TAME OPOSSUMS

Southland Times, Issue 25312, 15 June 1935, Page 11

TAME OPOSSUMS

DAMAGE TO HOUSE QUESTION OF DESTRUCTION. (Per United Press Association.) Wellington, June 13. Opposition to the granting of a permit to destroy opossums alleged to have broken ornaments and torn wallpaper in a house and damaged a garden was voiced at a meeting of the council of the Wellington Acclimatization Society. . A member said the occupant trained several opossums to come out of the bush to be fed as an attraction to his refreshment establishment at the summit of the Rimutakas. The animals were regarded as pets. “If a man will deliberately tame wild creatures, get them to come into his house, and then want to slaughter them, all I can say is that it goes very much against ones sense of fairness and consideration for these little creatures which have been taught to trust him,” said Mr W. G. Wohlmann. It was reported that the Department of - Internal Affairs had granted a month’s permit. The council decided that a deputation take the matter up further with the department with a view to having the permit withdrawn so that the opossums could be snared and removed to other territory.