RON Smith woke one night thinking his Hawthorn house was being robbed. He crept downstairs and found two possums helping themselves to a fruit bowl in the kitchen. That's when he remembered leaving a skylight open.
One escaped through the skylight, but the other "got stuck behind the stove", he recalls. Removing it required an electrician, a pest controller and $350.
People complain that possums eat roses and parsley and fruit off trees. They leave droppings in the driveway. They thump and squeal in the roof, and start dogs barking. But they're protected and everyone is supposed to love them. "People and possums can live together successfully," chirps the Department of Sustainability and Environment's website. Many suburban dwellers aren't so sure.
Possums kept Balwyn North resident Jainash Prakash awake night after night. "They'd just make this horrible noise and scratch and run around at all hours of the night. They also ate Mum's herbs and vegetables. They're a pest. I don't see why they're protected."
And now, there are even more of them: recent rain has meant possums are breeding faster than usual. Breeding seasons for brushtails are autumn and spring, while ringtails breed in autumn and winter. It's a "population explosion", says Alan Hollensen, deputy chief executive of the Nursery and Garden Industry Association of Victoria.
One of the worst-affected areas is the City of Monash in Melbourne's south-east, where possums are in "plague proportions", according to Mayor Paul Klisaris. The council receives more than 400 calls each year from residents wanting possums removed.
No one knows (or is game enough to say) just how many possums are living among us.
Ian Temby, senior biodiversity officer at the Department of Sustainability and Environment, was once asked to provide a figure for a minister. "My estimate was based on guesswork, but I'm not telling you. It's not verifiable," he said.
Two kinds of possums roam towns and suburbs. The common brushtail, with its bushy black tail, large pointy ears and grey fur, is the size of a domestic cat. They are noisy and nosy and will invade any hollow space around the house. The ringtail possum is smaller and less invasive, and nests in trees.
Both varieties have been protected in Victoria since 1975. Before that, anyone could trap the native animals and move them to distant bushland.
Since 2003, brushtails can be trapped only by licensed wildlife controllers to be removed from a building, or euthanased by a vet. The possums must be released within 50 metres of the capture site. It is illegal to trap or kill ringtail possums and anyone caught "relocating" either species faces a fine of up to $5000.
Despite the fines, some householders continue to illegally trap and poison them. "The worst possum trap I've seen is a combination of a wheelie bin and garden hose," says possum remover Paul Nolch. "Possums are even left in roofs or dropped in the bottom of swimming pools."
A "mass poisoner" killed an unknown number of possums around The Basin and Upper Ferntree Gully earlier this year. The Boronia Wildlife Shelter treated 27 poisoned brushtails but many others had already died. Then there's possum dumping. Bob Winters says his cottage by the Yarra at Warrandyte had become a "possum hotel" because people on the Eltham side of the river "were dumping them on our side to prevent them from getting back".
Authorised possum catchers are in demand.
"We're absolutely flat out getting calls to remove possums from roofs," said Anthony Knight, manager of Hello Possums, who says possum catching is competitive, "cut-throat" and specialised.
A Deakin University study found that the bleach White King and insect fumigants Camphor and Naphthalene might help to ward off possums in the garden. The products can be sprayed on foliage, hung from trees or sprinkled around the base of plants.
Other options suggested by the Department of Sustainability and Environment's Living With Possums guide include putting collars around tree trunks, pruning branches, erecting floppy fences, installing habitat boxes and covering trees with netting.
Possum Whisperer Paul Sturrock's advice for householders is to do frequent roof maintenance to prevent possums from finding a way in.
Dr John White, a lecturer in the school of life and environmental sciences at Deakin University, said the key was tolerance.
"I'm an advocate for biodiversity in urban environments," Dr White said. "Having native animals in our cities as something we value changes the way we perceive these creatures."
Despite their invasion of his home, Ron Smith considers possums a significant part of Melbourne's urban life.
"Where would we be without the possums? They're part of the magic of suburban living".
