BRASSTOWN, N.C. -- A national animal rights group has called on a North Carolina man to abandon his annual New Year's Eve "Opossum Drop."

In a press release this week, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) described the tradition as a "cruel event [in which] a live opossum is suspended above a raucous crowd in a Plexiglas box for hours before being "dropped" about 40 feet in a redneck variation of New York City's Times Square ball drop."

Clay Logan, who hosts the Brassville, N.C. opossum event, said he is undeterred by PETA's statement. He added that the event draws thousands of people each year and the opossum is not harmed.

"At 10 o'clock we bring the guests in and we will raise him [the opossum] up and he sits there for two hours and looks down on everybody -- including PETA -- and after it's over with we release him,"Logan told the Asheville Citizen-Times.

Logan said he has made sure his event has had proper permits since 2003 when PETA threatened to sue him.

PETA, in its press release, insisted that Logan lacks the proper permits for a live animal show.