Albino find comes as surprise
A Marlborough couple were stunned to find a white body hanging in a tree near the Queen Charlotte Track on Sunday.
Endeavour Inlet Conservation Trust volunteers Mathea Roorda and Keran Duley discovered it was a dead adult male albino possum.
The unusual possum had been caught in one of the trust’s treemounted trapinators between Tawa Saddle and Miner’s Wharf.
‘‘It gave us a bit of a surprise. It’s in absolutely perfect condition – sometimes they have fight marks or their ears are chewed,’’ Ms Roorda said.
‘‘The coat is an off-white, it’s got a slightly golden tinge to it, but it wasn’t until we came home and searched on the internet that we knew how rare they were.’’
The pair phoned Christchurch-based fur buyer Charlie Manson, who told them to wrap the body in a sheet with a layer of newspaper and stick it in a freezer.
‘‘He said he had only seen one in his life and offered us $200 for it but we’ve put it on Trade Me to raise money for the trust,’’ Ms Roorda said.
Lisa Pearce, a Marlborough agent for possum fur traders Basically Bush, said there were several options for any buyers.
‘‘There’s only probably about $10 worth of actual fur there so you could skin it and have it tanned for about $20 or the next-best thing would be to have it stuffed and mounted.
‘‘You could have a stuffed albino in your lounge, a skin on your floor or maybe even a new hat,’’ she said.
‘‘It could have been worth about $100 alive – maybe put it in a pet zoo.’’ Mrs Pearce had heard a couple of stories from people in the Sounds who had reported spotting albino possums.
‘‘Genetics-wise, Sounds possums are all different colours and sizes but you don’t tend to get the very big ones.’’ Mrs Pearce had seen albino horses, cats and even magpies.