Above picture: The Victor ® snap trap for mice, photograph by the Woodstream Corporation
The Woodstream Corporation, based in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA, has donated 792 Victor ® wide pedal mouse traps and 24 Tin Cat ® live traps to the Saving Marion Island’s Seabirds: The Mouse-Free Marion (MFM) Project. In accordance with the provisions of the Prince Edward Islands Management Plan, the biosecure (ISPM 15 treated) wooden mouse traps are packed ready for loading onto South Africa’s Antarctic research and supply vessel, the S.A. Agulhas II, that departs for Marion Island later this week. The MFM Project field team will use these traps under ethics and research permits in field trials designed to assess the densities of House Mice in various habitats and at different altitudes across the island. Notably, it is intended to undertake a survey of mouse density and distribution using the Victor ® snap traps in the inland high-altitude polar desert, where mice have never been studied. The information gained will help us refine the baiting strategy and advise decisions about how much bait we need to spread to ensure that every single mouse encounters bait during the eradication operation.
Packed and ready to head south, along with 791 more snap traps!
Andrew Long, the Sustainability Project Coordinator for Woodstream, has written to MFM News on his company’s donation: “The wood-based plastic-pedal mouse trap is a simple option that will humanely kill the mice for data collection. Woodstream snap traps use sustainably sourced Forestry Stewardship Council-certified wood and are kiln dried. The Victor ® product is a high-catch-rate device that will assist in monitoring and assessing the population density of mice in different locations on Marion Island.”
Andrew continues “For over a century, Woodstream has been a leader for consumer rodent and pest control, providing effective and innovative solutions. Since 2021, Woodstream has embraced sustainability as a core corporate mission, striving to reduce our environmental impact and create lasting positive change through our Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance initiatives. The MFM Project caught our attention due to the unique connection to our various products and the alignment to our corporate mission.”
The MFM Project is most grateful for the donation of mouse traps by the Woodstream Corporation and anticipates they will serve their purpose well on Marion Island.
With thanks to Andrew Long, Sustainability Project Coordinator, Woodstream Corporation.
John Cooper, News Correspondent, Mouse-Free Marion Project. 16 April 2025
*******************************************************************************
The problem and the target. A House Mouse climbs to feed on the already scalped head of a Wandering Albatross chick at night on Marion Island; photograph by Stefan Schoombie
The Mouse-Free Marion Project is a registered non-profit company (No. 2020/922433/08) in South Africa, established to eradicate the invasive albatross-killing mice on Marion Island in the Southern Ocean. The project was initiated by BirdLife South Africa and the South African Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment. Upon successful completion, the project will restore the critical breeding habitat of over two million seabirds, many globally threatened, and improve the island’s resilience to a warming climate. For more information or to support the project please visit mousefreemarion.org.
