Phillip sold most of his artworks in the 1990’s to protect 57 acres of pre-European forest located in Stokes Valley, Wellington. He was wanting to save it from development housing. He was then faced with the huge task of caring for this land (kaitiaki) and controlling the predators of the native wildlife within. 

Most importantly to him was to avoid using deadly toxins on the land so that the ecosystem was not disrupted. 

So Phillip used his design and problem solving skills to develop humane traps.  From trialling these very basic prototypes – hundreds of thousands have been made and used to protect Kiwi and other endangered wildlife.

He gifted his intellectual property to NZ to benefit the regeneration of native species in NZ and now overseas. 

Currently there are several different humane traps invented by Phillip to target specific predators and browsers, to protect native flora and fauna. 

While travelling around NZ with the Department of Conservation doing trap trials and setting up trapping systems with community groups and farmers, Phillip was gathering material of the endangered species he was protecting

for his future wildlife paintings. 

Phillip has produced a series of Tricks & Tips videos about the DOC200 predator trap. These are designed to help users to work safely with the traps and to keep them operating efficiently and effectively.