Well, let's see. Small Norway and Black Rats as well as House Mice are
cute, too regardless of the fact that they harbor and spread Black
Death and various other human diseases. Are we playing God when we try
to control them? Should we give up control? Little pigs and calves are
cute too.Also little goats and sheep. So lets give up eating meat and
using leather. You people that have fur items. Get rid of them. They
were taken from living things. A weed is nothing but a plant out of
place. It's a living thing also. So is a tree. Woodman spare that tree.
People that abhor the least little bit of playing God shouldn't use
anything made of wood like furniture and (gasp!) houses. Get real.

As the Endangered Species Coordinator for the FWS in Hawaii, I saw the
terrible things the human animal, the Naked Ape, by the introduction of
alien species. Wholesale destruction of native forests by cattle, goats,
European pig and sheep with the resulting extinction of 23 species of
birds alone. The introduction of mosquitoes to the islands in 1826 which
acted as the vector to pass avian diseases to native birds brought to
the islands by at least l60 kinds of introduced birds. In my time there
I witnessed the extinction of 2 bird species and even now there are a
number of extremely rare native birds hanging on by their toenails. The
introduction of the domestic cat, mongoose, black and Norway rat also
played a large part the extermination (at least 23) and near
extermination (now another 29) of native birds and the beautiful small
land snail. The introduction of Euglandina exterminated more land
snails. The Giant African Snail as a food item .was introduced with no
thought given that it harbored a brain destroying disease of humans. Oh,
yes, the introduction of measles which decimated thousands of native
Hawaiians, introduction of smallpox which did likewise the American
Indians.

So don't pontificate and babble about playing god, you Naked Apes! The
possum belongs in its native habitat which was largely in the South
where it has natural enemies, not here, warm fuzzy or not..

E. Kridler