Opossums Overrun Brooklyn, Fail To Eliminate Rats 343
__roo writes "In a bizarre case of life imitates the Simpsons, New York City officials introduced a population of opossums into Brooklyn parks and under the boardwalk at Coney Island, apparently convinced that the opossums would eat all of the rats in the borough and then conveniently die of starvation. Several years later, the opossums have not only failed to eliminate the rat epidemic from New York City, but they have thrived, turning into a sharp-toothed, foul-odored epidemic of their own."
The obvious solution (Score:5, Funny)
Re:The obvious solution (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Well, yes, until they turn into killer cars [youtube.com], and then you need mutant long-cats to deal with the cars.
And then dismembered hands to deal with the long-cats....
Hipsters (Score:5, Funny)
Just tell the hipsters in Brooklyn that it's totally ironic to wear live Opossums on their heads. Kill two birds with one stone.
Re:Hipsters (Score:5, Funny)
More like kill two sharp-toothed, foul-odored epidemics with one stone.
Re:Hipsters (Score:5, Funny)
Mod this post up!
How very meta.
Obligatory Simpsons (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
"Just bring in a colony of ferocious lions to eat the possums"
Not lions; lion shit. Get bags and drag them around to convince the possums that there is something big and very bad living there.
Herd them into a PETA headquarters. Leave a note that they seem to be some kind of kittens.
Tell the cops that they get 3/5 of a point for each one killed and buy a pair of firing range earmuffs.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
The New Orleans Police Department sniper team get real life target practice by trolling the streets at night and shooting nutria rats with a .22 rifle.
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
You'd think that none of the officials had ever been exposed to old folk songs... ...She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.
I don't know why she swallowed the fly.
Perhaps she'll die.
Remember the old lady (Score:5, Insightful)
Poor thing. I hear she died.
Wild Animals Should Stay In the Wild (Score:5, Insightful)
We had to deal with a bold, insane, possibly rabid raccoon on the front porch last week. Believe me, it's scary when the wild animals decide they're not afraid of you at all.
Re: (Score:2)
LOL, not when you own a firearm!
Re:Wild Animals Should Stay In the Wild (Score:5, Insightful)
Yep, because discharging a firearm at night in an urban setting to kill rodents and small mamalls is an intelligent thing to do.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
That's what air rifles are for.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
An air gun would be fine for that. Urban settings have animal control, good luck getting them to show up at midnight though.
I have alligators living on the farthest reaches of my property. I have seen both panther (may have been a large wild cat) & bear tracks within a half-mile of my home. If you live where I do & don't own at least one varmint gun, you're a grade A moron.
Re:Wild Animals Should Stay In the Wild (Score:5, Insightful)
I found a possum in my trashcan many years ago. Feeling brave and heroic (aka scared and freaked out), I loaded up my air rifle with a .177 pointed pellet, gave it a full 10 pumps, and shot the possum basically point blank in the upper body. It was difficult to tell where it hit exactly due to all the fur and thrashing, but suffice to say that it did not die -- much to our mutual chagrin. Neither did it perish after the increasingly distressing 5 attempts at a coup de grace using BBs from the reservoir. I ended up having to retrieve and load another pellet and shoot it in the head to finally put it out of its misery.
After it was dead, I went to get a shovel only to came back and discover that it was not actually dead, as it had tipped over the trashcan and escaped. Turns out "playing possum" is a real thing after all.
Personally, I would not recommend air rifles for shooting possums, or any other "varmints" for that matter. Even if you're a good shot, even if you *can't miss*, there's a significant chance that you will not kill it, and having a wounded animal running is not a good thing. For starters, there's the natural displeasure of having inflicted needless suffering (which may sound "unmanly," or inconsequential until you've actually experienced it), but also there's the practical reality that you've just created an increased risk to pets, children, etc., (which also feels pretty shitty).
That said, I don't have a problem with people killing animals, be it for pest elimination or for sport, but inexperienced would-be shooters should be fully aware that shooting something doesn't necessarily equate to killing it, especially with an underpowered gun. If you're in an area where it's illegal to discharge a firearm (which is the case for the vast majority of residential areas), you should probably just stick to traps.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
I saw someone mention clubbing an animal...
