Karu Bear™ is a Trade Mark for the New Zealand Brush Tail Possum Trichosurus vulpecula. It comes from Australia where it is a protected species.
In New Zealand numbers increased to about 60 million. It began to damage the forest and spread Tb in dairy cows. So the NZ Government controlled numbers by dropping the poison 1080 on the forest from helicopters. Control measures cost $60 - $100 million dollars a year. Instead of killing these animals by dropping poisoned baits we believe the possum is a valuable resource. In the 1990's my company was selling young possums to Japan. Each possum was worth as much as two tons of coal. We do indeed have a valuable resource in New Zealand. Anyway, at the very least we should respect this animal.
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