Independent scientific reviews

and official documents on 1080

There is no evidence of any possum giving Tb to a cow.

Researchers have even had trouble getting possums to give it to each other.

2000	Coleman, J., Caley, P.	pp 92-104. In Montague, T.L. (Ed.) The Brushtail Possum. Biology, impact and management if an introduced marsupial. Montague, T.L. (Ed.) Manaaki Whenua Press, Lincoln, New Zealand. 292 pp.	Possums as a reservoir of bovine Tb	“The mode of transmission between possums and livestock is poorly understood and difficult to study. Dominant cattle and deer have been observed to approach semi-sedated (‘sick’) possums from up to 50 m away, and sniffing and mouthing them (Paterson & Morris 1995; Sauter & Morris 1995).
2000	Coleman, J., Caley, P.	pp 92-104. In Montague, T.L. (Ed.) The Brushtail Possum. Biology, impact and management if an introduced marsupial. Montague, T.L. (Ed.) Manaaki Whenua Press, Lincoln, New Zealand. 292 pp.	Possums as a reservoir of bovine Tb	“…healthy possums avoid stock wherever possible and provide few situations for the close contact seemingly necessary for Tb transmission.”
2015	Nugent, G., Buddle, B.M. & Knowles, G.	NZ Veterinary Journal 63 (Supp 1): 28-41	Epidemiology and control of Mycobacterium bovis infection in brushtail possums (Trichosurus vulpecula), in the primary wildlife host of bovine tuberculosis in New Zealand	“Transmission (of Tb) to cattle and deer is considered likely to result from them being attracted to and closely investigating, sniffing and licking dead or terminally ill infected possums…The frequency with which infected possums pass infection onto livestock has not been measured directly.”
2015	Nugent, G., Buddle, B.M. & Knowles, G.	NZ Veterinary Journal 63 (Supp 1): 28-41	Epidemiology and control of Mycobacterium bovis infection in brushtail possums (Trichosurus vulpecula), in the primary wildlife host of bovine tuberculosis in New Zealand	“transmission [of Tb] between live [possum] adults appears surprisingly difficult to achieve…we conclude that transmission between possums is likely to occur by a variety of routes, sometimes respiratory, occasionally by ingestion of infected material (or milk), but probably most commonly by percutaneous infection of the limbs with small numbers of bacilli. A difficulty with this conclusion is the apparent rarity of entry-site lesions in the skin”