POSSUMS (PAIHAMU)

Hutchings, Chrys
Money grows on trees in New Zealand. Cozying up to eco-friendly fur
December 2008
"Headlights trace the dying canopy of a stand of Pohutukawa trees. The decades-old, fourwheel- drive Range Rover slows, and a father and son disembark with their shotguns. They survey the formerly lush landscape with their flashlights until they catch the glint of paihamu eyes in a tree. Seconds later, a 12-pound paihamu lies dead on the ground ..." (This article is categorized under Animal Fibres / Fur)

Klotz, Hattie
Fur fashion to the rescue : Trapping eases New Zealand's plague of possums
March 2001
"After years of confrontation between fur fanatics and environmentalists, the lowly possum is emerging from the New Zealand bush to bring the two solitudes together. The quirk is in this unlikely mediator's method: everybody in New Zealand wants the possums dead. The Australian brush-tailed possum, put simply, is a pest of epidemic proportions." (This article is categorised under Animal Fibres / Trapping)

Learn, Scott
Can fur be sold as eco-friendly? Portlander to find out
September 2008
"In 2004, Chrys Hutchings, her husband and their three young children spent a year in New Zealand, home to about 4.2 million people - and about 60 million Australian brushtail possums. Hutchings's kiwi sabbatical included plenty of talk about the ecological havoc imposed by possums, which exploded in numbers after would-be fur traders introduced them to New Zealand in the 1800s." (This article is categorized under Animal Fibres / Fur)

Ward, Simon
Possum pogrom : New Zealand wages war on oldest living creature
May 1998
"Possums are as much a part of New Zealand culture as rata trees, rugby and sheep. Dead possums, that is. Whether they're in landfills, in bin liners dumped by the roadside, or stuffed up the exhaust of the boss's car, a New Zealander can't sneeze without encountering a dead possum."

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