Welcome to the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council’s webpage about possums.
Brushtail possums were among the earliest animals introduced to New Zealand by European settlers. They were first brought from Australia in 1837 to establish a fur industry. By 1922, 36 batches of possums had been imported, mostly from Tasmania where possums were larger and most had the black fur preferred by furriers. These possums and their descendants were liberated at more than 450 places around New Zealand by 1930. By 1997, the total number of possums is estimated to be 70 million!
To read more about the Introduction and Spread of Possums in New Zealand please visit http://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/publications/infosheets/possums/
Above: NZ Possum spread 1850 - 1990 (Image courtesy of Landcare Research)
Possums spread Tuberculosis (TB), destroy our native bush, and damage commercial forest plantings and horticultural crops.
Possums are capable of consuming a significant amount of pasture, stock-feed and crops, which impacts negatively on the economic production of farms.
By controlling the possum numbers on your property, you are effectively providing a better outlook for yourself, the flora and fauna around you and the farming community in general.
To read more about the impact possums have on our Native animals and vegetation please visit http://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/publications/infosheets/possums/
Possum Control Areas (PCA)
The control of possums is the major focus of Council's animal pest control programme. There is now over 400,000 hectares under the PCA programme within the Hawke's Bay region. Click here to view our PCAs.
To achieve the strategy objective of reducing possum densities across the region, Hawke’s Bay Regional Council is seeking the continued support and assistance of land occupiers. The Council has identified a range of management methods that it will implement to achieve both the long term goal and the strategy objective. The principal method is the establishment of ‘Possum Control Areas’ where the council arranges for initial possum control to low densities to be carried out and then requires land occupiers to maintain possum numbers at those low densities. Council will continue to assist in possum control on covenanted areas, subsidising possum bait, and providing advice and information to land occupiers.
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Self help- The council requires all landowners within Possum Control Areas to maintain possum densities at or below a 5% residual trap catch. At a minimum council requires all landowners within a Possum Control Area to carry out an annual maintenance programme.
For more information of what’s available to you for possum control area or to contact your advisory officer for your area click here or select an Environmental Topic below for information that may help you.
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