Sam Gibson Sam Gibson is a trapper and conservation worker who runs the Instagram page Sam the Trap man: https://www.instagram.com/sam_the_trap_man, which has 17,000 followers. He's spent his life in the bush hunting, trapping and fishing,and has worked for DOC as well as private conservation companies.


In 2019 he established the Eastern Whio Link conservation project, restoring whio (native blue duck) to the rivers of the Waioeka on the East coast, where he was born and raised. This work is largely done by volunteers and is bearing fruit - the team started with four breeding pairs, which have since birthed 100 chicks, and he reports that the number of whio bobbing in the waters in the area is starting to increase noticeably.

Sam lives with his partner Roimata and their two young children in Gisborne. Read More Read Less