John Berry has been volunteering his time making fly traps from donated and recycled materials in the hope of reducing flies around the town.





Flies have ruined John Berry's summer so now he's taking revenge

The Tokoroa man is on a mission to kill 58 million flies with his homemade fly traps, eradicating the "filthy" pests from his town.

CHRISTEL YARDLEY/FAIRFAX NZ Tokoroa man John Berry is on a crusade to eradicate flies from the town with his homemade contraptions.

But New Zealand's "Bugman" Rudd Kleinpaste has warned against total annihilation, saying flies fill a vital role in the environment getting rid of the rubbish no other bugs will.

Berry has been volunteering his time making fly traps from donated and recycled materials - the only expense is hot glue sticks and time.

Berry has made nine fly traps so far out of 200 litre drums, recycled cans, and plastic.

CHRISTEL YARDLEY/FAIRFAX NZ All you need to catch a fly.

His target is to make 12 which he estimates would kill 58 million flies with their tempting but deadly combination of rotting food scraps and a one way door to certain doom.

Following a design found online from a New Zealand farmer, he inserts cans with small holes in them into holes cut in the side of a drum filled with bait donated from the local fish and chip shop.

The flies can get in but not out and eventually drown in water left in the bottom of the drum.

It took 45 minutes to make the traps - the only downside was flies had been tracking their way to his house as they found the traps.

However, Berry said it was worth it and wanted the South Waikato District Council to get behind his project.

"I know they are only interested in exotic pests that ruin fruit but flies affect every single person. It's frustrating."

Seven traps have already been set up around the outskirts of town, with the help of volunteers willing to give the traps a go.

"Flies spread a lot of disease and people have been using one can of fly spray a day. They're a nuisance, they're filthy," Berry said.

"Funguses and bacteria decompose things - flies simply turn things into more flies. They just ruin summer."

The not so wacky idea has gained momentum with offers of support and donations from followers off the Genuine Tokoroa Facebook page with many thanking him for trying to sort out the town's fly problem.

Karlene Fanning thought she'd give it a go and contacted Berry on Facebook to have a trap put on her farm.

"Normally our house is full of flies. Every ceiling had flies and we couldn't leave doors and windows open.

"It's definitely made a difference. Anything is worth a try instead of a can [of spray] a day."

But Kleinpaste urged some caution on the fly crusade.

"You don't have to love flies but they are doing a pretty cool job," he said.

"[Flies] recycle everything and have been doing it a couple of million years longer than this gentleman in Tokoroa.

"Who is going to recycle dung? Who's going to recycle the lawnclippings in your compost bin?"

Kleinpaste said saw no point trying to reduce them, instead try and tempt them away from your home by providing flies with alternative shelter.

"He (Berry) needs to put up hedges around his house because instead of going for his peanut butter sandwich they will go into the hedges or shelter he has built."

The Four Pests Campaign

When Chinese leader Mao Zedong launched a fight against flying and crawling pests he had a billion helpers.

The Four Pests campaign started in 1958 was launched as a hygiene movement to exterminate flies, mosquitos, rats and sparrows. It was one of the first actions taken by the Communist leader, and was part of the Great Leap Forward effort to modernise the country in four years.

The Chinese people were mobilised to eradicate the pests, with schools and workplaces being rewarded with recognition with the high number of pests killed.

Sparrows were targeted because they ate four and a half grams of rice a day, so the math showed that for every 1 million sparrows killed there would be enough food for around 60,000 people. This means, an average of 200,000 sparrows were killed every 24 hours over two years. Some were shot but most were frightened into continually flying so they would literally drop dead with exhaustion. Within two years, sparrows were virtually eliminated from China but by that time, China was facing a near-famine, as most crops, especially rice were in short supply. The scheme also backfired as without sparrows to eat them the insect population exploded and pillaged immature crops.

Zedong eventually changed focus to bed bugs.