Possum Pest
“Signs with skull and cross warn that it can harm children, kill dogs and areas of use should be avoided. There is a massive movement against the use of 1080.Tourism operators are joining the movement to stop the way 1080 is being dropped over our forest. Our clean green image which has been questioned for years any way is even more so now. We are not 100%Pure. I will say that loud and clear.” Dave Jordan. The Guiding Company. (Source: Inside Tourism)I read that possums in New Zealand eat about 21,000 tonnes of vegetation per day (300 g wet weight per possum x 70 million possums). The 21,000 tonnes lost is about 15% of daily foliage production, which can’t be good. I’m sure if I lost a further 15% of my daily hair production, the defoliation taking place on top of my cranium would accelerate to an even more frightening result.
Control of introduced mammal pests has become a science in New Zealand. People from overseas are often horrified to learn what we do to Bugs Bunny, Bambi, Miss Piggy, and Bazzle Brush. In their native northern hemisphere these critters are usually kept in balance by natural forces developed over eons, including predators and disease. But in our unique and defenseless New Zealand ecosystem, isolated from their voracious little appetites until extremely recently, they go crazy.
There’s a dark analogy between what we have to do to the cute furry mammals and the way we farm pine trees, also from the northern hemisphere. All this requires a different understanding of the priorities of being green, to the norm of the densely populated northern hemisphere countries. We need to make sure the world knows our unique situation, and we are given green credit, not punishment, for our necessary actions. Perception is reality.
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Tags: 100% Pure New Zealand, 1080, clean & green, clean & green NZ, Clean and Green, clean and green New Zealand, forest ecosystem, Kaitiakitanga, possums
[...] I agree with adventure tourism practitioner Dave Jordan that natural ecosystems are the lifeblood of the tourism industry, I disagree that there is a [...]