Sir

In your welcome News story highlighting the severe threat to Tasmanian wildlife by the introduction of the red fox from the Australian mainland1, your claim that farmers and foresters use sodium monofluoroacetate (1080) to control opossums and wallabies that graze on crops and native trees in Tasmania is not correct.

First, opossums do not occur in any part of Australasia, including Tasmania; they are found only in North and South America, where they are carnivorous marsupials (polyprotodonts). Possums occur in Australia and are herbivorous marsupials (diprotodonts). The perception that opossums live in Australia dates back to the Cook and Banks voyage of 1770, when an arboreal marsupial seen in Queensland was described as being similar to the Brazilian opossum.

It is more than 20 years since the Australian Mammal Society adopted a list of common names for Australian mammals. This included a recommendation that the 'o' be dropped from the name of these Australian arboreal herbivores2.

Second, the possums and wallabies that are the target of 1080 poison graze grass but browse trees. Browsers feed mostly on twigs and leaves from trees and shrubs, such as the eucalypt seedlings often planted by foresters and farmers in Tasmania, whereas grazers eat mostly grasses and herbs3.

The main point of your story — that the red fox severely threatens Tasmania's wild life, and that effective action is required to counteract this now — is undoubtedly true. Your News story states that up to 77 known species are under threat; we can be sure that future generations will look back to see how well their politicians and biologists served us at this time.