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Retrieving dead or injured vermin from traps – surely one of the most unsavoury of housekeeping tasks – is set for a high-tech makeover.

Instead of someone having to make regular check of traps to see they if contain a dead rat or mouse, the novel trap sends out a text message to summon a pest controller. By ensuring the trap is emptied as soon as the animal is caught, it can be reset quickly, so ensuring more vermin are caught.

The idea comes from UK pest control firm Rentokil, which commissioned Wyless of London and Radio-Tech of Epping, Essex, to build…

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