possums

Not only does the avenue of Elms in University Square provide an irreplaceable oasis amidst the busy, traffic-ridden surrounding streets, the trees are also home to countless Microbats, Rainbow Lorikeets and Possums, native species whose survival depends on using hollows and trunks for habitat. There is nowhere within the precinct to re-locate these animals who will surely perish under the planned chainsaw massacre foreshadowed by Melbourne City Council’s University Square Master Plan.. The proposed removal of University Square’s elms adds to the devastating effect of around 900 established trees to be sacrificed to the metro rail tunnel with unimaginable impact on native animals across inner Melbourne.

Currently there are attempts to demonstrate pro or contra the attribution of blame on possums for some cases of tree damage. Relatedly, there has also been discussion about the value of introduced predators in keeping the numbers of possums down. Currently Mt Eliza Council has hired Ecology Australia to study this matter. Their final results will be published at the completion of their study early in 2014. This article reviews the results of completed studies regarding tree dieoff and possum predators.

[Candobetter.net Editor 4 April 2018. Our attention has been drawn to the fact that the title of this article could make people think that candobetter.net is generally in agreement with Dr Yugovic on this matter. The fact is that we do not agree, but we have permitted him to put his argument here, in response to other articles that find that tree dieoff has many other causes. These articles can be found under the general topic of 'predator restauration>.]In response to Hans Brunner’s post, I note he does not actually quote me and if he reads my article ("Do ecosystems need top predators?" on the SPIFFA website and in the journal Indigenotes) carefully he will find there is no recommendation for more foxes, cats and dogs. The term ‘plague’ of possums is not mine and I use it in quotation marks in the article. It is a term I have heard locals use, and with some justification.

Mornington Peninsula[1] The writer of an article about ecosystem need for top predators claims that "Observations on trees and experience with possum guards by the author indicate that possums are the major cause of tree decline on the Mornington Peninsula ..."

Why do some focus energy
to stop the little possum he
from strutting very naturally
upon the branch that be?

The media and various government websites clearly and openly qualifying native kangaroos and possums as 'pest animals' needing to be 'culled'. But what if they aren't pests at all? The law protects those who kill protected native species under certain conditions but could there be non-lethal ways of dealing with the problem? Could this be part of a national strategy to drive the nails deeper into our native animals' collective coffins? It is no wonder we have the world's worst record for mammal extinctions with government attitudes like this.

Mayor Robert Doyle has recommended that powerful owls be encouraged back to Melbourne's parks in order to reduce the possum population. He may be desperate for publicity, but he is giving a poor example. It sounds mean to possums, which he misrepresents as 'vermin' and might encourage still more cruelty to them by ignorant people. An anonymous contributor writes, "Mayor Robert Doyle is focusing on the wrong pest. ..." (This article first appeared as a comment by Nimby, "Melbourne Mayor Robert Doyle's war on possums," to candobetter.org.)

An old age pensioner tells his heartbreaking story of Josie, the little possum joey who he and his wife lovingly raised but was unable to release due to human imprinting. After 6 years of being part of Raoul Harvey's family, suddenly the RSPCA tried to confiscate her and another possum they were rehabbing. That's when all hell broke loose! It's time some new laws were made in the best interests of the animal, not the law. Read what this courageous man did to outwit the system.

Possum drawing by Chloe and Kathleen, Anderson's Creek Primary School, Victoria, Australia

Lanamania is a distributor for possum yarn from New Zealand.

Its website boasts: "Our passion for knitting, our love of nature and our New Zealand heritage all come together in one product...Possum handknit yarn of Zealand - the light and soft touch of New Zealand."
But this view of Australia's native animal is somewhat different to those of Anderson's Creek Primary School in rural Victoria, Australia.

On New Zealand's North Island at the Bay of Plenty, another backyard possum fur trader, BASICALLY BUSH, runs a thriving business slaughtering Brushtail Possums for profit. It's just like the good ol' days of the 19th Century.

