Possums are cute, their fur is extremely warm and soft, and they have adapted amazingly well in our country. However the latter is very unfortunate, as possums are highly destructive to the ecosystem. Possums were originally introduced to New Zealand from Australia in the mid-1830’s to establish a fur trade. Possum fur is often mixed with merino to make super warm and lightweight clothing. Possum fur is even used to line garments used in the Arctic and environments with similar conditions. This is because of the unique structure of the fibre. Possum hairs are hollow, this makes them act like not only like Thermoses, but they also do not freeze in the extremely low temperatures experienced in such places. I find this rather ironic considering possums evolved in Australia, a country that generally has warmer weather.

Possums are still occasionally hunted in New Zealand for their fur and skins, but no where near as much as when they were first introduced, as the demand for possum pelts has decreased since then.

This week I was fortunate enough to be able to tag along with the possum eradication program that is being carried out on the Otago peninsula by the Otago Peninsula Biodiversity Group (OPBG). They are working tirelessly toward making the Peninsula pest-free. I think it is great that there are people willing to take this enormous task on. From my past experiences in predator control I know the work is not easy, and not just in the physical sense, perseverance and patience is also needed in large amounts to succeed. The traps we were checking were leg-hold traps, which had been placed in and around bushy areas on two farms. Most of the community up there is on-board with the program, giving consent for OPBG to carry out eradication work on their properties.

A number of techniques have to be used for the program to work. This includes baiting, live-capture traps and kill traps. These methods have to be interchanged at different stages of the program because possums will became bait or trap shy. The first knock-down is usually done with poison, but when the numbers start getting lower traps are used instead. If possums become bait-shy they will avoid bait for up to five years, but if they have a close encounter with a trap, they only stay trap-shy for around five minutes. This makes traps ideal for the mop up stages of eradication programs.

Killing animals is not glamorous or nice, but in a grim way it is satisfying, especially when the numbers build up because you know you are increasing the survival of much more native wildlife. While the stats must still be done to scientifically show for sure the positive effects this possum control has been having on the peninsula, there has been a number of signs seen by community members suggesting OPBG’s efforts are working well. These include the re-appearance of birds such as the tui and kereru, increased yield in orchard fruits and personal rose bushes actually growing flowers (before hardly any flowers bloomed as they are highly liked by possums).

So quite frankly as communities I think we need to turn off to the possums ‘cuteness’ and the guilt in killing them and instead wage war against them, just as the communities on the Peninsula have done, which is a good example of how all, (native wildlife and residents), are benefiting from it.