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Slaughter of brushtail possums

In Tasmania, brushtail posums are killed for human consumption and pet food. Possum corpses are exported to Asian countries. These wild animals are trapped and transported to a slaughterhouse because the Asian customers consider this method of killing to be more hygienic.

Possums were killed for many years for their fur - how many were killed in a year related directly to the price of fur. In the 1970s, a quota of over 200,000 animals a year were killed, reaching a peak of 400,000 in 1979. When the international fur market collapsed, so did the possum industry. By 1993, the number killed commercially had fallen to 30,000 and in 1996 only 10,000 were killed for commercial purposes from a quota of 250,000 (1).

Lenah Game Meats in Tasmania has set up a special slaughterhouse for possums and would like to expand its markets in Asia, especially China, for "crispy skin" style possum.

There is a Code of Practice for Capture, Handling, Transport and Slaughter of Brush Possums. However, provisions in the Code don't guarantee the welfare of the animals, and of course the Code may not be obeyed in day to day operations.

Possums are trapped from the wild, confined in wooden boxes with a wire mesh floor, stacked onto a truck, transported to the slaughterhouse, where they wait to be killed.

The Code (3rd edition) states that possums must be killed by sunset on the day they are trapped. Assuming this requirement is followed (who would know if it wasn't?), possums can be trapped for up to 22 hours without food and water.

A Tasmanian animal welfare representative considered that the possums she inspected looked stressed, a claim denied by the Managing Director of Lenah Game Meats (1). Ironically, researchers who experiment on native fauna are more aware of how stressful capture is for wild animals. The NH&MRC in its booklet on native animals states: " Many free-ranging animals are highly stressed by handling, close proximity to man and captivity ."

Dr David Obendorf, a veterinary pathologist, gave evidence to the Senate Committee (1) that possums suffer capture stress and injure themselves in attempts to escape. This claim was also dismissed by the Managing Director, who stated that possums had "a relaxed temperament". However, a study of the capture and relocation of possums from urban areas found that 61% had abrasions on the face as a result of trying to escape from the trapping cage (2).

The Senate Committee (1) did acknowledge that ventilation was a problem when the boxes were stacked close together, and that the wire mesh on the bottom may be too large so that feet could protrude.

At the slaughterhouse, the lid of each box is slid back and the possum inside is hit with a captive bolt pistol to knock it unconscious. The possum is then thrown through a chute into the killing room, where the slaughterman slices through its throat.

According to the Code of Practice, each possum should be knocked out by one blow and killed while still unconscious. The Senate Committee, after observing only 4-6 possums being killed, concluded that all was well. However, the Tasmanian animal welfare representative witnessed possums having their throat cut after they had already regained consciousness.

Similarly, a video was taken in the slaughterhouse in January 1999, over 6 months after the Senate Committee report was published, with its endorsement of the industry. The video clearly showed:

• Several possums were not rendered unconscious by the first hit of the captive bolt pistol. The stunner then slowly walked over to reload the pistol, and slowly returned to the possum for a second shot. Since the possum was hit by the first shot, it is likely to have suffered pain during this time.

• A disturbing number of possums were not unconscious when their throat was cut. Some were sufficiently mobile to leap out of the trough onto the floor. Problems occurred when the slaughterman stopped to sharpen his knife, and stunned possums coming through the chute piled up. In some cases the slaughterman had trouble holding a struggling possum still while he tried to slit the throat.

• Pouch joeys were picked up and bashed against a metal trough, then dumped in a waste bin.

Possums suffer a great deal of stress and sometimes pain before dying to satisfy the whims of overseas customers. If possum numbers are too high in Tasmania, then the humane, long-term solution is to reduce the birth rate, as is being trialed with some feral animals.

References