KILLING OPOSSUMS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22464, 7 July 1936, Page 6

KILLING OPOSSUMS

PROTECTION RAISED

ACTION IN QUEENSLAND

KEEPING SKINS FASHIONABLE

[from our own correspondent] BYDNEY, July 2 The Queensland Government, after a consultation with London dealers has decided to declare an open season for opossums in that State, and its decision has been followed by a wave of protest in other States where opog. sums are rigidly protected. It is expected that 1,500,000 opo*. sums will be slaughtered during the open season. The Department of Agriculture, which,;is issuing the permits to opossum hunters, has been almost submerged with applications, and apparently a record number will be issued. London is the chief clearing centre for skins, and the London trade informed the Queensland Government that, as there had not been any open season for opossums for a number of years, and if there was not an open season this year buyers would seek skins other than opossum, a fashion in other skins would develop, ultimately resulting in the exclusion of opossum skins. New South Wales Attitude In New South Wales, where opossums are still fairly plentiful, the protection law is rigidly enforced. Illegal trapping is done with poison baits, but the police are ever watchful for participants in this illegal occupation. The police net is often evaded, but detected culprits are fined 5s for every opossum skin found in their possession, and are also liable to terms of imprisonment. In spite of all precautions, opossum skins are smuggled out of the country, either to London or New York or Paris, disguised as rabbit skins or in bales of wool. When such smuggling is suspected the New South Wales police frequently seek the co-operation of police of those cities to have consignments searched, and in this way infringements of the State opossum-protection law are often detected. Heavy Loss of Koalas Queensland has always shown an easier attitude toward the protection of unusual Australian animals. About 10 years ago it lifted the protection law against the lovable koalas, the tiny socalled native bears, now so rare in this State that they have to be preserved in special sanctuaries, and described by some travel agents as Australia's best tourist attraction. The slaughter of koalas which followed the Queensland Government's decision then aroused so much ire that the Government was forced to clamp down the protection provisions again. The President of the United States, at the request of the Wild Life Preservation Society of Australia. then prohibited the importation of koala skins, and the society, fired by results on that occasion, has cabled to the University of London Animal Welfare Society:" "Wild Life Preservation Society desires you to endeavour to get the British Government to prohibit the entry of skins of Australian opossums. Queensland Government has declared an open season, which we are fighting." "We are confident that the majority of Australians are with us against the miserable exploitation of our wild creatures," said Mr. David G. Stead, president of the society.