In New Zealand, the Australian brush tail possum is such a pest that it is a patriotic duty to runover their headlight transfixed forms. Intentionally running over possums, comes so naturally to New Zealanders, that locals refer to these marsupial imports now as "squashums".
To understand how such cute wide eyed charismatic animals fell from grace, one need only look at their current role in New Zealand ecology.
In New Zealand, possums are like canopy trawling tree-goats. This is because the possum was honed by coevolution to have metabolism and GI tract to digest Australian flora. These plant can combat herbivory by with a batttery of phenolics, terpenoids, and other forms of chemical restraint. So in Australia where the possum is a protectedendemic there is a historical balance between the diner and the dined upon.
In contrast, New Zealand flora has until recent times been isolated from the radiation of mammalian browsers, facing only herbivory from insects and the odd bird. So for possum, NZ trees and shrubs are a gigantic saladbar of Bacchanalian proportions. With abundant food and no natural predators, the possum are a plague.
Some people like furry animals, while others like forests and then there are still other people that just like to kill things. For New Zealalnders being inside a projectile, just makes a contribution to pest eridacation, just that little more conveinent.