School possum hunt under fire
Probe into ‘inhumane’ drowning of joeys.
Young possum joeys were taken from their mothers’ pouches and drowned in a bucket of water during an annual fundraising hunt for a South Auckland school.
Hundreds of adult possums were killed at the event for Drury School last weekend, and a witness told the Herald on Sunday at least one teen girl — not a student of the school — was allegedly involved in the drowning of the baby possums.
The Ministry for Primary Industries confirmed it was investigating and the school has vowed it is changing policies for next year’s hunt after discussions last week with the SPCA.
Last Sunday’s weigh-in, where the drownings occurred, came after several days of possum hunting. The dead adult marsupials were brought in for weighing, before being sold to a fur buyer.
School board of trustees chairman Emiel Logan said hunters were required to remove and humanely dispose of joeys before the possums were brought to the weigh-in, but some hunters did not.
“Any joeys found dead or alive were removed from the carcass as the fur buyer doesn’t take any joeys.
“They were then put down in a manner believed to be lawful.”
Logan said no primary- or intermediate-aged children removed or disposed of the joeys, but teen volunteers helped run the event.
“The school has learned from this and we will be working with the SPCA to ensure that all animal welfare requirements are met in future.”
An MPI spokeswoman confirmed it had received a complaint and was making inquiries to determine if an offence had been committed.
Drowning animals is illegal under the Animal Welfare Act and is punishable by a fine up to $75,000 or a maximum three years’ prison.
The complaint to MPI was made by Lynley Tulloch, an animal rights activist who attended the event after telling organisers she was an environmentalist writing a children’s book.
She said she saw a teen girl pulling live joeys out of possum pouches and dropping them into a large bucket. She was told by those present the girl was drowning the joeys.
Safe chief executive Jasmijn de Boo said drowning was an unacceptable way to kill an animal.
Drowning newborn animals was particularly cruel because they held their breaths, meaning it took longer for them to lose consciousness than if they had inhaled water.
“It’s not quick and it’s severe distress.” causing