by CORANZ researchers
Extracts from a 2009 scientific paper by Annie Potts Co-director, New Zealand Centre for Human-Animal Studies, University of Canterbury,
There is a saying in New Zealand “The only good possum is a dead possum.”
Brushtail possums were first successfully introduced from Australia to New Zealand in 1858 during acclimatisation projects underway to install in New Zealand non-native, nonhuman animals the pioneer settlers were accustomed to in their home- lands (Isern, 2002). Although some possums were imported to New Zealand
The main reason for their introduction was to establish a profitable possum fur industry in this new colony This venture was whole-heartedly supported by successive early Governments of New Zealand, with hundreds of separate intentional releases of possums being made by government agencies and acclimatisation societies between 1895 and the early 1920s. The Auckland Acclimatisation Society even argued during this time, “. . . we shall be doing a great service to the country in stocking these large areas with this valuable and harmless animal” 1
Although many of New Zealand’s early farmers and orchardists were opposed to the release of possums, trappers; furriers; and some scientists were in favour of continued liberations.
In 1922, following intense debate and concerted pressure on the government from farmers, the Department of Internal Affairs declined further requests to release possums, although historian Druett (1983) maintains that illegal releases occurred into the 1940s. Now there are thought to be around 70 million possums in New Zealand. (NZ Department of Conservation, 2000).
Possum Demonisation
Since the 1960s, anti-possum rhetoric has intensified in New Zealand.
It is commonly held that these largely herbivorous marsupials have had a profound impact on forests and native wildlife preferring to feed off
indigenous trees, snails, and insects and competing for fruits and flowers with native birds such as tui, kaka, and korimako.
Fear is also held that possums could devastate New Zealand’s primary export earners-the beef and dairy industries-due to their capacity to carry and spread bovine tuberculosis (NZ Department of Conservation, 2000). These concerns have prompted extensive possum-control campaigns led by governmental agencies and employing hunting, trapping, poisoning, and other methods of biological control.
The possum clearly represents an unwanted “outsider.”
Possum eradication therefore becomes a patriotic act that helps to preserve (an imagined) New Zealand figured in ecological and economic terms.
Contemporary portrayals of possums across a variety of domains predominantly represent the possum as a pest – a successful invader who has largely
conquered New Zealand’s forests and a threat to New Zealand’s substantial farming sector.
In the “foreign threat narrative,” the possum spreads, infects, invades, attacks, and kills.
Revenge and Punish
A related discourse condemns the possum for having seemingly deliberately caused such devastation; the rhetoric associated with this perspective favours revenge and punishment. A “revenge narrative” is often employed in the promotion and marketing of possum eco-products in New Zealand. A perhaps more benign-sounding discourse, but one that has important implications, represents the possum as recognisably “cute, but lethal.” This rhetoric is employed when trying to combat sentimentalism that may arise from the obvious aesthetic appeal of the possum.
These various negative constructions of the brushtail possum-- their stronghold is being challenged, particularly in popular cultural forums, through the work of artists and writers. For example, taxidermist Angela Singer uses the carcasses of possums in her activist art against the use of 1080 poison in possum control.
Irrational
My argument here does not rely on the denial of claims that possum activity causes problems in New Zealand; rather, the purpose of this article is to
examine how possums are represented irrationally-and in the extreme – as inherently malevolent and deliberately malicious against their enforced
new homeland.
Prevailing denigrating discourses rely on the denial of sentience toward the possum and also involve the suppression of empathy or compassion toward an animal constructed as the country’s number-one pest and enemy.
Such discourses also mobilise nationalist sentiments in the service of inhumane possum control programmes and illustrate how conservation programmes can unwittingly and counter-intuitively violate the rights of particular species.
“Inhumane possum control programmes” are used by the Department of Conservation
1080 Science says “[time to death for possums after a single oral dose of 1080] is 5.0-97.0 hours”
“Animals suffer for hours or days with violent muscle spasms, convulsions, and respiratory distress” says
authority
Over the past six decades, New Zealand has demonised possums for the imagined negative impact their presence has had on the native environment and wildlife. Possums-blamed and despised- is extensively portrayed as the nation’s number one pest.
Absolute bullshit!
The fur is 30 times the value of strong wool and the meat is ideal for pet food and even human consumption. As herbivores they are very clean animals.
I couldn’t agree more with you Jack.
1080 poison is used on them and its so cruel and inhumane.
Economically 1080 is a disaster as use iof it renders fur and meat toxic and unusable.
Possums are a resource to be harvested.
I came across details of a Department of Conservation workshop held in the mid-1990s on “Possums as Conservation Pests”.
A scientist Graham Nugent of Landcare Research, spoke on the subject.
Assuming the oft-quoted figure of 70 million possums in New Zealand, the marsupials “apparently consume about 21,000 tonnes of vegetation per day – presumably 300 g wet weight consumption multiplied by 70 million possums,” he said. “This oft-quoted figure is frequently used to depict possum as a rapacious consumer of all things green.”
