Project Possum, a new program offered by a collaboration of New Zealand groups, is promoting possum trapping as a career path for area students. The program would teach trapping methods and fur preparation and marketing of possum pelts.
Susan Karels, the council’s regional Enviroschools co-ordinator, says the training stems from twin desires to offer participants the chance to earn the NCEA credits, as well as create potential job prospects for young Northlanders
It is also a great opportunity to help control a pest which has a significant impact on the region’s environment.
While giving education credits to students, the program would also jumpstart a pilot project for some students interested in starting their own possum trapping business.
Mrs Karels says once the training is complete, Enviroschools Northland and several students from Te Kura Taumata o Panguru would begin a pilot programme that would see them set up a small business to trap local possums and sell their fur or skins.
The New Zealand Association for Environmental Education had already contributed to the pilot via the purchase of 20 humane possum traps worth about $400 which the students could use until they had paid for them through fur/skin sales.
Depending on the success of the pilot, it could be rolled out to other Northland schools, possibly as early as next year.
I’ve always admired New Zealanders in their management of natural resources. They have been extremely successful raising and marketing red deer, promoting hunting and fishing for exotic and trophy species, and producing some of the best wool sheep in the world. Now they’re finding ways to profit from exotic opossums, which are discarded as an essentially worthless commodity in many trapping circles.
Found your article about the New Zealand school program that promotes possum trapping as a career to be very interesting, we don’t see that kind of stuff here in the US. I have to say the most interesting part to me was that they’re promoting it at schools and are reaching out to all ages and races about the career of trapping. Here in the CA we do not see anything like this, I am in high school and most of everyone either does not know what trapping is or hates it. Here if people even heard that I trapped animals, I would be on the hit list by all the tree huggers in the state. Now a days animals have more worth than people. I think that our schools should at least show trapping or the market for fur in their career choices. I have to say go New Zealand.
The USA opossum as in the picture is not the type we trap here we trap Australian possum, as long as there is good money to be made it will be good but if there no market . they will become the pest witch they have been ,our tax payers spend millions each year poisonings them , where i see them as a resorce at present ,