I doubt they've tried it. I clubbed a rabbit (was sick, not getting better) and it moved right as I was fully committed to the swing.
Effin hell I felt bad for the thing. What should have been a clean strike to the back of the skull turned into a painful head-blow.
Now when I have to dispatch an animal I use a 33 gallon drum and compressed N2.
Painless for the animal and no boom that would upset the newer neighbors (right on the boundary of greenbelt/open land and
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Is this based on an actual occurrence? Or is this typical rural dweller's prejudice about what a "city slicker" must be like.
If I may answer this: I live outside of the city, and *all* my neighbors own and periodically shoot firearms. We have deer, coyotes, foxes, rabbits, squirrels and probably more than meets the eye. Some of those varmints may be unwanted. This is not a concern, and nobody calls the sheriff when gun fire is heard. The distance between homes is so large (half a mile at least) that the
Re:Wild Animals Should Stay In the Wild (Score:5, Interesting)
One night I got a call from my wife - she met some beasty on the path from the complex's gate to the apartment's front door, and the stupid thing stood its ground, got on its two hind legs, and started waving its paws and hissing at her. Something had been clawing our cat, so I was feeling pretty murderous - I took my recurve, and two arrows and went to see what was what.
It was a oversized raccoon, and it was really standing its ground - it could have ran in the bushes or through the pool's fence, but did not, even though we were on both sides of it. I was afraid I would miss it (I had never shot my bow at anything but targets) so I made my wife go back to the car, i.e. out of the line of fire. I'm glad I did, because the arrow went clean through the raccoon, bounced off the concrete path, and took out a finger worth of wood from a wall. I realize now it was a damn stupid thing to do, as I had really underestimated what my bow could do.
Shooting a gun in the same situation seem even more irresponsible - the bullet may just go through the critter, and end up into one of your neighbors.
In any case, we called animal control, and I got a sermon from the Sheriff deputy about firing the bow inside the apartment complex. She said that she could have brought me in front of a judge for it, but she let it slide.
Two days later, the animal control people wanted to check both me and my wife for scratches - the raccoon turned out to have been rabid... I guess we were both very lucky that night, despite doing so many things wrong - she stood nearby when she should have gone back to the car, I came up on the raccoon and could have scared it into attacking her, and then I shot a 65 pound bow in the middle of a bunch of dry wall buildings.
Re:Wild Animals Should Stay In the Wild (Score:4, Informative)
Shooting a gun in the same situation seem even more irresponsible - the bullet may just go through the critter, and end up into one of your neighbors..
That is why you use a shotgun.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
That is why you use a shotgun.
Contrary to popular belief, shot will go through several layers of sheetrock. It is not safe for shooting in a residential neighborhood.
http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/bot3.htm [theboxotruth.com]
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Oh no. If you aren't hunting them (gigging them from a boat & hitting them with a bangstick), you're going to want either a reasonably large caliber rifle / pistol or a 12ga with buckshot. Shooting them in the head does fuck all unless you sever the spine. The good thing about alligators is they generally leave you the hell alone if you do the same. Water moccasins are the ones you really have to watch out for, they will attack you unprovoked, especially during mating season.
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
So .30-06/.308 ballpark if you want to use a rifle? How do they taste? I've never had the opportunity to try it.
Keep modding me down anti-RKBA asshats. Karma: Excellent :)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
You've never ate gator? I guess it's just a regional thing, since I don't think there is a seafood restaurant in Florida that doesn't offer it as an appetizer.
It's pretty tasty, usually served fried & with a ranch or mustard based dipping sauce. It's a bit like a cross between chicken & pork, but a lot chewier.
Re: (Score:2)
Air rifles, bow and arrow or even .22 shorts should be fine.
Re: (Score:2)
You gotta shoot'em in the head!
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Yeah, you can do that, but if you miss (hint: headshots on small moving critters are hard) the brain the animal is going to suffer more than it would if you had used a more appropriate cartridge. Unless you are a psychopath you really don't want to wound an animal and condemn it to a slow painful death from blood loss or infection.
Re: (Score:2)
Sorry, playing too much Fallout 3 & it just popped in my head.
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/You_Gotta_Shoot_'Em_in_the_Head [wikia.com]
Re: (Score:2)
Unless you are a psychopath you really don't want to wound an animal and condemn it to a slow painful death from blood loss or infection.
