New Zeland's new skin trade

Typedef

http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99993169

Wierdly the WWF is supporting the culling of Possums and their fur to be made into garments.
New Zeland had Possums introduced in 1837 and the Possum population has exploded since (these sorts of things happen when you introduce animals into closed eco-systems).

Now the trapping of possums and sale of their pelts to be made into garments is being encouraged as a means of population control.

Being a bleeding heart eco-liberal though, I have to say, I would rather see usage of natural predators, as opposed to human intervention.

Generally population explosions such as the Possum one, come from a lack of natural predators in the closed eco-system that the new organism is introduced into, therefore supply the predators and negate the 'rationale' for trapping the animals.

Typedef.

Clintons Cat

yay,but the trouble is the possum has no natural predator in New Zeland,a bit like the Mink in the British Isles.Adding more predatators from elsewhere is just going to add to the problem as theyll munch through the wildlife they are supposed to be saving

Victor

Yeah agree with that, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds introduced a program to protect and increase the number of sparrowhawks, they now have a problem with the low number of sparrows (agriculture and urban sprawl have also affected them).

Introducing a new predator to NZ could further endanger other species that are already on the endangered list.

pickarooney

Cross-breed the possums with lemmings and let them run into the Tasman sea.