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Sustainable
eNews |
December 2002 |
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IWMC
World Conservation Trust |
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Possum Problems Highlight
the Pitfalls of Polarity
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At this point, it no longer matters who in history imported bushy tailed
opossums from Australia into New Zealand. English speaking people have had
a long tradition of moving species from continent to continent, and the
results have almost never been good for the environment of the receiver
area. The New Zealand problem is particularly severe because the animals
have done so well there, that they have eaten the habitat to the roots and
they are still very hungry. The government, manned by those who wish to
avoid any criticism for political incorrectness, has been advocating and
spending millions of pounds on a poisoning program, of all things. This has
not worked. The concept has also failed to work in North America, where
some equally brilliant planners have occasionally looked for similar
alternatives to commercial trapping for fur.
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Poison is a nasty alternative, and the ultimate in non-selective
non-solutions. Other species also take the bait, and die undeserved,
unintended deaths. The ultimate result is a waste of a valuable resource,
while habitat destruction continues unabated. No one wins.
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There is a healthy market for bushy possum fur. Artisans craft it into
beautiful hats, mittens, scarves, stoles, jackets, and use it for trim on
coats and handbags. If the New Zealanders don't want it, it will find eager
takers in the US, Europe, and South America, China and Japan. No one should
be afraid or ashamed to wear fur, a beautiful and natural product that is
"environmentally friendly" because it is produced humanely, is
sustainably used, and because the animals that produce it are overabundant
and harming their environment. Local economies always benefit when surplus
furbearers are trapped and removed. Local people who trap pass the
traditions of catching, fur handling, and marketing, on to their children.
Local businesses prosper because local people have more money to spend.
Politicians benefit because their environment is saved from destruction,
and no one is calling upon them to "DO Something!" about the
damage.
Even some traditionally hard line environmentalists in New Zealand are
rethinking this dilemma. They just hate to set a precedent of approving a
practice and a product that they have fought so long and so hard to
eradicate. Maybe in this 21st century, more people will come to
realize that polarity is not constructive when problems such as this begin
to receive more public attention. Maybe, just maybe, the benefits of
trapping "nuisance" furbearers for profit will eventually
convince our urban dwellers that compromise and scientific management
principles are the best policy. 
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