“But,” added Graham Nugent. “that implication ignores the trees’ daily foliage production of 300,000 tonnes for forests alone – 7.5 million hectares x 15 tonnes wet weight of foliage per hectare per year.”
Let’s explain that further.
In simpler words, the fictitious number of 70 million possums would gobble only about 1/15th or 7 percent of the new foliage each night.
And the accusation possums eat bird eggs and nestlings has been disproved by Landcare Research studies (Ruscoe, Nugent etc) in south Westland where NO feathers, birds eggs remains were found in stomach autopsied.
On the mythical Tb threat, in 2016 minister Nathan Guy told parliament 9830 possums were autopsied for Tb. Not one – zero – had Tb.
While OSPRI (ex-Animal Health Board) uses an error prone skin test to test TB in stock herds, (30% error), a good number of Tb infected animals slip through to remain in the herd to infect any animals with low immune systems. Of course wearing my cynicists hat, it keeps Tb going and OSPRI bureaucrats going on in a well paid job too.
I know a possum trapper who trapped some 400,00 possums in his many years and just two were “sick” possibly from Tb but not for sure.
In some rural schools possum hunts are held, with the dead possums often entered in ‘best dressed possum’ competitions. The dead possums are posed in a variety of ghoulish ways, with attempts to be humorous evident. It is sick.
It is not rocket science to see the link between the many forms of violence. Instilling violent anti-animal attitudes into kids is totally wrong. It has a dead end for society, making them insensitive to violence.
Shame on the bureaucrats who promote the anti-possum hatred. Facts show how wrong and twisted they are.
I hold a copy of “the OPOSSUM IN New Zealand Habits and Trapping, L.T. Pracy & R. I. Kean. NZ Forest Service Wellington 1969
Publicly Item 40.
(First published in the NZ Journal of Agriculture Vol. 78. No. 4 and 5. 1949.
This booklet describes in detail methods of trapping, and damage to herbaceous. (Opossums are herbivores.
P 13 Effects on Birdlife states birds and eggs do not form a natural food.
The effects are indirect through competition for food.
Despite this DOC have a constructed display of a stuffed opossum holding a fledgling chicken in its paws held up to its mouth.
Why?
This post raises questions about how species are described and understood in New Zealand. Public language can shape perception, and perception in turn influences policy and management approaches. While it is clear that introduced species have impacts in some environments, the way those impacts are communicated can vary in tone and emphasis. Outcomes are not uniform across all locations, and responses are often shaped by both evidence and public expectation. Maintaining space for discussion, including differing perspectives, supports a more complete understanding of how ecological systems function and how decisions are made within them.
Ecological interactions are rarely defined by a single factor. Species behaviour, habitat, and environmental conditions all contribute to outcomes that can vary between locations. This variation means that broad generalisations, whether positive or negative, do not always reflect what is observed on the ground. Recognising that complexity helps support more proportionate responses and reduces the risk of decisions being driven by simplified narratives rather than a full understanding of the system.
Public discussion often reflects strongly held views, particularly where environmental and economic interests intersect. That is not unexpected, but it does place importance on how information is interpreted and presented. Where multiple perspectives exist, the focus shifts from certainty to evaluation. Maintaining a balanced approach supports more durable outcomes, particularly in areas where long-term management decisions are involved.
Language influences perception, and perception influences policy. Where issues are complex, simplified narratives can obscure variation across different environments. A balanced understanding depends on considering both evidence and experience.
I don’t care what anybody else says, I love my possum neighbours. They do not trouble any of the other ground-dwelling birds in my neighbourhood, and when they reach problematic levels of mischief I simply relocate them deeper into the bush. I think CORANZ themselves ran a feature testing whether possums actually did eat eggs or not – I will have to try and find it.
Here it is – part one of 4
I used to work for the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries.
First in a regional accounting role, and then in a regional IT role (the regions .. in both cases .. being the entire South Island)
I can tell you, first-hand .. the vilification of the humble possum .. and resulting efforts to control them .. are big, big business.
Government departments work very hard to win .. and to retain .. their budget appropriations (taxpayer funding).
Budgets provide funding .. which enables everything that happens after that. Jobs, organisational sense of purpose, both capital and operating expenditure .. nothing happens without funding.
DOC fervently believes in the work they are doing .. in a very real sense, (many of) their jobs depend upon it.
Now, creating and maintaining jobs is a great thing to do, nobody’s going to disagree.
But not when it is achieved by, effectively, fraudulently obtaining .. and misappropriating .. hard-earned taxpayer’s money.
(Having said that.. successive governments have turned that into an art-form, haven’t they?)
I recently, by chance, met retired Director-General of DOC, Lou Sanson on Stewart Island. Now, Lou’s a great guy, I’m sure. But when he worked for DOC .. the DOC budget was greatly bolstered by funding for possum control (as it continues to be today).
A significant part of this funding is for Aerial 1080.
Aerial 1080, effectively, partly-funded Lou’s salary.
Aerial 1080 is a scam .. now part of a wider scam, called Predator Free 2050.
