THE ILL-FATED OPOSSUM.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 15822, 22 July 1913, Page 6

THE ILL-FATED OPOSSUM.

WAR OF EXTERMINATION. (From Our Own Correspondent.) INVEROARGILL, July 21. A representative of the Southland Times recently v.sitcd Cairn Bush, in the back country between. Wymlham and Mokorota, a locality in which during the past 20 years the opossum has thriven. Ho made a. firsthand investigation into the war of extermination which' is being waged on the opossum by trappers, and came to the conclusion that thousands of the marsupials have been killed. He writes: — "The first tamp visited was about six miles' from the honxc-tcad, and it was so situated that it would have been difficult to locate without a guide. Hidden wiiJhin the fringe of the bush, it did not attract not.ee until the riders were within a few chains of it, and even then the first siffn of anything unusual in the order of things was a clothes line stretched on three posts and bearing a harvest of 70 opossum skins. _ In the camps there were on every hand signs of the learful slaughter being done. Piles of skins lay about, and right and left the trees were covered with the hides put there to stretch rnd dry. Tho tappers do not. make any attempt' to smooth over the fate of the thousands of marsupials which must bo passing through their hands for the reason' that their opera/fions have been legalised. Galvanised into action by tho sudden discovery that their bushes wore being swept by gangs of poachers, who were carrying on a' ruthless cnnirm : gn against the animals, the settlers have been forced into making some provision agviinst losing their • rightful share in the profits derived by three who were taking the skins. Occasionally a column of smoke mounts into the. air from the bush, proclaiming the presence of poachers. In such cases a raid is sometimes determined uoon, and a. small posse rdes out from the stations. If it so happens that they descend upon the camp in the absence of it« owners it is more or lets the genera* practice to confiscate their stores, blankets, etc.. leaving in some cases only tho tent. As the nights arc bitterly cold and 6iiow is not unusual at this time of the year, this has "enerallv the effect of. either driving the poachers back to the localities from which they have come or bringing them into the station to apply far their goods and chattels, which, however are only delivered to them on receipt of their undertaking to move on. SJiould the trappers be in camp when tho raiders arrive they are warned that they must get out unices they wish to lay themselves open to the confiscation of their goods and chattels, o.nd they arc_ given an appointed time in which to get' out. So much for the camps that are discovered. But vague, and knowing looks between tho trappers when questioned on the point give rise to the suggestion that the almost impenetrable upper area of the bush harbours more than one poacher. There are tales of fires lit at night so that the camp cooking may proceed without the smoke being observed, of kerosene ,< sioveo carried miles through the bush for the same purpose, and of packs of skins' taken over the hills to Clinton at night. According to one trapper's 6to:y three men have caught over 1000 animals in a month. He confesses to having been in the bush for three weeks before his presence was discovered, but knowingly evades answering any question as to how many opossums he killed in that time. On the average of his own figures of 1000 per month, it appears that this trapper has taken 1750 skins during tho time he admits having been in tho bush, but as the oposGums wou'd undoubtedly be more numerous during the earlier period of three weeks, it is more likely that his total would approximate 2500. _ No one can say how long the surreptitious trapping has been going on, but one trapper, who seemed to have same reason for his statement, insisted that the bush liad been' trapped before the protection was removed. There are many evidences that the work of the trappers has not been confined to a short period. Why the protection should have been removed without any consultation with them the runholders are at a loss to understantl. 1 ' On June 19 Mr Duncan M'Rae despatched the following letter to Mr A. S. Malcolm, M.P. :-

'There is very much feeling in this district over the notion of the Government in removing the. protection from tho opossum. They were liberated 20 years ago by one of the early settlers in the Cairn Bush on Mr Begg's run. They got fairly plentiful there, and were commencing to get down the. valley. This season trappers have gone into the bush and practically extermiated them. They have gone into the bush in defiance of the owners of the adjoining land, and in a great many eases on the freehold land, leaving gates open and disturbing the stock. The trappers do not belong to the district, and are tho o'ass of persons who tell you "To go to the devil" if you ask them what business they have on your property. The opossum is not a destructive animal, and if they were allowed to increase they would be a most valuable asset to the dominion. Just imagine, if they were allowed to spread over all the bush in your clccrorate, what a revenue it would bring into the dominion. I think the Government has blundered over this business. In the course of his investigations the reporter met in the opossum country a. Mr E, C. Govan, who is a furrier and trajjper. He was much perturbed at the attitude taken up by the settlers, and gave it as his opinion "that.it would be foolish to restore the protection. It was, he said, his intention, if .the protection was not restored, to purchase the right to trap the whole of the Cairn Bush next winter, and employ a dozen men trapping. Ho argued that the opossum was never likely to be a more valuable national asset than it was to-day, and said that if they were ultimately to be killed there was no" time like the present. Mr Govan had something to say about the removal of the protection, and if his statements are true it would appear that the protection was removed at the instance of a very interested party. Speaking of the Catlins Bush, he said that he had held a section there and had trapped over it. Therewere fully 400 trappers in the bush during last winter. Questioned as to whether he knew anything which would throw light, upon the removal of the protection, he made a surprising statement. As an interested party, and one who wished to see the fur industry developed, he had, when resident in Catlins,' communicated with Ministers and members of Parliament reeiuestinir that "this absurd protection'' be removed. The letter was unanswered, and finally when he loss patience he took it upon" himself to send urgent reply telegrams to three Ministers, and to the member for Clutha, demanding on behalf of the residents of Catlins that the protection bo removed. Shortly afterwards he received word that the protection was to be removed, and he at once bought all the 6kins it was possible to buy. He hinted that the speculation had been by no means unprofitable. The settlers are agreed that a three months' open season and nine months' close season would have no greater benefits than tho protection of prescribed areas, for the reason that both would perpetuate poaching. They say that with the three months season the trappers would take opossums all the year round and sell them during the open season, while with protected areas they could simply assert that they came from other bushes than those which were protected. What is suggested is'that there should be three or tour yeare of protection applied generally, and then one open season. Over which months this open season should extend would have to be a matter of careful and expert study, because thero appears to be a great deal of doubt regarding the breeding season. The trappers in the Slopedown Bush say that all the females caught arc in the same stage of pregnancy and arc carrying young in (heir '-pouches. The reporter who visited the camp saw ample evidence that Ibis is the case. It is also contended that the skins are more valuable llicn than at u,ny time during the year, and if this is the ease the greatest incentive to kill : s held out when the opossums are most in need of protection. As the skinning goes on the you.ng are removed from the pouches and thrown indifferently on to u heap apart from the other carcases. They arc'of absolutely no use, and the taking of one skin therefore means the death of two opossums.,