Monday, November 30, 2009

More about imported animals


Nov. 25 – Bushmans Centre

The next stop was at the Bushmans Centre where we learned about the non-indigenous animals that are destroying native plants and animals and what lengths people have gone to in order to eradicate these nasty creatures such as the brush-tailed possum, stoats, feral dogs, cats, pigs, goats, sheep and other animals. The saying in New Zealand is, “kill a possom, save a tree.” I did my part by purchasing a possum fur neckpiece. The extremes that some of these people went to in order to hunt down deer were impressive. Some of the terrain was so rough and the conditions so poor that many of them lost their lives. I guess you could call them die-hard hunters... In any case, they had some possums caged up including an albino one. I tried to take pictures, but the light was too dim and we couldn't use flash, as it blinds the animals. I had to satisfy myself with getting a picture of the white one which was all curled up, asleep. (To the grammarians out there, no, there isn't an apostrophe in Bushmans even though there should be. That's the way it is on the road sign.)

1 comment:

  1. Why, Nan, I hadn't even paid attention to "Bushmans." I was trying to figure out the picture and read your paragraph at the same time.

    Barbara

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