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Opossums Overrun Brooklyn, Fail To Eliminate Rats

Posted by samzenpus on from the urban-opossum-blight dept.

__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."

23 of 343 comments (clear)

  1. Remember the old lady by egandalf · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Did they learn nothing from the story of the old lady who swallowed a fly?

    Poor thing. I hear she died.

    --
    Those who have telepathy have no need to RTFA.
  2. Wild Animals Should Stay In the Wild by Bing+Tsher+E · · 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.

    1. Re:Wild Animals Should Stay In the Wild by vux984 · · 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.

    2. Re:Wild Animals Should Stay In the Wild by dgatwood · · Score: 2, 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.

      --

      Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.

    3. Re:Wild Animals Should Stay In the Wild by Jaysyn · · Score: 2, 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.

      --
      There is a war going on for your mind.
    4. Re:Wild Animals Should Stay In the Wild by Shakrai · · 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.

      --
      I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
      We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
    5. Re:Wild Animals Should Stay In the Wild by Jaysyn · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Says the person that has never dealt with a rabid animal.

      --
      There is a war going on for your mind.
    6. Re:Wild Animals Should Stay In the Wild by Shakrai · · 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 :)

      --
      I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
      We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
    7. Re:Wild Animals Should Stay In the Wild by StikyPad · · Score: 4, 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.

      --
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    8. Re:Wild Animals Should Stay In the Wild by Fulcrum+of+Evil · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Just because they get ads for penis pills doesn't mean they buy 'em. Besides, guns are fun - they go bang and make holes in things, and there are lots of girls that dig that sort of thing.

      --
      "We returned the General to El Salvador, or maybe Guatemala, it's difficult to tell from 10,000 feet"
    9. Re:Wild Animals Should Stay In the Wild by tftp · · Score: 3, 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.

    10. Re:Wild Animals Should Stay In the Wild by tftp · · Score: 2, 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 sound is pretty faint anyway.

      On the other hand, it is illegal to discharge firearms in the city, so if that happens then the "city slickers" there have a pretty good reason to call 911 - they are simply reporting a violation. People are packed so densely in the city that a guy can shoot a bullet through several houses.

  3. Common sense... by MikeRT · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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?

    The damn things are like the mammalian answer to cockroaches. If they didn't have typical mammalian susceptibility to radiation, odds on them among southerners would be 10:1, their favor against roaches to survive a nuclear holocaust by eating the remaining roaches and being the last species standing.

    1. Re:Common sense... by nomadic · · Score: 3, Insightful

      They're less likely to spread diseases to humans than rats, they're less likely to have rabies, and they are easier to catch and kill than rats.

    2. Re:Common sense... by SatanicPuppy · · Score: 4, 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.

      --
      ad logicam Claiming a proposition is false because it was presented as the conclusion of a fallacious argument.
  4. Re:possum is a food group here in alabama. by Shakrai · · 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.

    --
    I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
    We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
  5. New York Post article ... by Spectre · · Score: 4, 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/

    --
    "Flame away, I wear asbestos underwear"
  6. WIKIPEDIA by immakiku · · Score: 4, 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.

  7. Re:possum is a food group here in alabama. by lexidation · · Score: 5, Insightful

    They just show their teeth and hiss? What the fuck would you do if someone trapped you in a garbage can and started poking sticks at you? You expect the little fucker to greet you?

  8. Re:Obligatory Simpsons by Anonymous Coward · · 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.

  9. Re:Ugh... by tverbeek · · Score: 2, 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).

    --
    http://alternatives.rzero.com/
  10. Re:The obvious solution by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Yes More Cars in N.Y. No the Grid Lock allows them to run between the cars.
    Less faster cars may help.

  11. No kidding by sean.peters · · Score: 4, 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.