Larsen traps

[Acipiter]

I found a L/trap with two magpie in this morning, slowly bashing them selves to death up against the wire. I am well aware of the behaviour of magpies, but just wondered what the current thinking was of L/ traps. I believe they are not used in some countries.

[The Woodman]

BASC publish a code of conduct and relevant legislation can be found here....
Trapping Pest Birds

You are probably aware of this, but I only post it for those who are not aware of this type of trap and how it should be managed.

Approaching L/T's should only be done by those managing them to prevent the unnecessary disturbance of call bird and capture.

[Burko]

It always makes me laugh that these traps require a live bird to be effective.

How do they get the live bird in the first place?

[The Woodman]

In most areas there is a network of people running L/T's. If someone wants a call bird, a phone call will secure one - a capture from someone elses trap.

This has a benefit as a magpie from another area will pull in birds who see it as a threat or an intruder.

It is possible to catch a bird in a baited trap without a call bird.

[RKB]

post removed

[Acipiter]

Is there not a more humane kind of trap?

[The Woodman]

Without wanting to get involved in definintions of "humane" I would suggest that this type of trap is as humane as it gets. It is after all a permitted trap.

As long as the trap is operated according to the guidelines;

The occassional non target species can be released unharmed if caught.
Both call bird and capture have food, water and a degree of shelter.
Euthanasia should be quick and efficient with no suffering.
Captured birds are confined for a short as possible period - most entering in the early daylight hours.

[RKB]

Originally Posted by The Woodman

Without wanting to get involved in definintions of "humane" I would suggest that this type of trap is as humane as it gets. It is after all a permitted trap.

Welfare of the call bird is pretty shocking though, They need to be 'replaced' after a while. And many Larsens dont comply with regulations on confined birds (room to spread wings in all directions). Magpies are also one of the few species that have been shown to be 'self aware', in the same as primates and humans. Most other birds haven't shown this degree of intelligence. They recognise themselves in mirrors, while most other birds think its another bird. So the stress of being confined as a call bird is going to be pretty high on our scale of these things. Much worse than confining most other wild birds.

I did post earlier on the legal validity of trapping magpies at this time of year, but deleted it while I looked something up. But on that theme, just what is the point in trapping them now, when it wont make a dent on the population at all? As soon as you remove one, then there is a pool of floaters to move in. And what threat are Magpies to other species at this time of year? It's only actually worth doing in spring, when they will have limited themselves, replacement birds will be absent or at a minimum, and there is something to protect (gamebird eggs). It's just a pointless waste of time in Autumn/winter. Hence the large catches (rather showing that it doesn't work)!

[Acipiter]

Just seems strange that their country of origin view them as inhumane.

[salukiwhippet]

The call birds can last all season, in fact the headkeeper I worked with in Norfolk overwintered a magpie in an aviary for the following spring - he (?) became quite tame when he realised that we weren't a danger to him, rather a source of easy grub. Called him Dave.

As with all trapping and wildlife management, there are those who do it properly and humanely and those who don't. The latter group richly deserve to be punished.

The argument that killing anything is pointless because others will fill the void intruiges me. I thought elephants, rhinos and cod were in trouble due to unsustainable killing? And that coypu were trapped out of the Fens in the 70's (not entirely sure of the date on that one.)

James