Deer hunter shot in accident

Aardvark, what are the natural predators of possums in Oz? We could do with a few of them here... Or the other option we could let you Aussies take back all the live possums you can catch. It's win/win, we lose a pest you guys boost an endangered population...

I always envisaged a large possum-sized spud-gun - at the end of every day of possuming, insert what you've caught, point it west and fire.

I'm sure snakes take alot out. Something like 70% of snakes spend most of their time in trees. Goannas too. It's likely once, dingoes would have gotten a share on the ground. That's not likely now. Our possums in general are not as big. They musn't have the amount of fur and your birdlife would be a bounty for them that our's wouldn't get. I believe the likely cause of our's being endangered would be feral cats and dogs. There is no doubt that we have irrevocably altered our ecology beyond repair.

I recoiled at the prospect of hurting possums when i first started visiting NZ. Sympathy wanes all the more when confronting the buggers on the road at night. Their so big sometimes you'd swear they'd come in through the windscreen like a cow can. It's too risky to try swerving anywhere.

Ah yes, the satisfying thud under the floor of the car as you drive over the possum and then if you look in the rear vision mirror there is a great cloud of fur. As for weed in Lake Rotorua. The lake is quite shallow and surrounded by farmland. Years of superphosphate have taken their toll, not to mention that until about 15 years ago, Rotorua's sewerage was going straight into it. The sewerage is now treated and is sprayed in the forest but the runoff still has high nutrient levels. See http://www.envbop.govt.nz/Water/Lakes/Rotorua-Lakes.asp for more on Rotorua Lakes

Possums in Aussie also have a worst diet then the ones in New Zealand.... Here they get to feast on all the juicy tender plants rather then boring old gum tree. "We'll happily send over some cane toads, snakes and goannas." You can keep the Cane toads and poisonous snakes... We would take any harmless snakes and goannas. "What we need is some real predators, like some cougars or other big cats to deal to the possums and wallabies. It'd also make tramping more interesting." They did try to introduce Mongooses once, but they are only cat size. There was also talk about introducing cougars into the southern alps to control deer. Not a predator, but instead of culling off the Kaimanawa horses they should introduce them into the molesworth and other back countries area :) New Zealand would have such awesome wild life if I was a dictator.

Its because we've had the odd dictator in the past that we've got the problems we have now.

If Europeans had adapted to the land on their arrival instead of insistng everything adapt to suit their needs and farming practices this whole problem would never had started. It's the ignorance at the time toward cause and effect. If only they knew then what we know now about Quarantine practices etc.

Dont fall into the usual trap you should probably substitute people for europeans as everybody from the past is guilty with hindsite including the great conservitors. As you walk this country you can see clear evidence of all manner of people not considering the future only the present.

Perhaps. I've no doubt anyone, long ago, would have been ignorant of the effects of introducing species of animal, plant etc to both Australia and NZ. The attitude that it can be corrected by more introductions still prevails today. Given Moaris were not original inhabitants of NZ, the issue becomes complicated but Aboriginals in Aus certainly managed the land without significant change. There was little liklihood they were going to travel far either.