Speech delivered 23rd May 2007 to the ERMA 1080 Reassessment Committee on possum recovery options by Bryan Bassett-Smith.

 I own a company called Wildenz and am General Manager and shareholder of a Company called Addiction Foods New Zealand Ltd. The other shareholders are from Singapore. I am grateful that I can share with you some of the situations, successes and failures I have encountered over the past 6 years, as I've become involved in the possum recovery industry.

In another life I have been a farmer. Not a very conventional one, but specialising in exotic animals. It all began in the early 70's when I became involved in aerial deer capture. As one of the pioneers in this industry, the expertise we gained in keeping these wild animals alive has taken me to China, to work with Giant Panda, and to Australia, Japan and Chile to work with a wide variety of animals.

It has also given me a great understanding into how wild animals, in some cases, can be used commercially. Sir Tim Wallis, an old friend and colleague of mine, recently visited our factory in Te Puke and wrote in his book the following insert: 'Bryan, we shared some great adventures with the deer, why not possum' Sir Tim can see the potential there is in harvesting possums, using people, not poisons.

With helicopters, every corner of New Zealand can be reached to control these pests. In 2001 I could see the waste of possum carcasses for myself, and decided to fully explore the possibility of recovering carcasses for pet food and human consumption. At that stage I wrote myself a Mission Statement; 'To remove possums, stoats, weasels and ferrets from the New Zealand countryside without the use of pesticides.

To this end, we are motivated by the environmental concerns. i.e. to reduce the numbers of introduced pests, save our native birds and to eliminate the threat of bovine Tb. We are also wanting to provide employment for as many people as possible and so our efforts are to add commercial value to these animals and so reward financially the hunters involved in this industry'. As with all new ventures one has to have a philosophical approach and it is this approach and philosophy I wish to share with you, in a spirit of cooperation.

We as New Zealanders have some unique challenges. How we react to these will be important for generations to come. To be specific, let us look at the problem of introduced agricultural pests, we face as a country. Our bush and bird life has been dramatically influenced by these creatures and so we must intervene. How, and by what methods is the challenge. I am fully aware of the problems associated with bovine tuberculosis (T.B), being a recipient through my deer herd of the disease. An unscrupulous farmer introduced wild caught deer from Westland into the McKenzie Basin in the South Island.

Many of these deer carried T.B. The T.B. Spread to possums, ferrets and I believe even hedgehogs, and so the containment of the disease became complex. In my case I had agreed to graze for a friend, animals purchased from the previously mentioned area. Some were full of T.B. it transpired and so they infected some of my deer. False Positives were the tragedy with wapiti hinds worth $5,000 being shot to show they were clear of the disease.

An emotionally devastating sad situation. Financially devastating too as no animals could be sold due to Movement Control. In that area the wild vectors were accessible and gradually the situation was controlled. It does reinforce though the fact that T.B. Must come from somewhere, and the scaremongering about all possums carrying T.B. is just that. They had to contract the disease from somewhere.

After initial investigation with the Ministry of Agriculture and Fishery (MAF), I decided to try and realise the commercial value of possums, to see if commercial activities could make a contribution to possum control. The aerial spread of 1080 at this time caused me great concern, as I had observed it spread is very accessible areas at Eastern Lake Taupo and just could not philosophically identify either with mass indiscriminate poisoning, and also the waste of what could be regarded as an asset. Albeit a temporary one.

So the project began. There is plenty of anecdotal evidence about how good possum meat is for dogs, but to make credible claims, and to understand fully the real positive attributes of these, scientific research was necessary. A load of possums was taken to Ag research and $2,800 later the results were that possums are uniquely and abnormally high in the unsaturated fatty acids. Omega 3 and 6.

There is still much work to be done in understanding how the levels of omega 3 and 6 could change seasonally or related to food. So we can now make substantiated claims. The meat from possums has anti inflammatory and hypoallergenic properties, and it has been used to cure disorders of the skin and bowel. With any commercial product it is only as good as its sales. Markets are vital. In Japan possum is translated to be 'a kind of rat'.

In China possum of Guo zi li, has been sold as the civet cat. With the outbreak of the SARS virus, the civet cat was implicated and so the Chinese shot themselves in the foot. In the USA the opossum is a rodent and loosely associated with hillbillies. So as a marketing exercise its not all easy. The good news is that the nutrient profile and the omegas, plus the fact that there is no artificial flavours, colourings or preservatives in our product gives us a market edge...Next