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General information about traps and devices

Traps and devices are commonly used in pest management. They include:

  • live capture traps
  • kill traps
  • snares.

Traps should be chosen based on the target species, humaneness, and effectiveness. The National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee (NAWAC) has produced a guideline to test the humaneness of traps. Traps that have passed the guideline have been shown to meet certain welfare criteria.

Passing the guideline does not mean that traps are NAWAC or MPI approved, but it provides useful information about which traps are humane when used appropriately.

Traps assessed using the NAWAC guideline – Bionet.NZ [PDF, 157 KB]

Assessing the welfare performance of restraining and kill traps – NAWAC  [PDF, 361 KB]

Choosing an appropriate trap

When using a trap, you are responsible for ensuring you choose the appropriate trap for the target species. The guideline and the results of the trap testing can help you select the most appropriate trap for your situation.

There are no legal requirements for trap manufacturers or suppliers to submit traps for testing, so some commercially available traps may not have been tested.

Live capture traps

Live capture traps are traps that capture and hold live animals. These traps require the operator to check the trap regularly and humanely kill the animals that are caught.

The Act requires that any live capture trap must be manually inspected within 12 hours after sunrise on each day the trap remains set.

Remote monitoring of traps is allowable. When using remote monitoring, the trap must be manually inspected within 24 hours after the capture of an animal in the trap.

Read our remote monitoring of live-capture traps guidance [PDF, 96 KB]

Operators must remove the live animal found in the trap, attend properly to the care of the animal or kill the animal without delay.

Killing of animals must be carried out humanely, as required by the Act.

Restricted traps

Some traps – such as leg-hold (gin traps) and glueboard traps – have restrictions on their use.

Find out about restricted traps and devices

Prohibited traps

Some traps are prohibited and must not be used.

Rodent traps that use a preserving solution (such as Ekofix in the Ekomille trap system) may have been sold in New Zealand. The solution is not registered as a vertebrate toxic agent in New Zealand and must not be used.

Traps that drown animals must not be used. Drowning is a prosecutable offence under the Act.

Snares

There are concerns about the humaneness of snares.

The National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee (NAWAC) has recommended restrictions to minimise the animal welfare risks associated with snares. NAWAC has recommended that the sale and use of snares is regulated.

NAWAC proposal to regulate the sale and use of snares (May 2020) [PDF, 1.1 MB]

Legal requirements for selling and using traps

It's an offence to sell or use a restricted trap in breach of the regulations. Breaches are punishable by up to 12 months’ imprisonment and a fine of up to $50,000 for an individual or $250,000 for a body corporate.

You must remove a trapped animal from a live-capture trap and treat it according to the Act. Breaches are punishable by a fine of up to $5,000 for an individual or $25,000 for a body corporate.

Animal Welfare Act 1999 – NZ Legislation

Cats caught in traps

Owners or people in charge of cats should take all reasonable steps to ensure that their cat does not wander onto land which is known to be actively trapped.

There may be by-laws in place in your area that restrict the use of traps. Your local council can provide you with information about these by-laws.

Killing an animal (humanely) is not illegal under animal welfare legislation, but destroying someone’s property is (Crimes Act 1961) and pet cats are technically considered property. The deliberate act of killing someone’s pet cat should be reported to police, but the humane killing of feral cats is not an offence.

Crimes Act 1961 – NZ Legislation

For a summary of the requirements relating to feral cats and cat colonies, and a list of recommendations for people who manage feral or wild cats in colonies, you can read part 12 of the Animal Welfare (Companion Cats) Code of Welfare: Companion Cats.

Code of Welfare: Companion Cats

The National Cat Management Strategy contains recommendations for managing stray cats. It aims to help people humanely manage cats in a way that protects their welfare and our unique environment and biodiversity. It encourages live trapping (not using leg-hold traps), checking for microchips and desexing/rehoming wherever possible.

New Zealand National Cat Management: Strategy Group Report [PDF, 2.2 MB]

MPI and the Royal New Zealand Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) are jointly responsible for enforcing the Animal Welfare Act 1999. If you have any particular concerns about the trapping of cats in your neighborhood, contact your local SPCA.

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