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A magic trap for those hard to catch cats
Some cats are too wary to be caught in a regular
humane trap. The drop trap has been used with great success
with these hard-to-trap cats.
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The trap is basically a box
made of soft plastic netting. The trap is propped up as shown below
and some aromatic and tasty food is put on the ground at the end of
the trap that is on the ground. The trappers hide some distance away,
holding a long cord attached to the support that holds the trap up in
the air.
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The cat wanders in to inspect the food. It will usually take a few bites while standing up, but will then settle down to eat. This is when the trap support is pulled away to drop the trap over the cat.
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As soon as the cord is pulled to drop the trap, one person rushes over
to stand on its frame to prevent the cat from lifting it to
escape. The frame is weighted with sand, but a panicking cat can still
move or lift it. A second person attaches (or holds) a humane trap to
the door which is attached to the drop trap frame. The access door of the humane trap is opened. The drop trap's door is then
opened and the cat is "encouraged" to go through
it into the humane trap. Then the access door of the humane trap is
closed and secured to complete the operation.
The humane trap is
usually covered with a towel to make it an invitingly dark and safe
place compared with the open drop trap so the cat will go through the
door into it. No towel is shown in the picture above to make it easier to see the whole setup.
Our drop trap is based on design a from Alley Cat Allies which is no longer available! They are now promoting a wooden box design instead..
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