Opossum Killings Test Limits of Cruelty Cases

L.A. Times ^ | 29 JUL 02 | By CARA MIA DiMASSA

[greydog]

Wildlife: Courts focus on state of mind of defendants: Were animals seen as threat?

When a security guard in Tustin discovered an opossum on a wall one night, he beat it to death with his flashlight.

[greydog]

First Tree-Huggers, now Possum-Lovers.

[greydog]

Here's the link:

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-me-opossum29jul29.story?coll=la%2Dhome%2Dtodays%2Dtimes

[concerned about politics]

We shoot 'em dead. Cruddy animals, they are. They're like blind rats.

[concerned about politics]

We had a opossum out back that was so dumb.....(How dumb was it?).....It was actually sniffing the end of the rifle barrel before my husband pulled the trigger!

[Arkinsaw]

I once spent a few hours digging a poor mouse out of a glue trap so I could release it. By by damn I'll swerve in order to hit a possum. Hissing little bags of filth.

[Vidalia]

Jedediah Clampett is turning in his grave...

Emeril just cancelled on of his segments...

Congressional Republicans who live and serve just to "play possum" are reassured...

[Arkinsaw]

Jedediah Clampett is turning in his grave...

It open season on Possums except for during the Possum Day parade.

[Texas Mom]

Actually Opossems don't deserve to be beaten to death. They don't do any damage like rats, squirrels and eat roaches and other pecky bugs. They are ugly as heck but if I had my druthers, I would druther have a opossem. They sort of look like an Armadillo without the armor.

I had one in my garbage can the other morning, called animal control and they came and took it. I asked where they were taking it and she told me to the city dump. They have plenty to eat and a water source.

[bybybill]

In some parts of the world, Possum is high up on the perfered food list. In fact I`m thinking of opening a new business, POSSUM ON A STICK. Should be a winner because it`s hard to drive and eat possum, [ it`s to greasy, hard to hold]and the other fast food joints don`t know how to cook`em. Food costs will be very low as we will ONLY use aged road kill. Investment opportunities available to qualified persons.

[Texasforever]

Hey Ma theys killin the live stock agin.

[smoking camels]

They stink worse than skunks.

[aruanan]

First Tree-Huggers, now Possum-Lovers.

I can beat this. There's a human parasite called the Guinea worm. Except for a tiny freshwater crustacean called Cyclops it has no other animal vector than human. It is being eradicated at a swift pace. You get it by drinking the larval form in Cyclops in unfiltered water. Sometime during the spring planting or harvest it makes its way out toward the surface of your body, usually that of the lower limbs, where it secretes a substance that causes the skin to become inflamed and weak and able to be penetrated by the worm. The burst skin releases a flood of millions of eggs to start the cycle all over again. The pain is debilitating. You're not guaranteed that only one will come out. It could be many. You're not guaranteed that they will exit only from your lower limbs since they've come out anywhere, into the brain, through the roof of the mouth, through the wall of the uterus and into a fetus, whatever you can imagine, it's happened. The worm as it emerges can be slowly wound around a stick. This process can take many weeks to several months since the female worm can be up to 1.8 meters in length. The ulcers can become infected. There is no medication to prevent or to halt infection. In rare cases (if it happens to be paralleling the skin) the worm can be removed surgically before the formation of the blister. There's nothing at all in the ecosystem that depends on or needs this parasite in any way.

But on the world wide web, there are Guinea worm preservation groups calling for people to volunteer to "host" this worm lest a "unique life form" be lost from the world.

[Salman]

First Tree-Huggers, now Possum-Lovers.

"Possum" when you're talking about it.
"O possum" when you're talking to it.

How do they know it's really dead? Maybe it's just playing, well, you know.

[greydog]

Please tell me where to get the buggers.

I want to send the ex a birthday card.

[herewego]

cut the grease and you got some good eatin'.
just make sure you get rid of the hair and beware the jaws.
people make fun of possums, but corner a large one and those teeth won't let go.
I'd rather face a coon than a pi$$ed off possum.

[Bernard Marx]

Those who live in 'possum country' will know what I mean.

Why did the chicken cross the road?

To prove to possums it's possible.

[Kevin Curry]

I can beat this. There's a human parasite called the Guinea worm.

First a picture of the beastie:

And now a snippet from the Save the Guinea Worm Foundation:

"The Guinea Worm is neither cute nor fluffy. An animated Guinea Worm with a humorous voice has never appeared in a Disney movie. Yet the Guinea Worm is as endangered as any species today, and when the last one is killed, they will be as impossible to bring back to life.

"Unlike elephants, tigers, and other charismatic megafauna, the Guinea Worm has few advocates. While more photogenic species benefit from worldwide attention and seemingly-inexhaustible efforts to preserve their small numbers, the Guinea Worm struggles in silence against an organized worldwide effort of supposed "health" experts who have little or no awareness of the damage they pose to worldwide biodiversity. Ironically, as a parasite the Guinea Worm is dependent on humanity to complete its life cycle. The species' very survival depends on us.

"The Save the Guinea Worm Foundation was founded to speak out where the environmental movement has remained silent, and stop the United Nations and the rest of its international Cartel from destroying the world's most endangered species forever."

Now back to your regularly scheduled program about the cute, cuddly vermin known as the "possum."

[wardaddy]

I personally like George Jones. This thread is meanspirited.

[herewego]

what kinda side dish would you reccomend?

[herewego]

i was thinking something with lemon and basil----