Mammal Trapping in Madagascar
Does anyone know the situation with small mammal trapping in Madagascar, is it allowed etc.
Thanks
Mark
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3 Comments
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charleswhood
You can get some of the endemic rodents through spotlighting or even during the day, walking quietly, as trip reports have covered. I am pretty sure that *officially* one cannot trap without a permit, and that at the airport, if customs noticed Sherman traps and the like, there could be questions. Unofficially, if one is discrete, an individual guide might be willing to look the other way. Your question raises an ethical problem for this site — in the past, we all have been free about talking about trapping for rodents (and netting for bats, in some cases), when officially most of that was done without permits. How much of that should be encouraged going forward, I am not sure. What liability is there if one “outs” oneself as a Sherman trap user in a trip report, if in park x it is not formally allowed? For that matter, spotlighting is “harassment” in some rangers’ views in USA national parks, and yet it is commonly done by mammal fanciers and without much harm (?) to wildlife. In Yosemite, more bears have been hit by tourists’ cars than have had their lives ruined because somebody was spotlighting. I don’t have answers, other than I think that collectively there has been a shift in actual behavior and also in reported behavior. / Charles Hood, California
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Jon Hall
Totally agree. A lot of the restrictions on niche mammalwatching activities are nonsensical and have not been thought through or just an accident of what was popular 50 years earlier. In Australia for instance it is technically illegal to live trap small mammals anywhere without a permit ,.. but people can pull fish out of the water on hooks to their heart’s content. That said trapping, particularly in Africa and South and East Asia is particularly sensitive in national parks and is almost certainly prohibited. It can send a pretty confusing message if on the one hand there is pressure to stop hunting in the park, and on the other these white dudes are turning up with traps and nets and it’s apparently fine. I have run into this when I had official permission to set traps and thankfully I was with a local biologist who could set them straight. That said it might be something a local guide can help with in some places … one more reason to use a local guide who is trusted by the park and the community.
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Jon Hall
I suggest you talk with your local guide – they ought to know people in each park / area and whether research is happening and could advise. If not then I think you would likely have problems. But I think trapping is often underway and you might be able to coincide with a researcher.