Independent scientific reviews

and official documents on 1080

Possums are only one of many potential Tb vectors

1988	Collins, D.M., Gabric, D.M. & de Lisle, G.W.	NZ Veterinary Journal 36:45-46	Typing of Mycobacterium Bovis isolates from cattle and other animals in the same locality	“Although only two feral deer and two feral pig samples were obtained, extensive tuberculous lesions were found in these animals, indicating that both species should be considered in addition to possums as potential reservoirs of infection.”
1995	Morris, R.S. & Pfeiffer, D.U.	NZ Veterinary Journal 43, 256-265	Directions and issues in bovine tuberculosis epidemiology and control in New Zealand	“There are at least 12 wild and feral species which have been detected as infected with tuberculosis in New Zealand – the possum, deer, cattle, the pig, cat, ferret, stoat, weasel, goat and rabbit(2), and more recently the hare(3) and hedgehog(4)…There is no single way of deciding the position of a species in this epidemiological spectrum. Moreover, the situation is not necessarily static, and under conditions of high challenge a species could conceivably undergo a temporary or long-term shift from being a minor spillover host to exert a strong influence on the epidemiology of the disease.”
2015	Byrom, A.E., Caley, P., Paterson, B.M & Nugent, G.	NZ Veterinary Journal 63 (Supp 1): 42-53	Feral ferrets (Mustela furo) as hosts and sentinels of tuberculosis in New Zealand	“The control and eventual eradication of bovine tuberculosis (TB) poses major challenges in New Zealand, given the variety of wildlife species susceptible to TB, many of which are capable of onwards transmission of Mycobacterium bovis infection.”
(accessed 2015)	TbFree	Tbfree. Available at http://www.tbfree.org.nz/the-tuberculosis-status-of-predators-on-	The tuberculosis status of predators on farmland in the Hakataramea valley	“Predator control should be carried out on chronically infected properties in the endemic areas of North Canterbury and the MacKenzie Basin (and possibly Central Otago) that are not responding to possum control and on properties that have suffered Tb breakdowns despite optimum levels of possum control.”
2015	Byrom, A.E., Caley, P., Paterson, B.M & Nugent, G.	NZ Veterinary Journal 63 (Supp 1): 42-53	Feral ferrets (Mustela furo) as hosts and sentinels of tuberculosis in New Zealand	“Ferrets must play some role in livestock infection, because one study has shown that the incidence of TB in cattle can be reduced following ferret control in the area (Caley et al. 1998).”
2015	Byrom, A.E., Caley, P., Paterson, B.M & Nugent, G.	NZ Veterinary Journal 63 (Supp 1): 42-53	Feral ferrets (Mustela furo) as hosts and sentinels of tuberculosis in New Zealand	“transmission from ferrets to livestock. This is considered to occur occasionally, but the actual rate of transmission has never been measured. Fifthly geographical spread. M. bovis ferrets can travel large distances and cause new outbreaks of TB at locations previously free of TB, which may have caused an expansion of TB-endemic areas.”
2015	Barron, M.C., Tompkins, D.M., Ramsey, D.S.L. & Bosson, M.A.J.	NZ Veterinary Journal 63 (Supp 1):68-76	The role of multiple wildlife hosts in the persistence and spread of bovine tuberculosis in New Zealand	“For grassland model systems, TB was predicted to persist in the ferret-pig host complex in the absence of possums, potentially jeopardising the effectiveness of possum-only control programmes. However this outcome depended on the occurrence and rate of pigs acquiring TB from ferrets, which is unknown. Thus some estimation of this transmission parameter is required to enable managers to assess if multi-host disease dynamics are important for their TB control programmes.”
2015	Barron, M., Tompkins, D., Ramsey, D. & Bosson, M.	Kararehe Kino 26:Aug	The role of multiple wildlife hosts on TB persistence	“future work should focus on the empirical estimation of ferret and pig intra- and inter-specific transmission rates to determine if multi-host dynamics could be jeopardising TB eradication programmes in semi-arid shrub and grassland habitats.”