Back to the original post, slow death by rabies is probably the only thing worse than death by blood loss or infection...
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Isn't that the plot to Old Yeller?
Re:Wild Animals Should Stay In the Wild (Score:4, Insightful)
The muzzle rise of .223 doesn't let you see the results of your shot through the scope. A .22LR or .17HMR has no such problem; either one is much quieter and cheaper. New .223 rounds being around 45 cents each, and reload will cost you half of that. I do take a .223 to the field now and then, but not as a main weapon.
Never seen a .22 accomplish that with anything bigger than a squirrel.
Even on squirrels it's not a humane kill. The bullet has very little energy; the animal gets nailed (literally) but doesn't instantly die because there is no hydrostatic shock. Unless you manage to hit that 0.5" circle on the neck, the squirrel will run away (in pain) and will die only many hours later. Compare to .17HMR - it often launches the squirrel into the air, and once hit it doesn't run anywhere, it just drops in place, already dead.
A hit from a .223, of course, will launch both halves of the squirrel into the air. There is no debate that the squirrel doesn't even hear the shot that kills it. I like .223, but I take most of the squirrels with a sub-MOA .17HMR. I carry enough ammo in my pocket (usually 200-300 rounds) to walk around the field for a couple of hours. Try that with .223 :-) you'd need a backpack.
Re:Wild Animals Should Stay In the Wild (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
I've known about them for years before max Payne. I know that Taurus isn't exactly the highest quality brand out there.
You do not always have the option to carry a long shotgun with you for both practical and legal reasons. You definitely don't want to be walking around with a short shotgun for legal reasons. But you still may need a self defense weapon if you are out in brush/swamp, and for that the judge is more effective than just about anything else you can carry. I would definitely prefer it over conve
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
- Dan.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Says the person that has never dealt with a rabid animal.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Sounds like you are a responsible gun owner then, good on you!
You should upgrade that BB gun to a .177 pellet rifle. Critters generally don't shrug that off.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
I've never heard of a raccoon that was afraid of people, or at least not recently. That sort of behavior seems to be the norm for them.
Re: (Score:2)
Stay in the "wild"?
What the fuck is "the wild"? Manhattan and most every other place in the world where people inhabit was a glade, thicket, or other similar animal-inhabited "wild" before we came.
Just like the Philistines, why would the animals decide "hey, we'll find somewhere else to go" when another species decides they want to live there instead?
Re: (Score:2)
How about the humans stay out of the wild where the animals already live?*
Sure, coons and possums are nuisances, but imagine how they feel about the humans who've moved into their neighborhood!
*Not referring to Brooklyn, obviously, but front porches in general.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
I'm sure being both black and white they're actually quite understanding.
Ugh... (Score:2)
We have these in Chicago; one died in my back yard. They're just like rats, but bigger. I can't believe anyone thought this was a good idea.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
...sometimes in our ovens or stewpot
On purpose or not?
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Are you asking the possum? or the person cooking it?
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
That's because the South also has things that eat them and keep their population relatively in check.
I'm not sure that Brooklyn wants to bring in snakes, raptors, and gators to deal with the problem they already have.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
You're talking about politicians in Brooklyn making decisions about ecological balance. I can't think of a less ecologically balanced place.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
I am a bit puzzled why someone assumed that opossums in an urban environment, surrounded by garbage (which tends to just sit there), would instead take the trouble to hunt rats (which generally do not).
No kidding (Score:5, Insightful)
The whole idea is almost mind-bogglingly dumb. Where did they get the idea that possums would eat rats? They mostly eat carrion and bugs.
Maybe for their next trick they can introduce a herd of cows... you know, to eat the possums.
Remember Jurassic Park? (Score:2)
possum is a food group here in alabama. (Score:4, Interesting)
Seriously though, no one in their right mind down here would try to destroy a rat problem with a possum problem. Matter of fact, anyone that doesn't call them 'possum' doesn't really have any experience with the nasty things. The 'opossum' is about one of the nastiest animals I have ever had the displeasure of looking at. We get them in the garbage can every now and then... They get stuck and can't get out if there's not enough in the can for them to climb out. I usually just leave them there and let the trash man take care of them. I've poked at them a little bit and they just show their teeth and hiss. I've never seen them play dead. They're about the #2 roadkill item around here, after armadillo...
