A Wake County judge has ordered a halt to the annual Opossum Drop in the mountain community of Brasstown, a victory for animal rights groups who called lowering the marsupial in a tinsel-covered box on New Year’s Eve is inhumane.
Senior Administrative Law Judge Fred Morrison ruled Tuesday that Brasstown store owner Clay Logan did not qualify for a permit to hold animals captive, and that the state Wildlife Resources Commission had no authority to issue a special permit.
“WRC should therefore have instructed Logan to immediately release the opossum into the wild where the opossum had been captured, or kill it,” Morrison wrote in his order.
Known as the possum capital of the South, Brasstown has rung in the new year by suspending an opossum above a stage and dropping it at the stroke of midnight while fireworks boom in the background.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals filed a lawsuit in December seeking a temporary restraining order, which was denied. Their petition moved to the Office of Administrative Hearings, where the parties agreed to seek summary judgment. Further appeals are likely. Continue reading more…. Article source mcclatchydc.com