Possum tails?

[Old Steve]

Rode down SH16 from Wellsford to Kaukapakapa today, lovely day, ;ovely ride.

But noticed something unusual. There were hundreds of possum tails on the road, no possum carcases, just the black furry tails. Didn't stop to pick one up but they sure looked like possum tails as I went passed. Maybe not just hundreds, but hundreds and hundreds, there were a group of five of them in one metre of road.

Now, why would possum tails be lying on the road and there be absolutely no evidence of the rest of the possum? And why on just this length of road, Wellsford to Kaukapakapa? After Kaukapakapa, on the road through to Albany, I saw a number of possum carcases and no more possum tails.

[Madness]

http://youtu.be/XVSRm80WzZk

[Big Dog]

Rode down SH16 from Wellsford to Kaukapakapa today, lovely day, ;ovely ride.

But noticed something unusual. There were hundreds of possum tails on the road, no possum carcases, just the black furry tails. Didn't stop to pick one up but they sure looked like possum tails as I went passed. Maybe not just hundreds, but hundreds and hundreds, there were a group of five of them in one metre of road.

Now, why would possum tails be lying on the road and there be absolutely no evidence of the rest of the possum? And why on just this length of road, Wellsford to Kaukapakapa? After Kaukapakapa, on the road through to Albany, I saw a number of possum carcases and no more possum tails.
Once upon a time government ( doc? ) and some councils used to buy the tails. Skins usually sold separately and carcases either dumped or kept for dog food.

Might explain why they are separate if that is still the case.
Fell off the back of the truck?

Sent via tapatalk.

[carpey28]

Hey mate,

We drove back from the Hokianga today and noticed the tails start near old Tane mahuta right through all the way to wellsford.. Nearly 2hrs driving and must have been a thousand tails or so..And now it seems they turned off down towards Kaupakapaka...Very strange..That is a huge amount of possums!

[Akzle]

dafuq you talking about willis

[Gazoompipe]

We drove down Old N Rd in Kumeu sunday afternoon and saw about 20 or so tails lying in the road.

[Old Steve]

Once upon a time government ( doc? ) and some councils used to buy the tails. Skins usually sold separately and carcases either dumped or kept for dog food.
Sent via tapatalk.

I thought it was an ears and neck strip that were collected for the bounty. But there's no bounty now is there, so why should anyone collect just the tails these days? And in the case of school fund raiser possum drives the whole carcass has to be brought in because the fur brings in something like $100/kg. Also there were no road kill carcasses at all on the road from Wellsford until after Kaukapakapa.

[Jin]

Yeah i saw this too looked like possum tails all along SH16 to Wellsford and old North road near hellensville to Riverhead.

Bizarre.

[F5 Dave]

Maybe they moult this time of year and grow a new one for summer?

[Oakie]

Maybe they moult this time of year and grow a new one for summer?

Ooohhh ... 'lizard-possums'!

[F5 Dave]

They can do that can't they?

[Jin]

They can do that can't they?
Dunno but doubt they would shed their tails en mass and methodically lay them out a few meters apart over a couple hundred kms of highway. Saw a decapitated possum head and body next to each other too.

Unless north island possums have entered into some group suicide pact this was no accident.

[Hobbyhorse]

There were opossum tails on Old North and Peak Roads yesterday too.

[tri boy]

KFC harvesting meat?:confused:

[F5 Dave]

Dunno but doubt they would shed their tails en mass and methodically lay them out a few meters apart over a couple hundred kms of highway. Saw a decapitated possum head and body next to each other too.

Unless north island possums have entered into some group suicide pact this was no accident.
It could be a religious thing?

[Askor]

possumpocalypse?

[Swoop]

It could be a religious thing?

Being KB, it will be a conspiracy thing...

[Oakie]

Being KB, it will be a conspiracy thing...

So the result of vaccinations huh? Or Roundup ... or the National Government ... or the New World Order ... or the United Nations ... Possumgate!

[Oakie]

I know ... it's the environmentally friendly replacement for 1080 poison. New 1090. Possums eat it and after a short time their tails fly off off making impossible to maintain their balance in trees thus falling out and killing themselves.

[Gremlin]

http://m.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11535356

[Swoop]

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11535356

500 Internal Server Error

[Gremlin]

Fixeded it

[Old Steve]

Curiouser and curiouser.

To have these distributed so widely, and in the numbers I saw, there must have been thousands of them. Like Sandra Coney's comment.

[TheDemonLord]

I'm betting that it is a Furry orgy that went bad....

[Laava]

Once upon a time government ( doc? ) and some councils used to buy the tails. Skins usually sold separately and carcases either dumped or kept for dog food.

Might explain why they are separate if that is still the case.
Fell off the back of the truck?

Sent via tapatalk.

There used to be a bounty on them, not sure if it was nationwide or per borough, but in Northland it was paid out on the basis that you bought in the tip of the tail as proof. Of course, some people would cut the tip off and then cut a couple more "tips" off the same tail. So they changed it to ears, as in, a pair of.

[varminter]

They are, in fact, giant mutated caterpillars.

[ellipsis]

They are, in fact, giant mutated caterpillars.

...they are not...that's just a tall tail...