OPOSSUM SKINS

Evening Post, Volume CI, Issue 150, 25 June 1921, Page 7

OPOSSUM SKINS

RESULT OF A MONTH'S WORK

FIFTEEN THOUSAND EXPECTED,

Upossums have bsen protected' in the Wellington district for about three years, and in certain areas they havo multiplied very freely. For som* time the Wellington Acclimatisation Society has been urging the Internal Affairs Department to declare an open- season, andi last month a set of regulations to govern the taking of the animals was gazetted. The order fixed the season for this year as the month of June.

Trapping has, in consequence, boon In progress during this mouth, and the reunits havo bsen extraordinary. Ouly thirty or thirty-five men axe- out, anil they have taken such large numbers of skins that the individual retain* in money is expected to be very large.1' It was known that the animals were plentiful; but tho number taken has exceecled by many times the most .hopeful expectation of those who were interested in the vonture. Moreover, the skins have proved to be of remarkably fine quality. The most productive area, is the large fore3t reserve extending from Paruparaumu to Tauherenikaai. In one camp in this area, two men, during seventeen days, took I*loo opossums. It is estimated that between 800 ft and 10,000 have been taken in this area, and the total number captured is probably 15,000. Tho regulations governing the trapping, it is said), were by no means easy to frame, but have worked very well. One of the rules is that the skins must only be disposed of through licensed brokers, who must sell them by auction. Every 6kin has to be officially marked, to show that it has bear, property disposed of, and an essential process is the payment of. Is royalty 'on each to the. \ Government.' It is understood that a Welling-' ton firm of brokers lias secured the handling of nearly all tho skins from this district, and will shortly offer about. 12,000 skins. Although the fur market generally is depressed, there is said to be, a very keen, .demand for opossum skins*. A message from Albury, New South Wales, recently stated that high-gradio skins were buying from 15s to 18s each; and trappers here are very hopeful of good prices, because the local skins are of unusually .high quality. The large majority.we described as first grade. The most plentiful animal in the Wellington district is the Tasmanian variety, wliich. carries a thick-furred, dark-brown skiiiy and is about 2^- pounds larger than' the "New Zealand", variety, which, is an acclimatised' Australian specks. About seventeen out of twenty taken are the larger amd better kind. .The trappers now operating inehid<e a number of Tasmania™, who "got wind" ■of . tho approaching opportunity, and came to. New Zealand to share in the harvest. These men, it is said, have been astonished by the numbers 6l the opossums and by tho duality of the skins, which they deserib© as much better than those taken iv Tasmania. The captures are madewith rabbit trapa, running nooses, or the .pea-. rifle, and all three methods are »ory sue-. cessfuh The traps are simply laid, with-,, out bait, in the run-ways, which ar« so' much used that they are well-defined, beaten tracks. About half the traps laid in the evening are usually occupied in the morning, when the opossum, which seems very unconcerned, is. 'generally asleep^ The men 'who use the rifle work mostly in the cleared country. An opossum, when alarmed by the dog, does not bolt, but "uns up the. nearest stump, where he is easily killed. i ■•'■■. ;..-■■ Although the animals are so plentiful and easily taken, opossum trapping* k said to be hard work, at least three times as strenuous as rabbit-trapping, because of the distances'whioh have to be covered, and tho heavy labour of taking this animals to. camp,, and removing: and treating the skins. . Tile season this year, limited to ona month, is by way of an experiment, and will probably be twice as long in futoe. It is anticipated that the opossum is now so thoroughly established in the Wellington district that no amount of trapping in a limited season will reduce its numbers seriously, and interested people are looking forward to the establishment of an important and profitable industry.