THE JINDABYNE CAT TRAP

THE JINDABYNE CAT TRAP

"Since their importation into the country, the science is clear that feral cats are the single biggest threat to Australia’s mammals which are at higher risk of extinction than any other group of native animals."    Reference: Australian Government, Department of Environment and Energy.

Australia has the world's worst rate of native species extinction since the arrival of Europeans and their imported animals. Trappng feral cats is the lesser of the evils.

A cat looking for its next meal can do a standing jump to height of an adult and precisely snatch a bird from flight. Cats are one of the biggest destroyers of native Australian wildlife from coast to coast, desert to tropics. Cats hunt. Cats kill. That is what cats do, both domestic and feral. Hunting is their primary instinct and in their DNA. 

No Australian region in any state or territory is unaffected by the invasion of millions of cats preying on diminishing numbers of vulnerable wildlife that never evolved to have inbuilt defences against this very efficient hunter. Each generation of cat born in the wild is bigger than the generation before. Some enormous wild cats shot by hunters are recorded to be as big as medium-sized dogs. Feral cats are not thriving on thin air. 

Responsible cat owners keep their cats in secure runs with no running free, ever, day and night.

We have sold many Jindabyne cat traps to very frustrated house owners who are at their wits end from irresponsible neighbours who let their domestic cats roam to jump the fence, crap in the vegie garden and spray their yard and verandah with stinking urine, plus killing birds. Cat poo can harbour the serious disease Toxoplasmosis which is very harmful to health, especially if touched by pregnant women.

For domestic and feral cat stats, click this article by the Australian National University.

JINDABYNE TRAP DIMENSIONS

Length  710 mm
Width  305 mm
Height  305 mm
Wire thickness 2.5 mm
Weight  5 kg

TRAP FEATURES

The Jindabyne is the highest quality Australian-designed and Australian-made cat trap in the business. Its sturdy wire mesh is also made in Australia. These strong traps work, even on the monster-sized feral cats. They are built to last for many years with their 2.5 mm thick galvanized wire mesh at the legal requirement of 25 x 25 mm mesh size and with the strength of the spot welding. The treadle activation mechanism on the trap floor is also legal to activate the trap door mechanism. These are the long-lasting traps that householders, Landcare groups, professional trappers, park Rangers and government trappers use because they get results.

The Jindabyne Cat Trap can be universally used to trap other animals of a similar or smaller size if they are heavy enough to activate the floor treadle. Rinse the menacing predator scent of the cat off the trap with hot water and then use a light eucalyptus oil spray to neutralize the cat odour before starting to trap a prey animal in it.

The Jindabyne Cat Trap should fit through most ceiling manholes if an undesirable has entered or set up home in the roof cavity.

For every feral cat-astrophe that you delete from the large predator population, you will personally save the lives of many thousands of native Australian birds and animals during what would have been that one cat's lifetime. Plus it will no longer be breeding up exponentially with growing numbers of furry killing machines. That one cat's many future generations will not exist. Make feral cats extinct.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR TRAP USE

• Outsmart feral animals by simply understanding their natural behaviour.
  
• Rinse the new trap on arrival in hot water with brush to remove much of the human and factory scent. Never use man-made chemicals or soaps on the trap as the residual scent deters wild animals.
• Using clean gloves to handle the trap, place it on flat ground where it is likely that cats will access it or where you have seen them previously. If the trap is set in your yard, it has to be separated from curious pets and kids.
• Source a few tent pegs to hammer in and anchor the corners of the trap to the ground. Some of the big feral cats will do anything they can to escape. If not anchored, cats can roll the trap upside down, the locking bar then slides the wrong way, the trap door falls open and the trapped cat runs off, unlikely to come back for seconds.
• Before setting it, lightly rub the trap down on the outside with fresh local gum leaves, if you have access. Or give it a light spray of eucalyptus oil with an atomizer. Not essential but it can help put the odds in your favour and mask human scent.
  
• The trap works by luring cats in with appetizing cat food. The back end of the trap is made of galvanized solid sheet steel. This slides up for you to have easy access to tie down the cat food bait at the very back of the floor of the trap. Slide it back down before trapping. This panel also blocks cats from trying to access food from the wrong end of the trap. Ensure that bait food cannot slide under the treadle mechanism which can prevent the trap door from dropping.
  
