Here’s one job the General Assembly has created: a bill putting the Brasstown opossum back to work.
On Thursday the Senate passed the infamous opossum bill. The House bill, which would allow a live opossum to be lowered in a cage for the popular New Year’s Eve “possum drop” in Brasstown, now heads to the governor’s desk for his signature.
The bill has the mundane title of “Captivity License and Permit Amendments,” but the duplicate Senate version had been titled the “Opposum Right-to-Work Act.”
The House approved the bill on Feb. 13, after amending it to require that any wild animal captured for display in a cultural event must be returned to the wild at or near where it was captured.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals took legal action to stop the opossum drop on the grounds that state law prohibits possession of live wildlife without a permit. The Wildlife Resources Commission had given the Brasstown event permission, but a state administrative law judge ruled it didn’t have that authority.
The bill would allow wild animals to be held for display by licensed sportsmen. It also says that any legal action taken under this chapter, should it become law, could only be filed in the county where the alleged violation occurred.
