After a close race, Miss. Virginia Opossum was selected as Irvine’s Animal President for the 2016 Election!
The Candidates
This year’s election pinned Miss. Virginia Opossum, Mrs. Black Rat Snake, Ms. Eastern Screech Owl, Mr. Box Turtle, and Mr. Bullfrog against each other. Each candidate had a solid political platform as outlined below:
Miss. Opossum’s slogan “No opossum should have to play ‘possum!” was well-received by opossums across the state! “More respect is deserved for North America’s only marsupial!” they shouted. Many, high-praised facts were spread across the nation such as the fact that opossum’s kill over 90% of ticks that land on them (4,000 ticks each season). With fewer ticks, the chance of Lyme’s Disease being passed along to humans decreases drastically.
Mrs. Snake was very convincing with her platform that everyone should have one snake protecting their homestead from the hundreds of diseased mice that move in each year! She vowed to keep the mouse and rat population at a minimum and to also lessen the venomous snake population as well (by eating them all)!
Ms. Owl voiced that people should let natural predators take care of rodent problems instead of poisoning them! Rodent poison inadvertently poisons birds of prey and other predators, thus increasing the rodent population in the long run with fewer predators.
Mr. Turtle campaigned that slow and steady wins the race! Box turtles can live for well over 100 years and thus have seen the world and what works best! He was also very convincing with his award-winning grin and handsome looks!
Mr. Frog bellowed that no one should be judged for how they look! If you call him fat, he promised to eat you! Plus, he boasted about his amazing singing voice! His statement on frog’s legs was firm: “They don’t taste like chicken!”
The race began with Ms. Owl and Mr. Turtle taking the lead. Eventually all the candidates were neck and neck, except Miss. Opossum who had fallen to the back of the pack! As the race was winding to a close, Miss. Opossum shot forward in the polls, but Mrs. Snake and Ms. Screech Owl weren’t backing down! As the polls closed and tallies were counted, it became clear that Mr. Frog would be dead last in the race. Fourth place went to Mr. Turtle. The top three candidates were within only a few votes from each other. But Miss. Opossum managed to pull ahead and win the election followed closely behind by Mrs. Snake and then Ms. Owl.
Celebrations were held and defeat accepted. Miss. Virginia Opossum will be sworn into office in January by the current Animal President, Mrs. Barred Owl.
Thank you to all who participated in this election!