• If using a small tin of pungent sardines, cat food or similar as bait, pour the liquid in a trail line out from the treadle plate and for a few meters in front of the trap to give the cats a scent trail to follow. Tie the open food tin with food in it into the back of the trap floor to give it resistance, making the cat put pressure on the floor treadle mechanism to get that food, instead of the smarties reaching over the floor treadle and lifting up the food without activating the trap. Avoid having other food laying around in the region of the set trap.
  
• This design has the treadle floor mechanism up the back of the trap. The cat heads to the waiting meal and steps on this treadle. This releases the trap door to drop behind them. The locking bar then drops down over the front entry door to prevent the cat from escaping its cell. Voila!
  
• The smellier the food bait, the better. You don't need vast quantities. It can be bits of Kentucky Fried Chicken or pet food, kitchen table meat scraps or tinned sea food. Some trappers have put in a small bowl of milk to attract cats.
• With bait in place, slide the rear sheet metal door fully down. Set the trap by sliding the front locking bar up above the front door and then lifting this hinged front door up until it is parallel to the ground.
• Place the top end of the external metal rod to sit just over the front door handle, now laying flat against the top edge of the trap. Adjust the rod position for a fast hair trigger action. It can be greased with candle wax or paraffin wax where metal rubs against metal so that it slides fast when activated. The two vertical rails either side of the front entrance can also be waxed, where the locking bar slides up and down. Paraffin wax used to make a seal over preserved food has no synthetic chemical odour.
  
• Test the trap by pushing the rod off the handle on the top of the trap. Check the amount of resistance required for the trap door and locking bar to drop which should be minimal.
  
• Some trappers (but not all) darken off the trap interior with natural tree bark or leafy branches leaning up against the outside of the trap walls. Leave the top of the trap clear of obstacles where the rod is holding down the trap door handle. This makes the trap look a bit more natural and turns its interior into a semi-darkened tunnel. This cover may encourage very wary wild cats to enter the trap.
  
• If you have a particularly smart or difficult cat to trap, like those who have been previously shot at but missed, set the trap up for a few days in position before baiting it up. Wire up the front door so that it sits parallel to the ground but the trap cannot be activated. Let cats get used to seeing it in this open position in the same place. Some food can be put in the entry and the middle the floor of the trap for the hungry cat to have a nibble and leave during this preparation time. Then set the trap using the same food but only available behind the floor treadle. The cat then heads into the back of the trap with relative confidence.
• Compared to wily foxes, cats are easier to trap.
• Check your trap daily. Around breakfast time can be good as cats are often hunting through the night when vulnerable birds are in their nests. Eggs in the nest are also not safe from cats.
  
• You may discover that you have trapped another meat-eating species including the dreaded feral Myna bird or your own pet or working dog. If it is a native animal, let it go and reset the trap. Never let a feral animal go alive.
  
• Once you have trapped your first cat, you have the knowledge and experience to trap the next ones.
• When you have despatched the cat, it can be buried, as long as you have not been using poisons on the property. Planting a tree over the carcass for nutrient availability is one idea or bury it in the vegie patch for the same purpose. Gross feeders such as passionfruit plants and rhubarb grow rather well with the extra nutrients below.
  
• This trap can be universally used to trap other animals of a similar or somewhat smaller size. It is not suitable for foxes. Their much bigger trap is 1,200 mm long. Rinse the menacing predator scent of the cat off the trap before trying to trap a prey animal and use the eucalyptus oil spray to neutralize the cat odour.
• The Jindabyne Cat Trap should fit through most ceiling man holes if an undesirable has entered the roof cavity.

CAUTION

• Feral cats are dangerous. When approaching a feral or stray cat trapped in the cage, it can go completely nuts and seriously want to kill you. They are all ear-piercing screams, ears back, eyes narrowed and focused directly on you as their target with sharp claws coming lightening-fast in your direction, trying to slash you to shreds. (Imagine how a small marsupial or bird feels with that coming at them). This is a bit different to the blinkered Disneyland view of cats that some people have.
  
• If you are scratched or bitten by a feral cat, you may get a rotten blood disease that puts you in hospital because of the nasty bacteria from the putrefying bits of flesh under their razor-sharp claws from their killing of birds and animals. Same for puncture wounds caused by biting. If they draw your blood, get checked out same day at the doctors.
• Throw an old towel or blanket over the caged cat to protect yourself if you have to move the trap with a live crazy cat in it, say shifting it into the back of a ute to take it elsewhere to the helpful neighbour with a gun or to a Vet for a goodnight injection. Wear heavy gloves to handle the trap with the live cat in it.
  