So New York, I hear that badgers eat possum... interested?
Re:possum is a food group here in alabama. (Score:5, Funny)
Badgers? Badgers? We don't need no stinkin' badgers!
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Badgers? Badgers?
Mushroom! Mushroom!
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
I've poked at them a little bit and they just show their teeth and hiss.
Invest in a decent air rifle and hone your marksmanship skills. That's what I do with the damn things. Was more fun living out in the country and shooting them with real firearms but the air rifle is almost as satisfying.
Re:possum is a food group here in alabama. (Score:5, Funny)
Seriously though, no one in their right mind down here would try to destroy a rat problem with a possum problem. Matter of fact, anyone that doesn't call them 'possum' doesn't really have any experience with the nasty things
I'm with you -- what the hell were they thinking? Anyone from south of the Mason Dixon line would know damned well that turning possums loose on NYC would lead to complete chaos. The possum's preferred meal is Your Garbage, and a NYC alleyway is a possum's smorgasbord.
But I do have an alternate theory. Someone from the Big City came down South and said something stupid about the size of our "rats". Someone from the Little Southern Town said, "We call 'em 'possums', and they'd eat your so-called Noo Yawk rats for breakfast". The city slicker promptly requested a truckload be delivered, and my cousin Bubba gladly obliged... knowing exactly what lay in store for Mr. Smarty-Pants from the city.
Or it could have been an evil plot to wreak toothy, naked-tailed revenge for the wrongs inflicted upon the South during the Civil War... oh, sorry, I mean "War of Northern Aggression". YMMV.
Re:possum is a food group here in alabama. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:possum is a food group here in alabama. (Score:4, Funny)
"Excuse me, kind sir, but could you kindly tip this garbage receptacle at such an angle as to let me escape my confinement? I would be mighty grateful, if so." That would help; as would a tip of his top hat. He also wears a monocle.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
I've never seen them play dead.
I have, but only in response to my dog, not to me.
Wow, google ads are scary... (Score:2)
This story is giving me back a google text ad for "Alabama Pest Control" Yes, it got the location right.
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Common sense... (Score:5, Insightful)
They're not as bad as rats, but it blows my mind to think that someone somewhere thought of the possum as a predator. They will hunt, but only if there is no ready supply of garbage. New York is their promised land.
They'd have been better off importing bobcats. Though, of course, importing predators into New York to kill their pests is doomed: the pests are so commonly poisoned, that they're very likely to kill anything that eats them. That's a common problem with the falcons who feed on pigeons.
Re:Common sense... (Score:5, Funny)
Maybe I have the benefit of experience, having lived in the south and all, but WHO WOULD BE SO F#$%ING STUPID AS TO USE POSSUMS FOR PEST CONTROL?
New Yorkers, apparently.
Success stories? (Score:2)
I'm curious if anyone knows of any success stories of using this strategy with large animals.
It definitely seems to work on smaller scales, like buying praying mantis eggs to control garden pests. But I'm not sure I've ever heard of a success involving anything much bigger than that.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I'm curious if anyone knows of any success stories of using this strategy with large animals.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Matthew_Island [wikipedia.org]
Summary: Lots of voles, introduce reindeer, population explosion of reindeer, crash, everythings dead.
This is probably the source of the whole meme.
And now i will imitate the Simpsons (Score:5, Funny)
New York Post article ... (Score:5, Insightful)
I know this is Idle, but still.
Newspapers: New York Times, Washington Post.
Tabloids: New York Post, Washington Times.
If this is a real story, is there a real paper carrying it somewhere?
Sort of, here's a United Press International feed: http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2010/09/19/Immigrant-opossums-adapt-to-Brooklyn/UPI-90141284911712/ [upi.com]
Flak Cannon (Score:2)
WIKIPEDIA (Score:5, Insightful)
Their unspecialized biology, flexible diet and reproductive strategy make them successful colonizers and survivors in diverse locations and conditions.
If they had just read the first two paragraphs in wikipedia, they'd know possums don't just "die off" after there's no more rats.
