It might sound a little macabre but dressing dead possums up into alter-egos was all part of the fun at yesterday's Kaimai School Possum and Bunny Hunt prizegiving.
A total of 770 possums were killed and collected by teams taking part in the event, designed as an environmentally friendly fundraiser forthe school.
Event co-ordinator Leanna Ormsby said the result was fantastic.
"It doubled our haul from last year. It was a very good effort."
Teams began hunting last Monday and brought their collections of dead possums to the event's prizegiving at the school yesterday.
The fur is plucked from each possum and the school makes money on the sale of that fur.
A kilo of possum fur could fetch about $130 - it takes about 15-16 possums to make a kilo.
"Our top team got 240 on their own and the next top team of 150. It was brilliant.
"So we have got a big record to beat next year," Mrs Ormsby said.
In an effort to make things fun for the children, they were asked to dress the possums as whatever character they liked, she said.
"We had a granny possum who won that particular competition. There was a fisherman possum, scarecrow possum and a bumblebee possum too."
Other competitions were also put on for the children.
"It's for the school, so we tried to make it for them as well," Mrs ormsby said.
She said the event would not have been possible without the help of Bay of Plenty Regional Council and the Western Bay of Plenty District Council.
Possums are considered to be major ecological and agricultural pest throughout New Zealand.
They feed on native and introduced trees and can eventually kill them, altering the structure of the forests so that they are less suitable as a native wildlife habitat.
Possums strip fruit from orchard trees, damage shelter belts and feed on crops, flower and vegetable gardens.