• The quickest, safest and most humane way to despatch a feral cat trapped in the cage is with a bullet to the head, if on a farm with firearms, or ask a neighbour with firearms, most likely a .22 stuck through the mesh. Avoid hitting the wire mesh, ricocheting the bullet and damaging the trap.
• If shooting is not an option or if you are in towns or suburbs, check with your local Ranger or Vet before trapping. They are likely to scan the trapped cat for a micro chip. If it has a microchip and the cat is held in a council pound for a short while to see if there is an owner coming to collect it, the owner will be required to pay a fee to get their roaming cat back. Some councils have cat curfews meaning pet cats are not permitted to roam, ever, same as for dogs. 
• Trapping does not require toxic poison baits which can cause unintended and secondary kills of animals further up the food chain when they eat baits and poisoned carcasses laying around. Trapping also means you know exactly where the trapped animals are. Poisoned animals run off and can die anywhere and not under your control, including the carcasses contaminating water supplies.

GOOD TRAPPING PRACTICE

• Decide what you are going to do with any live animal before you start trapping anything.
• If you cannot quickly, safely and humanely despatch the trapped animal yourself on the day you trap it, have someone organized nearby who can. Do not dither.
  
• For all live capture traps, check the set traps at least once daily. Good trappers never leave an animal in a trap for a long slow death by exposure, thirst, starvation and heat. There is no need for animal torture.
  
• Record where you place your various traps if you are on acres or if you are a Ranger in a national park so that all traps can be routinely checked and retrieved.
  
• Don't leave uneaten pet food, bones, food scraps or unburied livestock carcasses laying around the property as the scent will attract hungry feral and stray cats, foxes and wild dogs like a plague.
  
• Before trapping in the suburbs and if you need assistance to deal with the trapped cat, first contact your local Ranger at council offices to ask if they will deal with your trapped feral cat, before starting trapping. They may not be instantly available when you catch the cat. They are most likely to assist if they know in advance that the cat is trapped in a proper cat trap like the Jindabyne. This acceptance is because it is much safer for them to handle the cat in this cage with its slide-up rear gate to butt up against their transport cage with no espape routes to transfer of the cat from your trap to their vehicle transport cage. It is most likely against workplace Health and Safety regulations if they are asked to deal with a cat in a non-compliant cat trap and they will refuse. They do not want to get injured either.
  
• You can also ask advice from your local Vet in business hours if they have information on what to do with trapped cats, before you need that information out of business hours.

CAT FACTS

• Click here to see what other Australians are doing to manage feral cats.
• Never feed stray cats. You are not doing the wildlife any favours by helping cats breed up in the city, suburbs or in the country.
• One feral cat eats on average five or six native animals a day, from birds to mammals, lizards and insects. Multiply that number by ten million cats a day and then by 365 days a year. Each cat may live for fifteen years in the bush.
  
• If you think that precious, well-fed Tiddles would not behave like a hunter if given the opportunity to roam, that thinking is a delusion. Cat owners most likely won't even see it happening but a reality check can be seen by clicking here. All cats instinctively know how to hunt, even if it has never done so before. Cats are compelled to chase and catch small things that move.
  
• Hooks to hold meat inside traps have been illegal for around 30 years. Penalties for using inhumane hook traps are heavy duty.
• There is a mental condition called animal hoarding, one symptom of obsessive compulsive disorder that can occur after a life trauma event. Pensioners have been shown on TV news bulletins with a small apartment swarming with a large number of cats that they can not afford to feed, asking for donations to help feed them all. Imagine the stink. 
• Strange people still dump unwanted kittens alive in cardboard boxes to starve or gutlessly and mindlessly release them in forests to fend for themselves. Cats immediately go hunting to survive and breed up in the bush.
• Unless you are a registered professional cat breeder, all pet cats should be desexed as soon as they are old enough.
  

BULK PRICING
31 x Jindabyne cat traps will fit on one shipping pallet.
Please contact IT'S A TRAP for bulk pricing, ie more than one trap per order.

SHIPPING IS ADDITIONAL
Cage traps are shipped by courier to your door. Traps are shipped from Victoria and New South Wales.
Shipping price is dependent on the size of your order, the weight and your delivery postcode.
Shipping is Australia-wide.