They shoot also possums

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New Zealanders really love nature and the outdoor. Hiking and outdoor sports are very big here, and people are very aware about nature conservation.
Well, native nature, anyway. You see, as New Zealand was disconnected from the rest of the lands very early, evolution-wise, it had no native mammals or reptiles to speak off. Mostly insects and birds, some of them unique to New Zealand. Also the plant life has some unique specimens. All This had changed when the Europeans arrived, of course, and introduced their own flora and fauna, some deliberately, mainly farm animals (a.k.a. sheep) and game, and some not so much, like rats and the like.
Now, I've noticed a curious phenomena about introduced western organisms. Plants, animals or people, they always seem to dominate over the natives ones. Maybe this is only due to western ships actually getting overseas first, but that's an interesting topic by itself.
But I diverge. After the initial 19th century approach of bleeding the country for its natural resources while eliminating native trees and birds, today they are trying to put things back as they were. The major problem with that, apart from the total extinction of a few species, is that introduced animals have very successfully settled themselves and eating either the native birds food or just the native birds directly. Rats, stouts, wild cats and dogs, but especially possums, introduced for their pelts, which are reproducing faster than rabbits, another major problem, and consume the local trees in an alarming rate. They are considered pests and controlled using poison, traps, fences - you name it. I believe that today the possums still has the lead. Anyway, while not particularly nice, this is quite understandable. What's more unnerving to me is the active participation of the population in the "control" of possums and the like.
They really do hate them. Small children are taught that those animals must die on sight. I've been to some store dedicated to possums related products with the slogan - if you buy something here, you're saving a tree. Hunting is encouraged by the authorities and some farms employ dedicated shooters. And you don't have a gun, no worries, you still got a car, right? Some roads here are literally covered with roadkills that just can't all be accidents and in the national museum they proudly present a piece of asphalt with a petrified remains of a possum embedded into it by passing cars under the amusing title "why did the possum crossed the road?".
In one of the huts we stayed in on a hike we met a local couple on a vacation, the wife, originally British, pregnant. While we were in the hut a cute little possum appeared outside the window. Immediately the husband, with no hesitation, got out, picked up some stones and proceeded to throw them at the poor animal. Even his wife's "your unborn child is watching you!" cry didn't stop him. And we are talking here about a nature loving nice man on a vacation! We think the possum got away.
And just so you could appreciate the extent of this, I'll conclude with a story Maayan and Tomer told me. In another hut they've been to, they met a old lady who was also hiking. They said she was a sweet old lady, a real SAVTA, and they had a nice little talk with her about hiking and the tracks they've been to, animals they've seen. Then they happen to mention that they saw a real live stout earlier that day. Suddenly the old lady transformed before their eyes, all sweetness gone, and she demanded: "did you kill it?!".

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