you get the results from ?

 

whats these supposed new regulations ? i was told today that the new trap tests will be that a trap must kill within 7 seconds , dunno if its right or not,

 

do these tests rely on evidence from competent trappers or just some fool with a degree in animal behavior ?

 

are the results from different trap settings or a standard way?

 

thanks in advance , i,m sure some of you lads on here will be able to find the answers

[Guest Ditch_Shitter]

Moles; I wouldn't know what they get up to in england these days. Friend of mine field tested the Fenn Mk I Vermin and he was 'just' an extremely proficient trapper.

 

However, if ye hit Google with terms based around " Humane Trap Test " it shouldn't take ye long to come across plenty of stuff relating to what's pretty much started out in Canada and is now spreading to much of the western world.

 

In a nut shell; They want the captive stone dead inside something like 3 - 5 seconds. (Don't quote me on any of this. It's just from old memory)

 

To test it, they get the creature in question and put it in a naturalised enclosure. Ensure that it's settled in and is behaving as it should do. Then they set a trap for it and sit back watching and waiting. Soon as the animal hits the trap they jump the fence and get in there with their little torch and test its eyeball reaction as it expires. It's the pupils reaction to light which they base the occurrence of death on.

 

Anyway, that's a (Very) rough guide to what's been going on 'out there' for a number of years now. I do know DEFRA has pens full of badgers for testing devices out on. As I've so often said; A device PROVEN to take badgers alive and totally unharmed has existed for about a decade now. Will DEFRA let it onto the STAO? Will they F*ck! They've been giving it the run around for years. Twisting and turning and patently desperate not to let it out. C***s.

[120-2 8]

Hi Moley.

 

The Central Science Laboratory tests the trap on behalf of DEFRA. DEFRA also decide whether or not to fund the testing although this can be paid for privately if DEFRA decide not to but they have the final say after testing whether to add it to the approved spring traps list or not. Also you generally have to give around 10 traps to the CSL for testing, I think the killing time was 3 minutes but they are working to bring it down. The CSL will do a lot of the testing themselves but do also sub-contract some to bodies like the Game Conservancy etc.

 

I myself have a trap going through testing at the moment.

 

OJ

[snareman 3]

Hi Moley.

 

The Central Science Laboratory tests the trap on behalf of DEFRA. DEFRA also decide whether or not to fund the testing although this can be paid for privately if DEFRA decide not to but they have the final say after testing whether to add it to the approved spring traps list or not. Also you generally have to give around 10 traps to the CSL for testing, I think the killing time was 3 minutes but they are working to bring it down. The CSL will do a lot of the testing themselves but do also sub-contract some to bodies like the Game Conservancy etc.

 

I myself have a trap going through testing at the moment.

 

OJ

120-2 , yes the kill time was under four mins. i sent a fenn mark v1 out to canada , a few years back , it was said not to be strong enough to comply with stringent canadian trap law , as canada leads the world in humane trapping , they have a 120 size bodygrip trap out called an LDL with seriously powerfull springs to kill marten , i have one in my shed , the trappers voiced concern about the power of this little trap , as it could be a danger when setting in freezing conditions if it fired onto fingers or thumbs , but the killing time of the animal came first , seemingly before trapper safety. the trappers were voicing concern about it themselves at the convention i attended up in north eastern b. c. the trappers have just completed a test themselves on lynx snares with added breakaways , to stop wolverine which were accidently caught in lynx snares, previously, and escaping with a broken snare around them, the added breakaways have now solved this problem,