Road marking on a dead opossum in New Zealand: ‘You had a task’

The photo of the dead opossum (a marsupial also called voskoesoe in Dutch) was taken in Pukekohe, a town on the North Island of New Zealand near Auckland. New road markings have been applied to a dead opossum.

Plague

In New Zealand, dead possums regularly lie on the side of the road. Animals are a huge nuisance in the country because they have no natural enemies. Opossums eat native animals and vegetation. They are often struck by motorists.

The New Zealand government agency responsible for the road network, acknowledges in the document New Zealand Herald that this is a mistake.

“Forget it”

“We left this animal behind on a dark country road,” the agency wrote in a statement. “We asked the contractor to remove the animal and reinstall the road markings.

On Facebook, a few users react to the incident with a smile, but many believe it goes too far. “With animal abuse, you have to draw the line somewhere,” someone wrote. “It is indeed a possum,” wrote another. “But it’s a little effort to put the animal aside for a while.”