Poisoning has inherent risks. So too does an exploding opossum population, but Graeme Sturgeon has an alternative plan of action.
The Picton based Tairawhiti Course - Pest Control, plans to address the need to equip students with the skills, knowledge and understanding required to reduce feral pest populations to acceptable levels.
Mr Sturgeon has a lifetime of hunting and life in the hills experience to share with the schools first intake of 12 students in August this year. Students armed with a new revolutionary and highly portable 10kg backpack model opossum Plucker, will make remote areas of New Zealand, previously deemed inaccessible and home to hardy pest populations, to now become fair game. With the exception of one main driving force. A financial incentive.
"A bounty, things we've always done over the years with animal control, effective methods we have always used. We had a bounty on hawks legs, a bounty on hedgehogs snouts, pig snouts, various bounty, because then you motivate."
"Probably the most effective pest control people have out there at the moment are the teenagers, from about 14 when dad shows them how to use the .22, right through to when they leave school and get a job. They're mad on it and if they can go out and earn $100 a night, they are a tremendous tool."
"The most dangerous opossum today is the one that lives in the woolshed, and under the hay bale. They're often the older ones prone to coughs, colds and disease, effective control has to target these ones as well."
The new lightweight opossum plucker, based on the original 37kg petrol powered model will mean even easier extraction of the valuable fur from remote regions. The machine can strip the fur from a carcass in a matter of seconds, leaving fur worth $45 per kilo, which resourceful local industry blend with fine wools to make quality garments for the growing market.
"We teach total pest control, from a to b, it's a 16 week course covering opossums, wild cats and of course the mustelid family, while goats, pigs and deer are the r'n'r of the pest control course" he adds.
According to DOC, mustelids (weasels, stoats and ferrets) have a huge impact on New Zealand's native species. Stoats kill 40 North Island brown kiwi chicks per day on average which adds up to 15,000 per annum. That accounts for 60 per cent of North Island brown kiwi born. Another 35 per cent of the chicks are also the victims of other predators including ferrets. Of the North Island brown kiwi that hatch, only five per cent survive. Controlling mustelids will make a significant difference to survival chances of North Island brown kiwi whose population is halving every decade. And mustelids are acknowledged as significant TB vectors.
"In some parts of New Zealand it's costing $45 to kill each opossum and it's higher in other parts. In the past on a Taranaki contract, it was costing closer to $100. So it's a bit silly the government saying it can't afford a bounty of $5 a head."
"The very best opossums will produce around 100gms of fur, that's ten to the kilo and agents are paying $45/kilo. We have a lot of new tools and skills out there and if government agencies wish to have a sensible input into opossum control, it's just to add that extra couple of bucks on top that will motivate."
Graeme affirms that, "pest control is every man's duty."
