Posted on 08/10/2012 11:08:12 AM PDT by Free ThinkerNY
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) - A Southern California man arrested with his young son for beating an opossum with a shovel can sue police officers for wrongful arrest because it's not illegal to kill an opossum, a federal appeals court ruled.
In 2008, Lorenzo Oliver called Anaheim police about an opossum attacking his bulldogs in his backyard.
(Excerpt) Read more at abc3340.com ...
...and besides...the opossum wasn’t even dead!
It was just .......
Yah, baby!
[ Earlier it was pig slapping.
Now they’re beating possums.
What’s next? ]
Choking the Chicken
Spanking the Monkey
Waxing the Dolphin
Polishing the Porpoise
Punishing the Primate
Gripping the Gorilla
Slapping the Squirrel
Assaulting the Aardvark
......
It is highly unlikely that the opossum was rabid as their body temperature is generally too low to harbor the rabies virus. There has only been one instance know of a rabies infected opossum.
I've seen possums play dead so long that even a couple of large dogs got bored drooling on them.
You're right. If the possum actually attacked anything, it was more than likely rabid.
Weeeeeellllll doggie! The best think about possum innards and gopher gravy is that it’s just as good the second day.
[ You’re right. If the possum actually attacked anything, it was more than likely rabid. ]
Opossums have a very low body temperature which makes them practically immune to rabies, though it can happen and this could be a very rare case...
Beat me to it!
LOL! I actually saw (and researched) that after my post, and it appears you're correct.
Anytime an animal acts out of character, though, there's usually a reason....snakebite, parasites and illness, among others.
Also, we only have the man's word it WAS attacking his dogs. It may have just been in his yard and the dogs were raising hell over it. I know mine do.
Be that as it may, getting arrested for dispatching a pest with whatever means is at your disposal is just totally ridiculous, IMHO.
LOL. Funny ad.
At least they let these guys go. I thought these guys were doing a public service, as these critters carry some bad diseases, esp for livestock.
In 2004 two students at the University of Missouri-Columbia were charged with animal abuse for stuffing about 40 opossums — living and dead — into a plastic barrel for a frat house stunt. In the bizarre contest, members were given one point for each dead opossum they could find and two points for a live one, authorities said. The Missouri Department of Conservation quoted fraternity members as saying they planned to release the opossums into the yard of another fraternity.
The alleged abuse was discovered Nov. 19, 2004 when neighbors complained about the noise. Police reported seeing students gathered around a large plastic barrel about two-thirds full of opossums, only half of them still alive.
Fraternity members Zachary Wade Famuliner and Adam Paul Thomas were charged with animal abuse and illegally pursuing, taking, killing, possessing or disposing of wildlife — misdemeanors. The students, both 19, pleaded innocent.
Philip Josephson, national executive director of Alpha Gamma Rho, said Thursday he found the opossum stunt “deplorable,” but insisted it wasn’t sanctioned or sponsored by the fraternity. He said there are no plans to bar the use of wild animals by chapters — as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals had urged in a letter.
The conservation agency released the live opossums in a remote area. Authorities could not say how many opossums may have died because of being stuffed into the barrel.
Vern Pierce, the faculty adviser for the fraternity, said members are planning professional careers in agricultural and animal management, and are “highly sensitive to any notion of abuse.”
“You ask, ‘What were these two thinking?’ That is the point: They weren’t thinking,” he said. Pierce said the chapter has volunteered to sponsor educational events about proper treatment of animals for all fraternities and sororities.
Making a copy for future reference...
I dunno, but there's always Viagra for when your opossum plays dead.
Was he beating it because it was playing opossum.
I heard that they were less likely to catch rabies, but I didn't know it was that rare. Unless I had wikipedia on my shovel to look it up, it would still get a whack for acting like that.
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