|
The brushtail possum is a furry animal weighing between
2 and 5 kilograms, and has a thick, bushy tail, pointed
face, protruding eyes and large ears.
The possum kills native wildlife
by destroying the native habitat and eating eggs and
young of native species.
Each night between 50 - 80
million possums in New Zealand eat their way through
22000 tones of native forest. Possums are distinctive
feeders, leaving the ground littered with broken branches,
discarded leaves, or partly eaten fruits of native plants.
Bovine
tuberculosis is a serious threat to the cattle and deer
farming industries. In 2006 the Animal Health Board
spent $60 million on controlling TB, mostly by poisoning
possums, and an additional $27 million on research,
herd testing and compensation.
As well as acting as a carrier
of bovine tuberculosis, possums emerge from forests
to feed on pasture.
There
have been numerous attempts to eradicate the NZ Possum
because of the damage they do to native trees and wildlife.
The annual cost to the economy is considerable: in 2006
government agencies spent $111 million on possum control.
Once possum populations started
to soar, trappers began to make a living from hunting
them. In 1981, 3.2 million skins were exported.
In the 1990s the industry diversified
to use pelts, leather, meat and the fibre. Fibre is
used by itself to make hats and gloves, or spun with
merino wool and made into a soft and luxurious fabric.
|
