I could think of some (catapult, other trigger mechanisms), but I do not use them because they seem to me prone to damage someone or something I wouldn’t want to damage, and I don’t have mouse/rat problems (I usually have cats).

I think I do have some of those traps, though, not set.

:-(

I could see using a mouse trap to dissuade certain animals from invading my yard.
But a rat trap is a very powerful thing. I wouldn’t want to see a dog or cat get caught with one.
For a large animal, depending on what exactly that is, I might use rat traps suspended from string around the bird feeders. But not on the ground.
A cat could be seriously injured by a mouse trap.

You could set up a automotive 12 volt battery and a ignition capacitor to one screen around the bird feeder post and another screen on the ground. When the animal makes contact with both screens, ZAP. But it won’t kill. (My grandfather used 110 volt house current for his anti-cat device, the meanie!)

I too immediately thought “dissuade” rather a mild description for what might befall a squirrel or for that matter birds themselves which trip a rat trap.

In college, I mounted three of them on the wall to hold our mail. (Two roommates.)

By “dissuade” I meant using it to make aloud noise when an animal approaches my pond to bother/eat my fish. I attached a thin cord to the bait pedal so it snapsehen the cord is touched.

@raum Exactly! That is the kind of example I’m thinking of.

There are contests that use mousetraps as the sole source of power. There are speed and distance contests for it. Speed Contest

I’m looking for other uses.

I amuse myself imagining what the next people who rent that apartment must have thought. Crazy gravity-defying mice? Haha

A rat trap would be a good piece to use to construct a squirrel launching catapult. You have your assignment.