Wildlife Commission Drops Appeal in Opossum Case

Update: After a judge
determined that the New Year’s opossum drop was illegal and that the North
Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission (WRC) could not override the law and
issue a permit for it, the commission appealed. But PETA answered with legal
action of our own, asking for court sanctions against the WRC for filing a
frivolous appeal that cost PETA time and money. The WRC has now withdrawn its
appeal, and the judge’s decision stands.

Originally posted on November 14th, 2012:

After the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission (WRC),
despite an objection from PETA, issued a made-up permit to Clay Logan to possess an opossum for his cruel annual New Year’s Eve “Opossum
Drop”—in which a terrified opossum is abducted, held captive, then
suspended and lowered into a horde of boisterous revelers—at his general store
in Brasstown, PETA took the matter to court. Now
the verdict’s in, and the animal with the gray fur scored a victory over the
folks with the red faces—and necks.

That’s right, y’all: Senior Administrative Law Judge Fred G.
Morrison Jr. ruled in PETA’s favor, finding that in North Carolina, citizens “are prohibited from capturing
and using wild animals for pets or amusement” and that the “WRC
has no authority to issue any permit to Logan for the unlawful public display
of a native wild animal at the Opossum Drop Event.” As a result, the WRC may not “issue any permit or license for possessing and publicly
displaying a live opossum for use in an ‘Opossum Drop’ event or for any other public display of a
live opossum or other native wild animal.”

Each year, several weeks prior to New Year’s Eve, Logan has captured
an opossum from the wild and confined the animal before hoisting him or her high
into the air on New Year’s Eve, and then, with a raucous crowd cheering and the
noise of fireworks, live music, and the firing of muskets and cannons, lowered
the frightened animal into the fray. Opossums are shy animals who are terrified
of humans—their primary predator—and vulnerable to stress-related conditions because
of captivity, including capture myopathy, which can result in death days or
even weeks after release back into the wild.

What You Can Do

Causing animals pain or distress should never be cause for
celebration. Learn more about entertainment that doesn’t harm animals as well as how to live in
harmony with wildlife.