Thirty traps from New Zealand have been used in Samoa to capture at least one mongoose said to be in the villages of Satitoa and Malaela in Aleipata district, one of the worst affected areas in last year's tsunami.
The division of conservation at the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, says the traps were brought from New Zealand when efforts by villagers and the ministry were unsuccessful.
The villagers saw the animal some weeks after the tsunami however one of the ministry of natural resources and environment's assistant CEOs, Faleafaga Tony Tipama'a, says the mongoose was first seen by a security officer on the wharf at Satitoa way before the tsunami last September.
There are concerns the animal could become a pest.
No one in Satitoa and Malaela has any idea how many mongoose are acutally being seen.
