one or two shots would have been okay, they are pesky disease carrying mammels, big rats. if he didint have a gun or was withn city limits call animal control and get a trap for it and let them dispose of it. a little excessive what he did but so are the suggested penalties. some communty service at the animal shelter maybe.

And what about pesty neighbors?  Neighbors who steal, damage property, leave garbage around?  Define “pest” and I can assure you that in every community there are “pests”, both human and non-human, but does that mean you go out and shoot that neighbor?  Of course not.  There are humane and legal ways to deal with every situation.  We cannot run around shooting dogs, cats and other non-human animals that we deem troublesome.  We may as well live in some archaic third world society.

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And once again, I will say that I don’t think this story is about the oppossum, but the way it was handled. If that oppossum was reeking havoc with his garbage or whatever and AC couldn’t capture it, then a single shot would have been sufficient. But that was overkill(no pun intended) and where the issue lies. I don’t think we need to go arresting people for frivolous charges-for instance, if I saw you hit a oppossum or squirrel with your car, I wouldn’t take your tag number and call you into the animal police (we could only be so lucky to have such a thing). But the people who are truly doing cruel/vicious acts to animals need to be punished. While Florida may take flack about this case, if you look at the underlying issue of the extreme cruelty, then they are right. And Alabama needs to take some lessons, Mobile especially. I wish everyone who has posted here, would have posted about the other recent animal cruelty issues-the dog-fighting, the burned dog, the dog shot with the arrow, the dog shot and left in the dumpster and the list goes on. I wish ya’ll would look at the current forum discussion on animal cruelty and see what a big problem this really is.

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OK, let’s say you do have the right to kill it- why not just call animal control and let them deal with it. While killing a opposum or racoon may not be illegal, it is my understanding that if you kill a dog or cat, it is illegal. I say this because I have a friend whose neighbor’s dogs were chasing her swans and ducks. She did call AC, and they told her if she shot the dog, it better have a dead duck in its mouth or she would face charges. Yet this same neighbor was known to kill his/her animals. It was nothing for him/her to pull out their trusty gun and shoot one of the dogs and even horses they had tired of. I saw the boneyard as it is affectionately known myself.

Hello rmseek1234. I think that animals do not deserve to be abused for no reason, such as a dog or cat that was harmless. But, if a dog or cat were to become a pest, or a theif, I think that a person should have the right to kill that animal, or at least make the animal feel bad enough that it will think twice before doing that deed again. So, if a dog (or opossum) were to come into my yard and steal something, then I would have the right to kill it (with the tool of my choice). But, if the animal was just a passer-by and causing no harm, then I would have no right to confront it with violence, that would be abuse.

Sorry awesome, I think as your name implies you are just a little too full of yourself. I believe the debate started when those who are concerned with CRUELTY issues started being attacked. But that’s the wonderful thing about forums and debates, you can express your opinion and I can express mine. And this was a CRUELTY issue by the way. How do YOU feel about the cruelty of animals, the fact that this was a oppossum aside?

Did I start this grand debate? Someone should owe me money!

OK, now we are getting on the right track. If an animal is treated cruelly, in my opinion whether that be starvation, shooting (and I am not talking about hunting), I am talking about the shooting of dogs, horses, etc, shooting a dog with an arrow, burning, purposely hitting with a car, maiming or tasering and drowning-then something is WRONG with the individual who does that. If someone goes to those grotesque extremes, what’s to say they would not do it to a child or elderly person or spouse or significant other? This is a symptom of a psychological illness. There is a fine line between what is animal cruelty and what is not. It is when that line is crossed, as in this case that it sends up red flags for a potentially bigger problem. You can google the number of violent crimes and find out how many actually began with someone who began with torturing animals, then moving on to bigger game so to speak. I believe this is why this is a sore point, not because he killed a oppossum, but because of the WAY in which it was handled.

yes animal cruelty is wrong!  I never said it wasn’t!

That’s the point, he over-reacted, he took it to an extreme it didn’t need to go to. It was a cruel and torturous death. Animal cruelty is WRONG.