Possums should be treated as a ‘resource’ — West Coast Conservation Board member
By local democracy reporter Brendon McMahon:
A South Westland member of the West Coast Conservation Board says possums should be treated as a "resource" with a financial incentive to entice hunters to help contain numbers of the pest.
At the West Coast Conservation Board in Karamea during a discussion about the Department of Conservation's national predator management programme, board chairperson Dr Mike Legge of Charleston noted the effectiveness of aerial 1080 poison in the management of possums.
"It is the most effective poison - animals die quickly. In the last two to three years I haven't seen one possum roadkill," Legge said.
Ngāi Tahu board member Rob Wilson, a Harihari dairy farmer, said it was a shame that culled possums were going to waste.
"When they were under control down our way was when there was a financial incentive [for trapping]," Wilson said.
Prior to the current method of using 1080, commercial operations "which didn't cost the taxpayer," were a way of benefiting the local economy while controlling the spread of possums.
"I see it as a resource. There's a resource that is going to waste that maybe we can utilise," Wilson said.
Recovery of possum skins and fur has been a longstanding practice on the West Coast, with the 'wool' highly sought after for a variety of uses including blending with other materials to make warm clothing.
DOC Western South Island operations director Mark Davies said the control of possums was "a very complex matter".
"We'd all like to see the commercial industry reintstated."
However, the department also had to balance other competing interests in dealing with pest species, including the farmed venison sector which did not want to see DOC "subsidise" the commercial recovery of feral deer.
Davies said the current approach to control was eventually to totally eradicate.
"The vision is Predator Free 2050... but we haven't got a silver bullet yet."
*Public interest journalism funded through NZ On Air
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⚠️ DOGS DIE IN HOT CARS. If you love them, don't leave them. ⚠️
It's a message we share time and time again, and this year, we're calling on you to help us spread that message further.
Did you know that calls to SPCA about dogs left inside hot cars made up a whopping 11% of all welfare calls last summer? This is a completely preventable issue, and one which is causing hundreds of dogs (often loved pets) to suffer.
Here are some quick facts to share with the dog owners in your life:
👉 The temperature inside a car can heat to over 50°C in less than 15 minutes.
👉 Parking in the shade and cracking windows does little to help on a warm day. Dogs rely on panting to keep cool, which they can't do in a hot car.
👉 This puts dogs at a high risk of heatstroke - a serious condition for dogs, with a mortality rate between 39%-50%.
👉 It is an offence under the Animal Welfare Act to leave a dog in a hot vehicle if they are showing signs of heat stress. You can be fined, and prosecuted.
SPCA has created downloadable resources to help you spread the message even further. Posters, a flyer, and a social media tile can be downloaded from our website here: www.spca.nz...
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