Thames Coromandel District Council member Tony Brjlevich is asking for a plan to poison possums on the Coromandel Peninsula to be put on hold to allow an emerging possum trapping industry to develop.
He says Waikato Regional Council is proposing bait stations be used, on the north west of the Coromandel Peninsula, to reduce possum numbers.
But both Coromandel Colville Community Board and Thames Coromandel District Council are against using residual poison and are instead supporting a locally based possum trapping industry.
The district council wants the plan put on hold for up to two years to allow the Coromandel community to trial a mixture of commercial and private trapping.
Cr Brjlevich says people who trap possums for fur and for meat will not be able to use their catch if poison is used in the area.
He says he's not aware of a recent study by Landcare Research that found trapping possums for their fur cannot replace poisoning to control the pest.
