This week it was revealed that the Kōkako breeding season has started off tragically with rats attacking nests in the Waitakere Ranges.
One person who understands the importance of catching rats before they cause destruction like this is 11-year-old Hugo.
He'd seen rats around his school and thought he and a couple of mates could get the issue under control. They've now become 'The Rat Bags' and head off to school early every day - even weekends - to check the traps.
Hugo says it started after a couple incidents with rats at school, the first was when a rat ran across the playground.
“Everyone just started screaming. Then, I went to empty the food scraps bin one day and there were just hundreds of rats running across the pathway.”
Hugo emailed the school principal and asked if he could trap the rats, and she told him it would be a great help.
“I bought my first rat trap and put near the food scraps and every day I caught one rat. So I saved up my money and bought more traps and now we’ve got about 11 rat traps set out at school.”
He reckons since they started in August they’ve got about 32 rats.
He says it can be annoying to get up early to check the traps, especially on weekends, but his teachers and principal tell him he’s doing a great job and that the number of rats seems to have dropped.
Hugo has already picked a client who wants some rat trapping done around their property. For now, he’s in no doubt about the career path.
“I want to be a rat trapper,” he says.