Original Article : Georgina Dimopoulos - The Age : Photo: Paul Rovere
RON Smith woke one night thinking his Hawthorn house was being robbed. He crept downstairs and found two possums helping themselves to a fruit bowl in the kitchen. That's when he remembered leaving a skylight open.
One escaped through the skylight, but the other "got stuck behind the stove", he recalls. Removing it required an electrician, a pest controller and $350.
People complain that possums eat roses and parsley and fruit off trees. They leave droppings in the driveway. They thump and squeal in the roof, and start dogs barking. But they're protected and everyone is supposed to love them. "People and possums can live together successfully," chirps the Department of Sustainability and Environment's website. Many suburban dwellers aren't so sure.
Possums kept Balwyn North resident Jainash Prakash awake night after night. "They'd just make this horrible noise and scratch and run around at all hours of the night. They also ate Mum's herbs and vegetables. They're a pest. I don't see why they're protected."
And now, there are even more of them: recent rain has meant possums are breeding faster than usual. Breeding seasons for brushtails are autumn and spring, while ringtails breed in autumn and winter. It's a "population explosion", says Alan Hollensen, deputy chief executive of the Nursery and Garden Industry Association of Victoria.
One of the worst-affected areas is the City of Monash in Melbourne's south-east, where possums are in "plague proportions", according to Mayor Paul Klisaris. The council receives more than 400 calls each year from residents wanting possums removed.
No one knows (or is game enough to say) just how many possums are living among us.
Ian Temby, senior biodiversity officer at the Department of Sustainability and Environment, was once asked to provide a figure for a minister. "My estimate was based on guesswork, but I'm not telling you. It's not verifiable," he said.
Two kinds of possums roam towns and suburbs. The common brushtail, with its bushy black tail, large pointy ears and grey fur, is the size of a domestic cat. They are noisy and nosy and will invade any hollow space around the house. The ringtail possum is smaller and less invasive, and nests in trees.
Both varieties have been protected in Victoria since 1975. Before that, anyone could trap the native animals and move them to distant bushland.
Since 2003, brushtails can be trapped only by licensed wildlife controllers to be removed from a building, or euthanased by a vet. The possums must be released within 50 metres of the capture site. It is illegal to trap or kill ringtail possums and anyone caught "relocating" either species faces a fine of up to $5000.
Despite the fines, some householders continue to illegally trap and poison them. "The worst possum trap I've seen is a combination of a wheelie bin and garden hose," says possum remover Paul Nolch. "Possums are even left in roofs or dropped in the bottom of swimming pools."
A "mass poisoner" killed an unknown number of possums around The Basin and Upper Ferntree Gully earlier this year. The Boronia Wildlife Shelter treated 27 poisoned brushtails but many others had already died. Then there's possum dumping. Bob Winters says his cottage by the Yarra at Warrandyte had become a "possum hotel" because people on the Eltham side of the river "were dumping them on our side to prevent them from getting back".
Authorised possum catchers are in demand.
"We're absolutely flat out getting calls to remove possums from roofs," said Anthony Knight, manager of Hello Possums, who says possum catching is competitive, "cut-throat" and specialised.
A Deakin University study found that the bleach White King and insect fumigants Camphor and Naphthalene might help to ward off possums in the garden. The products can be sprayed on foliage, hung from trees or sprinkled around the base of plants.
Other options suggested by the Department of Sustainability and Environment's Living With Possums guide include putting collars around tree trunks, pruning branches, erecting floppy fences, installing habitat boxes and covering trees with netting.
Possum Whisperer Paul Sturrock's advice for householders is to do frequent roof maintenance to prevent possums from finding a way in.
Dr John White, a lecturer in the school of life and environmental sciences at Deakin University, said the key was tolerance.
"I'm an advocate for biodiversity in urban environments," Dr White said. "Having native animals in our cities as something we value changes the way we perceive these creatures."
Despite their invasion of his home, Ron Smith considers possums a significant part of Melbourne's urban life.
"Where would we be without the possums? They're part of the magic of suburban living".
Original Article : Georgina Dimopoulos - The Age : Photo: Paul Rovere