Fur

Oh dear. The moment someone gets a whiff you like wearing fur, you are immediately everyone's worst enemy.

Now, I hear the reason the PETA people are adverse to this fashion trend is because the animals are killed in a rather unsavoury manner in order to obtain their hides. I object to animals being mistreated. I love animals, as you may be able to tell from this blog. As a kiwi though, I find it hard to get worked up into such a song and dance about it.

You see, one of the many animals which were introduced to our little island nation by the invading colonists were opossums, or just possums as everyone calls them. They are a pest. They kill our native wildlife - many different species; they are not selective - and strip and kill our native trees. They reproduce with fervour, and seeing their carcasses on the roadside is certainly not going to produce any sympathy. We have people dedicated to their eradication, but they're fighting a losing battle. Suffice to say, we kiwis have a somewhat negative attitude towards the blighters.

The little critters also tend to possess their own fur coats. And when they've been killed, we tend to make products out of it - hats, muffs, coats... whatever. It's nice that we can get something positive out of the whole thing. Recently fur from those darstardly possums has been blended with merino from our famous sheep, to make 'merinomink', a luxury brand. Apparently it's quite nice. More power to those who can find something to do with all the extra possums - and their fur.