Do you get paid to trap them? Trap them for food? Does the fur have value? Is it done primarily because
They're considered a pest due to their destructive nature to our native plants and animals (of which many are on the brink of extinction).
and needs to be done?
Are foreigners allowed to trap in New Zealand? I remember reading a story about feral domestic dogs killing sheep there?
.
Hey Danny, no I don't get paid to trap them. However I believe the government employees some trappers. The fur is worth $75 - $120 NZD per kilo, there isn't much of a market for the pelts. Harvesting fur from possums in NZ is probably a bit different to what is typically done around the world. Once the possum is trapped and dispatched the fur is then plucked from it, this must be done with a few minutes of it being dispatched otherwise it becomes near impossible to pluck!
From what I understand anyone is free to trap in NZ, no licence is required or anything. As with most places there are regulations in regards to trap sizes etc.
The possum fur market is worth about $120million per year here. The government has a goal to be predator free (this includes possums, mustelids, rats etc) by 2050. Which is fairly ambitious I'd say considering there is an estimated 30 million possums in NZ alone, of which only an estimated 1.2million are harvested each year!
What you say about dogs killing sheep is correct. Once a dog (feral or domestic) has a taste for sheep they cannot help themselves and go on a rampage worrying and killing sheep. Dogs that do this are usually put down as they cannot be trained out of it and are a huge risk to the livestock.