The competitions is bound to make animal rights activists jump off their seats

Aug 3, 2012 14:57 GMT  ·  By

Children at a school in New Zealand were recently entered by their parents in a competition having nothing to do with basic mathematical skills or the like, but with their abilities to dress up dead possums.

Apparently, the end goal was to raise some much needed funds which will be later on used for educational purposes. The teachers claim that the event was an utter success, as donations amounted to ₤4,000 (€5,082 / $6,214).

However, as was to be expected, defenders of animal rights raised considerable complaints with respect to this fund-raising campaign, arguing that children must be encouraged to respect animals and not abuse them in such ways.

On the other hand, the school's principle, Pauline Sutton, maintains that “There was an amazing crowd and it was lots of fun. Animals aren't the only species who are dressed up after they die. We do it to humans too.”

You can see pictures of such dressed up dead possums here.