I once photographed a man releasing a possum at Wilson Reserve,
Ivanhoe. As it was at the foot of a poplar, it rushed straight up, but
had no safe cover. I strongly suspect that the availability of recently
released possums has resulted in the Powerful Owl population's presence
in the suburban Yarra Valley.
Unless it has a secure nest-hollow, a possum has no hope of survival.
And all the hollows suitable for possums are already occupied.
Anthea Fleming
On 4/09/2012 5:52 AM, Bill Stent wrote:
I had an interesting - if very short - conversation on the bike ride
home last night.
I was coming up the path from the Fairfield pipe bridge over the Yarra
(Melbourne), which passes through a bit of bush. Ahead of me I saw a
woman emerge from the bush, carrying a wire crate. I caught her just
as she was loading the empty possum trap into a van, with with the
name of a landscape design and construction company written in large
letters on the side. I asked her "was that a possum you just
released?" She paused for a moment, looked me up and down and said,
"maybe".
Without anything else I could do, I said "good answer" and rode off.
According to the Department of Sustainability and Environment, here in
Victoria, "Possums may be trapped, but only to remove them from the
roof. They must be released on the same property within 50 metres of
the capture site. Licensed wildlife controllers are also authorised to
trap possums, (see Yellow Pages under pest control) but they will not
relocate them to another site."
I have a possum trap and have caught possums inside my house, and have
released them at my front door. Where we were, there are no houses
within at least 400 metres.
What can be done about this? I know that what I saw cannot be taken
as evidence in anything, it's simply my word against hers.
I wrote down the name of the company as she drove off.
Bill
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