Opossums protected by state law

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ^ | Thursday, May 15, 2003 | Michael A. Fuoco

[Willie Green]

Personnel at a Westmoreland County wildlife rehabilitation center plan to report to state game officials that an Arnold man beat an opossum to death with a shovel when it wandered into his yard on Mother's Day.

Mel Schake, information and education supervisor for the Pennsylvania Game Commission's 10-county Southwest Region, said he hadn't yet heard about the Arnold incident but, speaking generally, said people need to realize that wildlife are protected by law.

[Ol' Sox]

"Did somebody say 'possum?"

[MineralMan]

"Don't think there are any except for the dead one they keep moving ahead of me on the road. Eeeeeeeeeek!

"

Sounds like they have the same purpose in life as 'possums. Just before they go out on the road, its, "Here, hold mu beer and watch this."

[Varda]

Your article seems like an excuse to air some enviro/animal rights nonsense.

"opossum babies" How about opposum young or an opossum litter.

" It isn't just an animal, it's a life," All lives are not equal. It's a possum.

"We share the planet here. A level of tolerance is needed by everybody." Animals have no rights, however humans do have responsiblilities to act humanely. This article seems to have been launched on the word of a disgruntled neighbor. I notice there is no quote from the old guy who killed the possum.

That said I doubt the game commission will do a thing. There is no season on killing possums (despite what the article claims) and there is no protection on any nuisance wildlife (except some birds, big game and endangered) if it's bothering crops, livestock or looks sick or acts weird. If he's the home owner, he can kill it.

Oh yes, I did speak to the game commision just this morning on exactly this topic. I killed a possum.

[ought-six]

"Egads, that is one of the wonders of living for me. Possums, rabbits, coyotes, deer, squirrels. I stop and watch them. I treat the coyotes with caution, and I worry for my cat and encourage the dogs to bark, but what a treat. I would never think that they need to be killed just because they exist nearby and traverse through my pasture looking for bunnies."

Coyotes are mean creatures, and have made literal mincemeat out of some of the pets in my area (and I'm in Illinois). As for me, if I see a coyote and I"m outside the village limits, I'll shoot the damn thing. There's nothing "cute" about finding a bloody pet collar wrapped around some bones and some flesh and some fur that was once your pet. They've also been known in Illinois to take out after little kids.

[sparkomatic]

I guess I'd be in trouble in Pennsylvania. I dispatch them on occasion. I once killed one with a pitch fork. Another one with a sledge hammer.

[MineralMan]

"Coyotes are mean creatures, and have made literal mincemeat out of some of the pets in my area (and I'm in Illinois). As for me, if I see a coyote and I"m outside the village limits, I'll shoot the damn thing. "

I draw the line at coyotes. I won't tolerate them, either, anywhere near inhabited areas. Way out in the boonies, I leave 'em alone, but not in populated areas. That's way different from the odd suburban 'possum, it seems to me. They do no real harm, and are interesting to watch.

[HairOfTheDog]

I find them inconsistent.... One introduces me to their idea of wildlife as a pain in the ass to be clubbed with whatever implement may be nearby or drowned or otherwise rid of.... And the other outlook implies at least an expectation, if not an appreciation, that in the country, there is wildlife we will see and sometimes have to deal with.

I judge people on whether they have respect and balance in their outlook towards them. There are hunters and country people that respect the life they must take to live, and there are others that feel nothing for any suffering an animal feels except perhaps the pride they feel when they brag about killing them to others. I am drawn to the former, and repulsed by the latter.

People that respect wildlife and work just a little to prevent conflicts between us and them just don't seem to be as victimized by their presence.

[HairOfTheDog]

Coyotes are mean creatures, and have made literal mincemeat out of some of the pets in my area

They aren't "mean", they are predators. They eat for a living. I have lost cats, and I said I fear for my cats and encourage the dogs to bark to keep them wary.... But I also know that they fight for a living better than my dog, and I wouldn't want them to tangle. But they are part of the scenery, part of the wonder of living in a world that is wild... And much as I love my little wild bunnies, their population needs to be controlled too.

