CONSERVATION KID: Vinnie Holmes stands in front of his family’s cull as it waits to be plucked at Wainui School’s Great Father’s Day Possum Cull.

The SPCA is furious with Wainui School for including its students in a fundraising possum cull.

Children should not be taught how to kill animals at school, it says.

"It is none of their business, it is not in their curriculum and anything that is going to inflict pain, suffering, or death on any animal is not for a school to encourage," SPCA executive director Bob Kerridge says.

POSSUM PLUCKER: The possums are run through pluckers to remove their fur and the carcass is then taken away to be used in pet food.

But school principal Gillian Bray says the cull is about teaching children responsible conservation. The school received 265 possums during its second annual Great Father's Day Possum Cull on Sunday.

Money raised by the sale of possum fur goes toward upgrading the school library and information communication technology programme.

This year the Holmes and Clarke families took the team title for most possums, bringing in 84.

Six-year-old Vinnie Holmes says they trapped about 15 possums and shot the rest around Wainui and Kaukapakapa.

Vinnie went with his dad Ian and helped with spot lighting. He was glad to be involved after learning how destructive the animals are.

"Because possums are a pest and they eat all the native stuff," he says.

Possum pluckers harvested the fur and children were entertained with a range of activities such as a coconut shy and orienteering through their pest-free woods.

But the SPCA has slammed the school for involving children in the killing of animals.

Mr Kerridge says it is totally opposite to the animal welfare messages the SPCA tries to impress on young minds.

"We spend a lot of time and effort educating children in caring for and respecting animals," Mr Kerridge says.

"The message that this little exercise sends is totally contrary to that, in that it is OK to kill animals, and that really is irrespective of the fact that possums are considered pests."

Mr Kerridge is concerned that children are being "invited and cajoled into killing animals" and also with links between animal and human cruelty.

He says studies of hardened criminals who inflict pain on, or kill, people has proven the link.

"Their first act of cruelty is against an animal.

"There is a very definite link there and if children, or anyone in fact, can inflict pain on an animal, even to the point of killing them, there is a chance, and it is scientifically proven, that they may go onto other things," he says.

But Mrs Bray says she is "flabbergasted" at accusations the school is teaching killing.

The eradication of pests is a natural part of living in a rural setting and protecting the environment, she says.

When her pupils go on day trips or camps they are also taught about biosecurity and the removal of pests by Auckland Council and Department of Conservation rangers.

"That's why we build predator nets and all this work goes on.

"It is part of being rural and taking responsibility in our community as land owners," she says.

The school has rat and mice traps for the same reasons.

But they also have chickens and a school cat that the students feed and care for, and animal welfare is taught at the school.

Its Labour Weekend calf club day is one of the biggest around, Mrs Bray says.

"We bring all the animals in and children are raising their animals and caring for them - it is huge.

"We are a very animal loving school."