50,000 SKINS

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 290, 2 September 1933, Page 6

50,000 SKINS

Trapping of Opossums A GREAT SEASON Average Price, 6/- to 7/- ' PROFITABLE INDUSTRY “It has been a great season—perhaps a record one,” said Mr. E. J. C. Wiffen, secretary of the Wellington Acclimatisation Society, when questioned yesterday about the opossum season which closed - the night before. “It is estimated that approximately 50,000 skins were taken , in the Wellington district, and with the market price of skins up to 6/- and 7/- each you‘will realise that there was something in it when Mr. L. O. H. Tripp, late president of the society, said that the opossum skin business of New Zealand was an extremely valuable one, “Some of the super skins brought as much as 15/-, but all round the quality of the skins was fair to good,” continued Mr. Wiffen. “Wellington skins are the best in New Zealand, which probably means that our latitude, our winter weather, and our bush are -perhaps’ a little better suited to these animals than other parts of the Dominion. ■ One may deduce from the figures that the opossum is well worth protecting from people who would take them out of season or in season by illegitimate means. It is a potentially great industry for this district, and should be nurtured in order to produce the best results,” Sldns Fetch Payable Prices. The very satisfactory returns so far to hand for this season in the Wellington district have doubtless been influenced, to some extent at all events, by“ the'close season observed last year, when' the price of skins dropped so low as to make trapping scarcely worth while, Mr. Wiffen continued. This season’s prices, 6/- to 7/- average, are most encouraging, as the average price for Wellington skins for the last open season was about 3/6. The fact that double the price is being obtained this year is an interesting commentary on the fluctuations of the furred skin market. , . - As nearly as Mr/ Wiffen had been able to ascertain, some 260 trappers’ licenses had been issued by the Internal Affairs Department. The Acclimatisation Society was not concerned in them directly, but was immediately concerned in the issue of owners’permits (for trapping on land). Of such permits. 258 had been issued for the season just closed, which meant that over 500 people were at liberty to trap opossums in this district alone, so thqt there must have been an army of men employed in opossum-trapping this winter. Although the weather had been ,wet and cold, it was very good on the whole from the trappers’ point of view, and they have made no com'plaints. ■ _, . , ' The Breeding Season. When earlier in the year- it was .■announced that the Department of In-, ternal AffaDs was extending the season to two months (as against one month, or six weeks in previous years), it was' said that the danger of such a long season was that the opossum might be “trapped out,” and the period of recovery or recuperation would probably make the next season a poor one. In view of the figures that may yet prove to be the case. As a matter of fact, the breeding habits of the opossum, in this district are not very well known; Some female opossums have been seen in the bush with tiny babies on their backs, while at the same time others • have been observed carrying young almost as large as themselves. This seemed to indicate that/ with the opossum there are not the same strict breeding habits as is the case with most other bush animals.