Mousetrap: the Swiss whodunnit

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Kathrin Hirsbrunner (right) and assistant Verena Zimmermann load the traps. REMO NAEGELI

All she needs: traps, markers and rubber boots. REMO NAEGELI

Outside of Zurich the women search for mouse holes and mark them with flags. REMO NAEGELI

Hirsbrunner indicates the area where her work has already been completed. REMO NAEGELI

When she hears a click, she knows she's caught a rodent. REMO NAEGELI

The Swiss-made traps ensure a quick death. REMO NAEGELI

Taking a break: on workdays, the women's lunch is without meat. REMO NAEGELI

The search for mice continues. REMO NAEGELI

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Hirsbrunner sets a trap. REMO NAEGELI

A close-up of the battle scene. REMO NAEGELI

Making sure the mouse is dead. REMO NAEGELI

Hirsbrunner breaks its back to ensure it's dead. REMO NAEGELI

Zimmermann and Hirsbrunner show their catch. REMO NAEGELI

Counting up their bounty. REMO NAEGELI

The day's catch is put in a pile at the edge of the field. REMO NAEGELI

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She already has 90,000 dead to her credit and is hunting more. Kathrin Hirsbrunner is Switzerland's only professional mouse trapper.

Hirsbrunner’s target: voles that destroy farmers’ crops. But her lethal skills are also in demand at airports.

A sculptor by trade employed as a social worker, she wanted a change of scenery and to work outdoors. In 2003 she was inspired by a documentary she saw about Switzerland’s last mouse catcher.

Self taught, she revived the trade and started offering her services and lives modestly from the income.

Hirsbrunner says that natural enemies of mice are not enough to regulate the population. A female can produce up to 20 offspring a year.

Hirsbrunner’s traps set in farmers’ meadows catch and kill up to 200 mice a day. A further 50 are caught in orchards.

Mice can also indirectly cause problems for planes, which is why her services are in demand at airports. The rodents attract birds of prey which can be a threat to aircraft during take off and landing.