Possum tail mystery leaves commuters baffled - again

In 2015 possum tails turned up all over the roads - no one figured out the reason. And now it's happened again. Photo / Supplied

An unsolved mystery that left commuters puzzled back in 2015 as come back to haunt them.

It's the mystery of the severed possum tail – hundreds of them – littered over roads in the central and far north of the North Island.

Commuters have taken to Facebook to share photos and discuss possible explanations.

Sightings of tails have been reported in locations around the North Island, including Ohakune and Mangaweka, Te Awamutu, Dome Valley, Kaitaia and as far north as Te Kao and Pukenui.

On Facebook, some believe the tails were deliberately placed in regular intervals along the road and could be an act of protest.

Others on Facebook think they could have just blown off the back of a truck.

Possum tails were found scattered on the roads from West Auckland to Whangarei one weekend in 2015. Photo / Supplied

Todd Maclaine, from Ahipara, says he spotted tails all the way from the Mangamuka Gorge in Kaitaia to Orewa in Auckland. "It was a very weird sight," he says. "We were very confused."

Narelle Dinsdale from Ruawai spotted piles of tails dotted through Ruawai township, while Lesley Blackmore followed a trail of tails from Ohakune to Mangaweka.

Blackmore says: "At first we thought they might have been some type of plant [. . .] and then we thought perhaps they were furry hedgehogs."

Hamilton's Kelly Anne Spriggs spotted tails on the way to Hamilton Airport, and thought they were dead rats.

"[They were] all over the road, hundreds of them."

The NZ Herald reported the same incident happening in 2015, with Labour Weekend commuters spotting thousands tails all the way from Auckland to Dargaville.

Theories at the time included a possum culler taking tails as proof for a large payment but losing them on the way or a form of elaborate protest.

Check out our previous possum tail mystery coverage here