[sparkomatic]

That's not true. A perfectly placed shot between the eyes will do it every time. Especially when they're sitting still on top of the eggs in the hen house.

[MineralMan]

"I am drawn to the former, and repulsed by the latter. "

Me, too. I hunt, and eat the animals I hunt, but I also respect them for the natural creatures they are. I have only killed one animal for the fun of it. I was 8 years old and shot a sparrow with my new BB gun. My dad saw me do it, and that night, I had a fat little sparrow on my dinner plate, dressed by my dad and cooked up by my reluctant mom.

Tasted darn good, actually, but it taught me something I consider important. Unless an animal is a danger to me or mine or I intend to eat it, I let it go on its way. In some cases, I might even befriend it to a certain point, but I sure don't beat its brains out with a shovel. If I do need to kill an animal that is a danger to me or my possessions, I have a .22 rifle in my closet, and can place a shot in its brain.

I'm more than a little appalled at the messages from those who find it somehow manly to kill an animal just for existing, and to do it in an unnecessarily brutal way. One poster in the thread said that he'd drive over six lanes of highway to run over an oppossum. Feh!

[Stay the course]

Well, there's wildlife, and then there's varmints. We seem to have a different view of the noble Didelphis. To me, possums are varmints, and varmints are just an annoyance, and killing them is no big deal. Someone seeing anger or violence or victimization in the view that possums in your barn deserve to be whacked with a shovel seems silly to me. Just like if some PETA fool told you that he was repulsed that you had swatted a fly, and you should be arrested and forced to undergo anger-management therapy, you'd probably tell him to get a life and toughen up a little. I guess it depends on your upbringing and what you're used to.

[HairOfTheDog]

I'm more than a little appalled at the messages from those who find it somehow manly to kill an animal just for existing

Me too.... and I am sure glad you are here.

My dad had an impact on me too, he hunted, but speaking of the death of the deer made him sad, or at least very sober (as much emotion as my dad ever shows) when he recalled it.

[HairOfTheDog]

I guess it depends on your upbringing and what you're used to.

Evidently.

[Movemout]

I guess we know who is paying for keeping the baby possums alive, taxpayers local and otherwise. I spot dead possums all of the time along the roadways in Virginia. What is the big deal?

[evets]

It's possible... it's possible...

[MineralMan]

"My dad had an impact on me too, he hunted, but speaking of the death of the deer made him sad, or at least very sober (as much emotion as my dad ever shows) when he recalled it."

And so it should. I think that hunting is a very valuable thing to teach a youngster. In the taking of the life of the animal you will eat, you can learn a valuable lesson that's difficult to learn in any other way. Raising animals for food works the same way.

Too many people today see meat as red stuff in a plastic tray, and nothing more.

On the other hand, I have known hunters who never got that lesson at all. To them, killing was the only goal. Frankly, I never trusted any of those people too much, and never hunted more than once with any of them.

[HairOfTheDog]

I love the lion and the antelope. I have real mixed emotions watching them run, their lives so brutally dead serious, so much more vivid than our own artificial existance where meat comes wrapped in plastic. The sacrifice doesn't mean the antelope is worthless.... It means the antelope's life was worth everything.

[MineralMan]

"The sacrifice doesn't mean the antelope is worthless.... It means the antelope's life was worth everything."

There you go.

[HairOfTheDog]

Frankly, I never trusted any of those people too much, and never hunted more than once with any of them.

I know what you mean.

I once fell in love with a guy (I am a chick btw) when he hit a deer when we were driving up in the woods. He tried not to hit it, but he did. He stopped and knelt down and was so sad as he touched it..... He said.... "Dammit, sorry momma" with a tear in his eye. Then he quartered it and butchered it and we took it home and gave some away to friends who would like to have it. It was against the law that we took it, but we got away with it, and after her sacrifice (and his, it took out his grille on his truck) it would seem a shame to waste it, or attract other carnivores to the roadside to eat it. I loved that guy for his place in and respect for the world.

I hear other people talk about hitting deer like the deer are just a menace.