It seems the preferred kill method is by shooting..."Be careful not to get rubbish into the bag, and that you don't end up dropping bullets or spent shells in."
Basically Bush's motto is: "SKIN THE BEST and PLUCK THE REST"

It claims"This exciting raw material that has revolutionised the knitwear industry in New Zealand. Possum fibre is referred to as 'possum merino' and is promoted as 'lighter than cashmere'.

Probably the most relevant and credible authority on the centuries old problem of human introduced possums into New Zealand should be New Zealand's own Department of Conservation (DOC).

But DOC has no watchdog to vet its policy, aerial 1080 poison programmes, budget decision making, ethics, ecological strategic choices; so has DOC become its own unanswerable master dictating possum control and culling only on the basis of it deeming it administratively cost effective and efficient?

Perhaps a leftover of Rogernomics applied to lean management of New Zealand's ecology.

Nichols (NZ) Ltd is a "supplier of quality tanned skins of New Zealand and Australian origin." It is based at 29 Wickham Street, Bromley, Christchurch, New Zealand and is a subsidiary of UK based L H Nichols Ltd.

Nichols slaughters Australian native possums for commercial profit.


Nichols (NZ) Ltd is a "supplier of quality tanned skins of New Zealand and Australian origin". It is based at 29 Wickham Street, Bromley, Christchurch, New Zealand and is a subsidiary of UK based L H Nichols Ltd.

Columnist Elizabeth Farrelly in her Fairfax article ‘Critter cullers turn our lives into roadkill’ (2-Jul-09) acknowledges New Zealand’s introduced possum problem, but like many Kiwi’s with an Australian chip on their shoulder, she is quick to deride anything Australian. It's bad enough Australians slaughtering Australian wildlife, but for recent immigrants to have a go at what is natively Australian is beyond tolerance. Out of Australia’s dark white colonial past, colonial antagonism towards its indigenous people and its native fauna and flora has been typically incited by smug prejudiced colonists.

American Republican politician Katherine Harris of Florida is shown here in August 2006 during her campaigning for the 2006 Florida United States Senate election, holding a native opossum by the tail.

A profiteer in New Zealand is culling the Australian Brushtail Possum for commercial yarn export. It calls itself the Merino Possum Consortium and has no ethical issue culling native animals from Australia, so what would prevent it seeing potential gain from culling Kiwis for down for sleeping bags?

Threatened species day is 7th September 2009. It might just as well be Australia day because all our native animals are being squeezed out of their habitats. Perhaps the very most endangered is the little Leadbeater's Possum, living only within a tiny area of Victoria.
Decades of logging in native forests, the devastating impacts of the 2009 bushfires and the massive levels of Salvage Logging taking place post-fires are tipping our State Faunal Emblem over the edge towards extinction!
Please Act this Threatened Species Day … 7th September 2009 - more inside.

I can hear that collective intake of breath from wildlife warriors and carers all over Australia. Possums as pets? Wildlife as pets! Isn't it bad enough that humans mistreat dogs and cats, without encouraging them to imprison and malnourish possums and other wildlife? See also: "Living with humans - A possum responds to "Living with wild animals" article" and earlier episodes of Gloria O'Possum's adventures.

New writer on lifestyle, Gloria O'Possum, describes life indoors, living with humans in a possum-box, partly financed by the Australian Wildlife Protection Council (AWPC). See also: "Living with wild animals"

Humans have moved into native animals' backyards yet many of us get upset when there is a possum in our roof and go to all ends to remove it by having it relocated. Some farmers even shoot these hapless animals that are only looking for somewhere to sleep during the day and something to eat. We have a responsibility to them because we caused this situation and it's possible to not only share our space but give back some habitat to them. Here's what happened to a friend of mine recently when a possum moved into his house..... See the sequel to this story.

Subject: Lost Cat found........... posted by Japanese students renting in Brunswick, Victoria. And feeding it cat food too! More inside on this amazing story.See also: Living with wild animals