Marsupials (Score:2)
How many times will this happen? (Score:2)
Did they try this in Boston back in the 80's? (Score:2)
I remember a line from "Cheers"
Norm: There's a dead possum in the stairwell... at least I hope it's a possum. I hate to think a rat could get that big...
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Yeah, they are pretty amazing and spunky little dogs. My Grandfather got her for me when I told him about my rat problem. He got her directly from a breeder that had come to the states from Germany and knew the proper way to raise and train them. First time we brought her home we opened up a cabinet, watched her bolt inside and come out with a dead rat less than a minute later. That dog was never happier than when she was chasing and killing vermin.
She's the only dog that I ever saw kill a skunk withou
hm (Score:2)
Cane toads (Score:2)
Have we not learned from Australia [mongabay.com]?
We've given Australia plague after plague after plague. From rabbits to buffalo and from camels to toads. And they didn't even keep any captive Jewish slaves. Introducing new species as a way of killing a current one is rarely a good idea.
What is much, much more effective is introducing large numbers of sterile animals [wikipedia.org] of the same group into the wild though.
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah but that was just to mess with them.
This Just In... (Score:2)
Just another case of history repeating itself (Score:2)
How many times has man transplanted a wild animal or plant from one place to another to try to eradicate a pest? How many times has it succeeded?
Earlier this year my SO and I went to St. John, USVI for vacation. We learned how they had a major rat problem on the island back in the 1800's. Some enterprising individual decided to introduce a bunch of mongoose (mongeese?) to the island to eradicate the rats. The only problem is that the rats are nocturnal and mongoose aren't, so they just ended up with a
Possums are basically big marsupial rats, right? (Score:2)
Mmmm.... them's good eatin'! (Score:2)
Possum + Rabies? (Score:4, Informative)
Opossum's are particularly resistant to rabies due to a low body temperature+environment. That's just FUD sensationalism.
Don't badmouth the opossum like that.
Should have used Mongooses (Score:2)
I'm surprised they didn't go with mongooses - it worked so well in Hawaii:
http://www.susanscott.net/Oceanwatch2002/apr19-02.html [susanscott.net]
And yet they stupidly outlaw ferrets! (Score:3, Informative)
Further, NOWHERE in the Western Hemisphere are there any feral colonies of the domestic variety of ferret. They just don't survive well here outside of captivity.
So New York, in its "infinite wisdom" (pardon the sarcasm), outlaws ferrets but imports possums, which ARE known to breed in the wild and form feral colonies.
Yet another reason I don't live in New York. Its leadership has made many decisions of this quality.
No, no, no! (Score:4, Funny)
The Opossum's most effective predator is the Reticulated Gap-Toothed Yokel.
They're not liable to freeze to death, but they'll likely get killed off by wandering into traffic while looking up at them big tall buildings.
Re:Alligators (Score:5, Funny)
Bring in alligators to eat the opossum, and then in the winter, they'll all freeze to death.
A friend keeps singing a song to her kid about an alligator going snap. I keep telling her she'll need liquid oxygen to achieve that, but I don't think she's got the message.
Re:Alligators (Score:4, Informative)
Re:as always, humans are weak in the mind (Score:4, Funny)
That's a mighty nice soapbox you have there.
With a stick and some string, you'd have an even better possum trap.
Re: (Score:2)
Comparing the removal of rats to Cuba and the economy is an awfully big stretch.
From your argument, we shouldn't even have money. Should we still be trading with horses and wives?
Back on-topic... Yes, New York messed up. But... learning from our actions, being able to document it
Re: (Score:2)
My argument is simple: people can't predict a simple thing in a complex environment, like what would introduction of opossums do into an environment that didn't have them before.
It's as if people didn't have any prior experience in the matter. Oh, wait, yeah, they did [wikipedia.org].
your straw argument doesn't hold water either. I am not talking about trading horses, I am talking about the chances that gov't will do anything right when it concerns economy, as if it hasn't been tried before to control economy that way by
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I thought racism was over :(
Ever been to 4chan?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
"You ever seen a NYC sewer rat, son?"
Sure, they are always on the news. It seems they congregate mainly at Wall Street and wear pin-striped suits. I agree that they are (a) scary and (b) need to be exterminated as a threat to health. /sarcasm