Trap master of the Motu Trails Great Ride

Peter Cavanagh is a regular on the Motu Trails Great Ride. He not only enjoys the fresh air and exercise with his dog Benji on the trails, he volunteers his time to help keep predator numbers down in the area.

Trap master of the Motu Trails

Head out on the Motu Trails in the Eastern Bay of Plenty and you’re more than likely to come across local e-biker Peter Cavanagh and his beloved pooch Benji.

The pair venture on to the 9km-long Dunes Trail for fresh air and exercise daily, but importantly they check and clear 50-plus predator traps along the way.

The Dunes Trail rolls along the stunning Pacific Coast dunes, one of three wildly different rides that make up the Motu Trails which are part of the 23 Ngā Haeranga Great Rides of New Zealand. 

The trails journey through areas important for their biodiversity. The Opotiki coast has many species of shore birds including dotterals, while inland the Urutawa forest has species including North Island robins, tomtits, weka and kiwi.

For the past two-and-a-half years Peter has set and monitored DOC200s traps along the Dunes Trail. Another 4.5km section of nearby Pakihi Track houses 25 traps.

The traps target stoats, weasels, and rats. All are double-set, which means two traps per trap box. They are instant-kill using no poison and are weka-proof.

“It’s been a long-standing goal to get extensive predator trapping along the trails and we are making exciting progress,” says trail manager Jim Robinson.

Peter has kept a record of all his catches since he began trapping and catch numbers have dropped considerably which is a great sign.

“We used to catch weasels, rats and stoats - we’d catch 5-6 stoats,  7-8 weasels and a number of rats each week. Now I hardly come across a rat and we might get two weasels a month.” 

While there are no figures on bird counts, Peter says it’s clear there is more birdlife along the trails as a result.

“We’re certainly getting predators under control and it shows with the increasing birdlife. Obviously there’s been a lot of native tree planting on the trails too. Trapping and planting go hand-in-hand.”

Peter is a former Whakatane Harbour master and an avid hunter/fisherman. He started riding the Dunes Trail after being made redundant and came across Jim installing a trap one day.

“I stopped and asked what he was doing and I’ve been mates with Jim and trap master of the trails ever since,” says Peter.

Born and raised on a Manawatu farm, he’s always been an outdoor person.

“I love nothing more than being out on these trails. Every day Benji sits in the little box on the back of my bike and off we go. I’ve never been without him. He gets excited when we find a weasel or stoat.”

Peter not only checks, clears and baits the traps, he records every catch and reports any trail issues like sand on boardwalks or washouts to Jim.

He’s a brilliant advocate for the trails and the trapline, says Jim, and he’s often educating people on how trapping works and why it is important.

“People are curious about how much we’re catching and what we’re catching. It’s a good feeling to see predator numbers dropping and to tell people why we do it.”

It’s also helpful having DOC Community Conservation Partnerships fund the traps. The Whakatohea Tiaki Taioa team helped install them and Bay of Plenty Regional Council and Bay Conservation Alliance have helped pay for bait.

“We’ve got so much birdlife, sea birds, wekas… they all nest on the ground so trapping is important for us to keep those predator numbers down,” says Peter.

“It’s satisfying to know that our hard work is paying off.”