Other Animals Stealing Trapped Critters
July 24, 2024
What happens when our catch is stolen?
As you may know our traps are set underground within the tunnel system of the gopher/mole. Sometimes when a gopher/mole is caught another animal (usually raccoons or skunks) will smell the caught critter and actually dig up the trap! This is a somewhat common occurrence since it’s an easy free meal for them. You will usually see dug up dirt and sometimes the trap will be left behind with just a little bit of dirt and fur left in it or the trap could be completely missing along with the catch.
Does this still count as a successful catch?
We do still count this as a catch! This is because it is extremely unlikely that a trap will be both set off and dug up or missing without another animal interfering. The only reason an animal would take our trap is if there is already a critter in the trap.
It’s very rare that a gopher/mole will push the trap out of the tunnel system and in the event that this does happen it would look very different. A stolen trap will be dug up from the surface and will either be near the open hole, found a little ways away on the surface, or completely missing. A pushed up trap will likely not be set off and will look like it got shoved up from underneath instead of dug up.
Another case in which we may find a trap that looks similar to the one above is if the caught critter has decomposed – this is especially common during the hot summer months. These small critters decompose quite quickly so sometimes by the time we return there is not much left in the trap.
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