How To Resolve The Status Of The Possum?

In New Zealand, possums are foreign pests originally imported from Australia, so they must be exterminated. At the same time, their fur is in increasing demand, so they must be farmed. Killed - farmed; killed - farmed. Can both be done, or is it a hopeless dichotomy of purpose?:

Snowy Peak chief executive Peri Drysdale, whose company has been a pioneer of the merino-possum blend, said there were occasional shortages of the fur.

"It comes and goes ... . there's big chunks of time where we are all anxiously wondering if there will be enough [possum fur] for tomorrow and the next day, and then there's periods of time when there's more than we know what to do with."

Drysdale said there was a problem with the health board - which kills possums to control the spread of bovine tuberculosis - and DoC poisoning animals that were not collected and went to waste.

Steve Boot, co-director of Basically Bush, an East Coast company that buys possum furs and skins from harvesters, said DoC had entered into the dialogue with Textiles New Zealand because of budget cuts.

In last year's Budget, the department was forced to shave $54 million from its spending over the next four years, meaning planned possum control on 23,000ha of land would not go ahead.

Boot said if the harvesting industry was integrated into the way the possums were managed on a long-term basis, it could make a "huge dent" in animal populations, at no cost to tax and rate payers.

...FUR PATROL

* Possum fur is usually blended with merino to make garments which are warmer and lighter than regular wool.
* About 1.7 million possums a year are killed in New Zealand. Forty per cent of the fur goes to China.
* The industry is worth about $100 million annually and employs 1150 people.
* A kilo of possum fur fetches $95, and 18 to 20 possums are needed to yield a kilo.