Pet food maker pleads for more pests

Grant Montgomery, working here with Tony Maree Montgomery, wants to get his hands on more possums, and more possum hunters. Photo / John Stone

There's only one person in Northland who feels there are not enough possums in the region. The boss of a new pet food processing plant says he is experiencing a shortage of poison-free possums and about 40 hunters to meet the demand for the Whangarei dog and cat food, Christine Allen writes.

Grant Montgomery opened Possum Man Petfoods three months ago and already employs 40 hunters to kill 1500 possums throughout Northland each week.

The plant, on Herekino and Reyburn St, is a licensed, primary processing plant which also uses the carcasses of 500 rabbits, 500 hares and 10 wild goats each week, as well as 250 wild Timaru wallabies a month, to produce a range of pet food, frozen into blocks and sold on site.

However, Montgomery said he had capacity to produce 5000 possums each week. The use of 1080 poison is hindering this plan, however, which would also include him contracting about 40 more hunters.

"I now have 40 registered hunters, who have to undergo an exam and registration to ensure they hunt and kill according to regulations.

"They must hunt in a poison and TB free area and they only supply to me."

He said he could take 50 tonnes of carcasses each year, which would increase the need to about 40 more hunters.

"We have the market," he said, but the use of poisons was hindering progress. We're struggling to find areas that are not poisoned."

He said most hunters operated on private farms and provide a win-win solution to pest control. Hunters can also operate on DoC estates, subject to permission.

Montgomery keeps the fur and carcass and after an autopsy, manufactures the pet food for cats and dogs at the Whangarei plant where he and two others work.

The Northlander spent nine years working in the possum fur buying industry, operating from Bombay in Auckland to Kaitaia.

He is hoping his company can make arrangements with farmers, landowners and DoC to help rid rural areas of the pest, while boosting what he believes is a lucrative industry.

"We need more access to poison-free areas in Northland."

He said it was difficult to find unpoisoned animals, because of poison drops. However, aerial drops of 1080 are used to ensure the survival of native birds.

To find out more, check out www.thepossumman.co.nz.