Abstract
Visiting Kaikoura — the whale watching ‘capital’ on New Zealand’s South Island — a few years ago I was struck by the apparent ambiguities promoted in the tourist information office. For most visitors the town’s main industry of whale watching or swimming with dolphins represents an opportunity for quasi-spiritual bonding with the natural world. But after such reveries you could also enjoy an evening out with a now-defunct organization known as the Possum Posse, shooting the furry nocturnal possums — considered a pest — by flashlight. No experience was necessary and all guns and ammunition, as well as souvenir photographs, were provided. This nocturnal form of adventure tourism was one I saw advertised quite widely. Likewise, craft, clothing or souvenir shops revealed a vast range of possum-fur products. Items ranged from novelty goods like $10 nipple warmers and $30 possum-furred models of Kiwi, through to $35 Daniel Boone hats and $150 cushion covers. The range culminated in luxurious $3000 bedspreads and even a $5000 teddybear. A $50 possum skin imprinted with Captain Cook’s 1770 map of New Zealand hinted at layers of postcolonial meaning.
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© 2011 Pyrs Gruffudd
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Gruffudd, P. (2011). On the Prowl with the Possum Posse: Nature and Nation in Aotearoa/New Zealand. In: Carter, B., Charles, N. (eds) Human and Other Animals. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230321366_11
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230321366_11
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