Importation of the brushtail possum, a voracious marsupial that is a major carrier of bovine tuberculosis and which can also inflict widespread damage to forests and native species, became illegal today under a final rule published in the Federal Register by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The Service action invokes the Lacey Act, which authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to list nonindigenous wild animals deemed to be injurious, or potentially injurious, to the health and welfare of people as well as to the interests of agriculture, forestry and horticulture, or to the welfare or survivial of wildlife or wildlife resources of the United States.
About 200 brushtail possums were brought to New Zealand from Australia between 1837 and 1930 to establish a fur industry, which didn
