I wonder if part of the problem is that these traps are being marketed as good for wildlife – hence the name Goodnature. They may be helpful to wildlife in New Zealand, but this is a very different place. They are marketed as being helpful to clear pests – rats and stoats and even grey squirrels from wildlife reserves, etc. The marketing here does not necessarily even mention the possibility of catching hedgehogs, despite the fact that is what they are used for in New Zealand. Even so, you would think the Wildlife Trusts would have realised the problems by now.
I found a picture on Goodnature UK’s Twitter of one of these traps set up. There was no extra tunnel or any sort of casing. It was attached to a pole and looked to be set close enough to the ground that a hedgehog could easily access it.
The particular additional problem with this trap as opposed to other traps out there, is the chucking out and re-setting part of it. A ‘normal’ trap might kill one animal a night. The A24 can kill many.
