Pest of New Zealand: Possum

New Zealand is such an interesting place to live.  Until people started to populate it and bring in their own animals there were no mammals in the land at all. There are no lions or tigers or bears!  There are no snakes.  There are no poisonous spiders!  Truly it is paradise!  In 1837 someone decided that it would be a great idea to grow possums for their fur so they brought them into the country.  They are very different from the possum in the US because these actually do have a very nice fur on them.  They combine the fur from the possum with marino wool and make lovely, very warm and light sweaters, jackets, hats and gloves.  But now the possum population has gotten way out of hand and they are a big problem in the land!  There are so many of them that it is impossible to keep them in check.  They just run wild and they will eat anything!  Including the insulation around electrical wires.  If you look at this poll about in the middle you will see a different colored grey strip.  That is to keep the possums from getting to the wires and destroying them.

You can volunteer to be a part of their possum posse to assist the government in getting rid of them.  There are places where poison is set out and it read:  Possum Poison:  Report Dead Animals.  And of course if there is any road kill in the country it is a possum since there are no other mammals that would be found on the road dead!

There is a link below to a drawing of what they look like.  Certainly much different than the US version that has that long skinny hairless tail! But given the success I have with links you may not be able to see it either.  (I will continue to work on perfecting the skill of attaching links!)

http://www.google.co.nz/imgres?q=possum+new+zealand+pest&start=188&hl=en&client=safari&sa=X&tbo=d&rls=en&biw=1440&bih=589&tbm=isch&tbnid=nRXrt82XDJy2qM:&imgrefurl=http://www.treepel.co.nz/&docid=QEA1by9WzaCW2M&imgurl=http://www.treepel.co.nz/possumsmall.jpg&w=180&h=204&ei=JXeyUIyLNOyOiAfrqIDgAw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=735&vpy=139&dur=479&hovh=159&hovw=141&tx=65&ty=64&sig=103269148816934080448&page=7&tbnh=144&tbnw=127&ndsp=33&ved=1t:429,r:93,s:100,i:283