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Possum population explodes after controllers sent to fight Oz fires
Topic Started: Nov 23 2013, 10:33 AM (458 Views)
Kahu
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Possum population explodes after controllers sent to fight Oz fires

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Possums eat new growth, compete with native birds for food, and sometimes eat their eggs or disturb nests.

The Department of Conservation could be facing one of its worst possum infestations in decades, partly because workers who helped with pest control were sent to fight bushfires in Australia.

DoC fell short of its target for poison drops over the past year, which meant the conservation estate was less protected before a season in which conditions were expected to be ideal for the proliferation of possums and stoats.

Director-general Lou Sanson told Parliament this week that a plan to carry out pest control over 2832ha in Northland was cancelled because the department's forest firefighters were sent to battle Tasmanian bushfires in January.

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heatseeker
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Import a bunch of hill people from the Appalachian region of the US and tell them these varmints are good eatin

Problem solved.
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Kahu
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Director-general Lou Sanson told Parliament this week that a plan to carry out pest control over 2832ha in Northland was cancelled because the department's forest firefighters were sent to battle Tasmanian bushfires in January. ......

Heatseeker - Just this current government's idea of cost cutting! Possums are Bovine Tb vectors and not a good idea as a food of choice!
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Trotsky
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Big City Boy
I guess the Possum Government must have abandoned the one possum family one baby possum rule too.
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goldengal
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Mistress, House of Dogs
My friend at the lake had never seen a possum before, but had this strange animal coming around and smelling the outside cats' dishes. Her hubby Googled and discovered it is a possum, and she now puts food out for it each night once the feral cats have left.

Take care,
Pat
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wildie
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The best way to get rid of possums is to import coyotes! Good way to get rid of ferral cats too! They will eat any small animals like rabbits and little dogs!
Edited by wildie, Nov 23 2013, 06:10 PM.
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Kahu
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These possums are not like your rat-like Nth American type.
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Dana
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WWS Hummingbird Guru & Wildlife photographer extrordinaire
Some N.A. possums are as big as a cat. When I lived on the mainland near Vancouver they were a threat to chickens. That is the only place in Canada that has possums so big. Their teeth are a fight to look at.





Quote:
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opossum
Didelphimorphs are small to medium-sized marsupials, with the largest just exceeding the size of a large house cat, and the smallest the size of a small mouse. They tend to be semi-arboreal omnivores, although there are many exceptions. Most members of this taxon have long snouts, a narrow braincase, and a prominent sagittal crest. The dental formula is: 5.1.3.44.1.3.4. By mammalian standards, this is a very full jaw. The incisors are very small, the canines large, and the molars are tricuspid.

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Edited by Dana, Nov 24 2013, 04:58 AM.
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FuzzyO
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They showed a mother possum on television the other day with 15 babies on her back. Poor soul, it was slow going for her carrying all that weight as they were definitely well beyond new-born.
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haili
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We have possums in Ont. now. They hitched rides north on trucks from the south. It's a big mistake to feed wild animals. They may be like raccoons and want to live in attics and rip into garbage, etc.
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wildie
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haili
Nov 24 2013, 06:24 AM
We have possums in Ont. now. They hitched rides north on trucks from the south. It's a big mistake to feed wild animals. They may be like raccoons and want to live in attics and rip into garbage, etc.
We have had possums in London ON. since the 70s! I would think that if they were common then, they probably were here longer than that!
I have seen road kill possums and they are missing parts of their ears and tails. Pieces get frozen in the winter and are lost!
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Trotsky
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Big City Boy
Yeccch!
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Kahu
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Dana
Nov 24 2013, 04:58 AM
Some N.A. possums are as big as a cat. When I lived on the mainland near Vancouver they were a threat to chickens. That is the only place in Canada that has possums so big. Their teeth are a fight to look at.

Thanks Dana, I didn't know the Nth American possum grew so big, and was only going by my BIL's description of rat-like possums with a long tail in Virginia.

FuzzyO
 
They showed a mother possum on television the other day with 15 babies on her back. Poor soul, it was slow going for her carrying all that weight as they were definitely well beyond new-born.

The Australian Brush Tailed possum ... has a thick furred prehensile tail, rather like a bottle brush, the underside of which is hairless and is a marsupial (has a pouch to carry the young) like the Kangaroo.

Alien Possums GobblingNZ Forest, Birds
Edited by Kahu, Nov 24 2013, 09:33 AM.
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FuzzyO
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Yours are a bit cuter looking than ours.
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Kahu
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FuzzyO
Nov 24 2013, 09:34 AM
Yours are a bit cuter looking than ours.
They are the devil incarnate.
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