The common brushtail possum is a nocturnal arboreal marsupial of the family Phalangeridae. The species is native to Australia and invasive in New Zealand, and is the second-largest of the possums. It is mainly a folivore (leaf-eater), but has been known to eat small mammals such as rats. In most Australian habitats, eucalyptus leaves are […]
Tag: Brushtail possum
With hundreds of call-outs every day, wildlife rescue services can help Australians understand threats to native animals
Imagine coming across an injured kangaroo on the side of the road. Or a bat entangled in fruit tree netting. Would you know who to call to get help? After a quick search, you find the number of your local wildlife rescue service and give them a call. A trained operator gathers the information they […]
Millions of native creatures, including wallabies, green rosellas, cockatoos, and wombats, have been killed in Tasmania under property protection licences
According to data compiled by the state government, millions of native creatures, including wallabies, green rosellas, cockatoos, and wombats, have been killed in Tasmania under property protection licences. The Tasmanian Greens argue that a wider legislative investigation into the management and protection of wildlife in Tasmania should be conducted in order to study the “staggering” […]
Tasmania’s Greens Beach Golf Club gets approval to shoot wallabies amid ‘destruction’ of course greens
A Tasmanian golf club is set to begin culling wallabies and rabbits due to “excessive droppings” and “destruction” of the course’s greens, a move that has angered animal welfare advocates. The Greens Beach Golf Club in the state’s north has been granted a “crop protection permit” from the Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and […]
Māori push for pandemic stimulus spend to save Raukūmara Forest
Two Māoriiwi, or tribal groups, are campaigning for a portion of the New Zealand government’s new COVID-19 economic stimulus package to help save their treasured, ancestral Raukūmara Forest from being overrun by introduced pests. The Raukūmaras stretch across around 200,000 hectares (494,000 acres) of national park and private land along the North Island’s East Cape. […]
Poison-laden drones to patrol New Zealand wilderness on the hunt for invasive pests
A large rat scampers across a shady forest floor in search of its latest meal of Kiwi chicks, one of New Zealand’s endangered native birds. But the rodent is in the sights of another predator – a mammoth drone carrying hundreds of kilograms of deadly poison. This scene could soon be playing out across New […]
“Part of something bigger”: the social movement around New Zealand’s Predator-Free 2050 goal
In Whāingaroa/Raglan on New Zealand’s (NZ’s) west coast, trapping for introduced mammals that prey on endangered native birds is something of a competitive sport. Karioi Project, a local conservation NGO named after the bushclad volcano that backs the small surf town and houses a significant population of endemic oi (grey-faced petrels, Pterodroma gouldi), has established […]
What makes a forest healthy? Māori knowledge has some answers.
RUATĀHUNA, New Zealand — In certain seasons, the forest used to look like a bride, recalled Māori elders in Ruatāhuna: vibrant, healthy, and clothed in all its glory. These days, they agreed, it looks more like an old lady, ragged and tired. There’s a feeling of loneliness there now, too, as if the forest is […]