OPOSSUM PEST.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 210, 6 September 1938, Page 8

OPOSSUM PEST.

MISCHIEF IN FORESTS.

EXTERMINATION URGED

The Forest and Bird Protection Society continues to receive complaints of the mischief done by opossums in native forests. At a recent meeting of the executive, a member remarked that it would be just as logical to farm rabbits for their fur.on wide expanses of grasslands as to farm opossums for their fur in the native forests. The president. Captain E. V. Sanderson, said that it was nearly as important for the Department of Internal Affairs to wage a .war of extermination against opossums as against deer. Another member said that the noise of the animals as they scampered about at night among the trees frightened j native birds away from their nests, with the result that the eggs or nestlings were chilled and lost. Opossums were also accused of robbing nests; while much berry food needed by the birds was devoured by these marauders. It was also mentioned that opossums invaded gardens in outlying suburbs of Wellington, where they attacked various plants, particularly the young shoots of roses, of which they were very fond. The following resolution was adopted: "That the executive of the Forest and Bird Protection Society wishes to draw the attention of the people of New Zealand to the evil of permitting opossums to infest native forests, where they injure trees and interfere with bird life. The executive urges in the national interest that protection should be removed from opossums and active measures taken to abate the nuisance."