Teaching our kids to kill for conservation
In Aotearoa possums are treated with the utmost disdain as imposters from Australia that kill our native bird life, eat our trees, and do not belong here. The war cry is to kill, kill, kill. It is being foisted on our young in schools by governmental and other agencies who are committed to the Predator Free 2050 initiative.
One notable example is Kiwibank, which has partnered with the Department of Conservation and Predator Free NZ to launch the Kiwibank Predator Free Schools initiative. This involves the young in trapping ‘predators’ on their school grounds.
In New Zealand schools killing animals as part of conservation efforts is a regular occurrence. In many rural schools possum hunts are held, with the dead possums often entered in ‘best dressed possum’ competitions. The dead possums are posed in a variety of ghoulish ways, with attempts to be humorous evident.
Uruti School in Taranaki is particularly noteworthy and has reached international headlines with their display of creative dead possums. These include (but are not limited to) Donald Trump, Van Gogh, a boxer with torso skinned, a bride, a butcher and a bikini babe possum. The dead possums are stiffened with rigor mortis, frozen spectacles of ridicule.
So how did New Zealand get to this place where schools are condoning disrespecting dead animals? It is an outrageous scenario, especially in New Zealand, which has a reputation for being a nation of animal lovers.
There are many reasons why the occurrence of school possum hunts and competitions remains largely unchallenged by many.
Firstly, it is an oddity largely located in rural communities that goes under the urban radar. Many urban dwellers may be unaware this is happening in rural schools.
Some rural folk may be unhappy with what is happening but feel that due to social pressure they are unable to speak out.
In fact, Professor Marc Bekoff (University of Colorado) has spoken out about school possum hunts in New Zealand.
He says he received an email from a distressed mother asking him to help her daughter tell the teachers she does not want to participate in the school possum hunts. He noted that the woman was at her ‘‘wit’s end because people in power were telling the kids it was perfectly OK to harm and to kill the animals and to parade around with corpses of the animals they slaughtered’’.
Another reason New Zealanders accept killing animals in schools is due to the countrywide hatred of possums and their classification as ‘pests’. This means that no one really cares what you do with them. Imagine if it was dead cats or dogs being posed in bizarre posthumous ways by school children, or being caught in traps. The collective national outcry would be heard all the way to the farthest corners of the world.
Finally, hating on the hapless possums provides a kind of social cohesion that binds New Zealanders together. It performs a social function of sorts.
But really, at their young age, children should not be involved in killing and glorifying in death in the name of environmental care.
Instead children can learn to care for the environment through being involved in ecological restoration projects – planting trees, making sustainable gardens, waste reduction and recycling, riparian planting on waterways – the list is endless.
True environmental education is issues-based, and while introduced species are a big issue for New Zealand’s biodiversity we should not involve children in killing. A school-wide hate fest on possums only teaches children to kill and leaves out the bigger picture of environmental care.
Our children are worth so much more. They are the future of our nation.
If we want a compassionate and intelligent future society we need to do better.
❚ Dr Lynley Tulloch is an early childhood education tutor and has also worked in the field of education for sustainability. Tulloch has written both academic and popular pieces on a variety of issues, including animal rights and welfare, child poverty and environmental sustainability.