Volunteer
With more than 500 active traps spread across 14 different projects, our volunteers are the key to keeping everything running smoothly. As our trapping network expands each year, we need more volunteers to become part of the team – checking, clearing and baiting traps, installing new traps, recording data and coordinating volunteers. You’ll be part of a small team of local residents, working together towards making a safer place for native wildlife to thrive.
If you’d like to become a volunteer, please contact us letting us know a bit about you and which part of the Upper Clutha region you are based in (Wānaka, Albert Town, Hāwea, Hāwea Flat, Luggate or Queensberry). We’ll connect you up with a trapline coordinator who will let you know if they need more volunteers at present.
Neighbourhood trapping
We’re encouraging and supporting neighbourhoods to form trapping groups on their properties to increase the area of ground covered by traps. If you’d like to get involved, have a chat to your neighbours to see if you can find a few others who’d like to be part of a group. Then you’re welcome to contact us about how we can help to get your group started up. Contact Petrina Duncan for more information.
Trap Library
We run a trap library for residents of the Upper Clutha basin. One trap per property can be borrowed for up to three months. Full training is given along with advice about where to site the trap, checking and clearing, recording data and following safety precautions. Borrowed traps can also be purchased from us if you want to continue doing backyard trapping after your loan period ends. To find out more, please get in touch.
Buy Traps
If you’re keen to do some trapping on your property, boxed traps can be purchased locally from the Wānaka Community Workshop at 15 Gordon Road. Their volunteers build small boxes for a Victor rat trap and larger boxes for a DOC 200 trap which targets rats, hedgehogs, stoats and ferrets. Visit them on Tuesday or Thursday mornings between 9.00am and 12.00pm for more information or email WCW.
Join WBT
Our members pay a one-off membership fee of $5. This gives access to our quarterly newsletters, information about upcoming events, and advice if needed about backyard trapping and volunteering.
Members can also step up to become part of our committee. The committee is made up of people who either coordinate volunteers on a trapline or provide some kind of expertise (technical, educational, community engagement, treasurer, secretary, chairperson). New committee members are always welcome! Email us to find out more.
Donate
Funding allows us to service our existing traps (bait, maintenance) and expand our conservation work to additional parts of the Upper Clutha basin. With your help, we could protect more native wildlife by providing a greater number of traps to reduce predator numbers. If you’d like to donate funds, please get in touch via email.
Donations can also be made directly to the organisation Southern Lakes Sanctuary who support our work. Go to their donation page (make sure you mention Wānaka Backyard Trapping in your comments).
Give a Trap initiative
We’ve joined many other trapping groups around Aotearoa in the Give a Trap initiative which launched in April 2023. View our donation page here and join the growing group of generous supporters.