RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - Former game show host Bob Barker is telling North Carolina lawmakers that caging a live possum for a New Year's Eve event in the mountains isn't good show business.

Barker wrote this week to a state Senate committee's members asking them to oppose a bill that would let the organizer of the Brasstown "Possum Drop" keep suspending a possum in a box every Dec. 31 and lowering it gently to the ground.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals complained about the event. A judge ruled state regulators don't have explicit authority to permit the display. A House bill approved this week would change that.

Barker says the event is inhumane and that loopholes for animal abuse shouldn't be created.

PETA released the letter. The 89-year-old Barker is a longtime animal rights activist.