I say “scam” because it is effectively fleecing taxpayer funding .. to be applied to a totally misleading and thoroughly unachievable goal.
And as for the part OSPRI plays in Aerial 1080 .. that’s another scam.
It’s doubtful possums ever played the significant role in the spreading of TB they were blamed for.
But with NZ now effectively internationally regarded as TB-free .. and with no evidence of TB being able to be found in wild possums .. continuing the funding model is effectively yet another scam.
I grew up “taking care” of possums .. I shot them whenever I had the chance, and may even have occasionally swerved to hit them, on the road.
I am still part of a team that “takes care” of into the thousands of wild, introduced critters and birds per annum.
We undertake way “more than our fair share” of effort .. to make sure New Zealand is not over-run with these species.
But I am appalled at the ongoing, fraudulent scam around possums .. and the tens of millions that are wasted, every year.
As a country .. faced with a cost-of-living crisis, and now a fuel crisis .. we simply cannot afford it.
Indeed, we joke now about almost treating possums amongst New Zealand’s endangered species …
A couple of appendix comments:
(1) all of the “taking care of” wild, introduced species we’ve spent lifetimes doing .. is at zero cost to ratepayers and taxpayers. The wild, introduced species our team (mostly friends and family members) variously “takes care of” .. includes rabbits, hares, possums (yes, we still shoot and trap a few), wallabies, goats, deer, tahr, pigs, maybe the occasional chamois, ducks, geese, and swans. Not to mention any feral cats, mysteries, and rodents we come across. Come to think of it .. you could say, we’re natural born killers. The animal rights people won’t like us .. but we don’t live in their fantasy world .. we live in the real world, where real stuff happens ., and real stuff has to be done about it.
(2)When I say Predator Free 2050 is “a totally misleading and thoroughly unachievable goal”, I mean, for gawd’s sake! Ostensibly, it aims to rid the country of rats, stoats, and possums. An admirable, aspirational goal, and one we’d all like to perhaps get behind .. but really? This is humanity trying to wind back the clock .. to behave like god .. against impossible odds. Rats (and mice), for example, are almost perfectly designed by nature .. to fill voids, and clean up excess food supplies. Well-fed rodents breed prolifically. A single breeding pair of rats, in perfect conditions .. can produce up to 1800 offspring, inside 12 months. The magic is .. that population excess (what we may call a plague) can disappear just as quickly, if the food dries up.
I grew up in the country, and I’ve been a Recreational Hunter all my life. For those of you who are urban dwellers, let me explain something. If you live in the country, you either take counter-measures against rats .. or generally, you’ve got rats. They are the only two options. At low numbers, you may not see them much in summer .. but they’ll make their presence known, as winter approaches. That’s happening at my place right now.
So, I know about rats. I know how quickly they become trap-wise, and can become bait-shy. If there’s a lot of them about .. you can detect their presence. You’ll pick them up on your game cameras. You’ll see them in your thermals, when hunting at night (we can hunt on private land right through until the sun comes up .. and rats stick out like a dog’s proverbials, in a thermal imager).
I just came back from a week on Stewart Island. DOC recently aerially-1080’d areas of Stewart Island .. but not where we were. We had a mouse in our hut .. who ate the fat off our BBQ each night. We shot 1 x feral cat .. and we saw a few possums. Not one rat. Not in or around our Hut (where hut occupants do undertake rat control) .. nor out in the bush. And believe me, we spent some time in the bush.
So where’s the need to carpet-bomb the place, with Aerial 1080?
That’s not just my experience in a single hunting trip, on Stewart Island .. it’s actually my life experience. And I bet it’s the life experience shared by a lot of other Hunters, too .. I’d venture to suggest, tens of thousands of them. Not the shiny-bums, who make the allocation decisions around tens of millions of our hard-earned taxpayer dollars .. but people who actually spend real time, lots of it, far out in the bush and backcountry. Where’s the rat plaques DOC talks about, to help justify their Aerial 1080 bombardments? Who’s actually seen them?
I’m not saying critters like rats etc don’t exist (they most certainly do) .. and I’m not saying population management isn’t necessary. It most definitely is. There’s people like us, and countless others, doing it all the time, right across the country .. the objective must be wild, introduced species in relatively low, sustainable numbers.
What I am saying, is the repeated bombardment of indiscriminately applied (carpet-bombed) Aerial 1080 .. appears to be based on lies. Lies that are sometimes discovered or revealed (like the made-up photo of the possum eating a bird, with a rat carrying another bird across a vine stapled to a tree). But lies that nobody can otherwise ever disprove. Because The Forest Hides The Truth.
Stewart, well said and thank you CORANZ for your informative articles and opinion ones.
In addition to the demonising of possums, it is a strong 180 degree turn around to the fact the possum is a very valuable resource for its fur and the meat is indeed very nutritious either as pet food and as meat for human consumption. I have not tried possum as a meal but a friend has in a mountain hut in a “camp casserole” .
He says it was delicious.