THE OPOSSNM IN DANGER

Greymouth Evening Star, 19 March 1910, Page 4

THE OPOSSNM IN DANGER

W li.'it a minor industry of this kin-.! may moan to a country is shown lv ho fad that in recent years ovo .'.100.000 worth of opposum skins ha haon exv)tirt(si from Australia. Price ’or this and other kinds of Australia l furs arc now so high that some poop I 1 -• said to bo making from £lO to £2O a weak trapping animals. Tito "Syd my Morning Herald" draws attention ■■ the effect of this on the opposum. Ihe vnlnahle dark-furred variety hubso'nno practically extinct in souk

parts where it was once numerous ■■hi! • the grey animal, of which (In r. used to he countless millions, will i soon very scarce. The rabbit and (h. fox have helped to doeimalo this it, ! cresting animal. So long as men waged war on ih • opposum alone, ther was not a groat decrease in its num hois, but when the rabbit became nuisance, and settlers took to setting poison for it, there was a heavy mor ■tditv in opposums. Then came the fo> with its cunning ami skill in stalking, fo make the eppesum’s lot .-t : !l harder, '.he "Herald" says that wherever there is settlement, and the natural sane•om . of the creatnure is swept away, the on possum must soon go. But there is ample room in the rough mountainous country for the biwdiim it the animals on such a scale a.would maintain the supply on sotiu. thing like a permanent basis if they were given reasonable protection ag ainst unnatural enemies and Mappin, were tu'operly regulated. As (he ope sum is mainly a free-trader, and s tines lint little harm to ’ln- man on li land, and its fur valuable, the "Her aid" tiiiuks it a great pity that if

should Ik- exterminated. ff -ji vvn a fan chance, and nut obliged tu contend n lie struggle for existence with enormous array of natural as well as unnatural enemies, the animals would in the course of a fev, become sulliciently numerous to con st it ut e a regular and important so urn of revenue.