As someone who works with wildlife rescues which have experience with opossums, I know how beneficial and misunderstood they are.  Recently, CNN featured a front-page story titled “Possum fakes death after death after death as internet dies laughing.”  This is promotion and exploitation of animal suffering.  "Playing dead" is an involuntary seizure in opossums, not a choice, and it drains them.  Proper handling of wild opossums will nearly never result in a single seizure.  This young opossum was not being treated properly, and its suffering should not be promoted, exploited, or regarded as humorous.

Imagine if CNN posted a video of someone with photosensitive epilepsy being filmed having seizures because they were forced to stare at strobing lights.  That opossum could have been induced out of seizures rather than being filmed while exposed and vulnerable.  This type of content promotes ignorance and cruelty towards animals. Opossums play a crucial role in their ecosystems by eating parasitic species like ticks and consuming carrion, which helps reduce the spread of various infectious pathogens such as Lyme disease.  

Opossums, like all animals, deserve respect and protection, not cruelty and ridicule.  Tell CNN to stop brazenly promoting and exploiting animal suffering.