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FacebookEmail'Possum drop bill progresses in Senate committeeA bill to allow organizers of Brasstown's annual New Year's Eve opossum drop to continue to use a live opossum as part of the event was approved in a state Senate committee Wednesday and could get a Senate floor vote as soon as Thursday.
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Possum drop bill progresses in Senate committee
Mark Barrett, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
11:59 a.m. EDT May 20, 2015This year no live animal will be used.(Photo: Asheville Citizen-Times)
CONNECT 2 TWEETCOMMENTEMAILMORERALEIGH, N.C. -- A bill to allow organizers of Brasstown's annual New Year's Eve opossum drop to continue to use a live opossum as part of the event was approved in a state Senate committee Wednesday and could get a Senate floor vote as soon as Thursday.
The bill sponsored by Rep. Roger West, R-Cherokee, would exempt all opossums in North Carolina from state wildlife laws and rules for five days a year: Dec. 29 to the following Jan. 2. It has already passed the House.
Possum Drop (Photo: File)
A lawsuit brought by animal rights groups had blocked use of a live opossum at the celebration in Clay County in which an opossum is lowered in a plexiglass box in a homespun imitation of the dropping of the ball in New York's Times Square.
The Senate Agriculture, Environment and Natural Resources Committee easily approved the bill after about 10 minutes of debate.
Sen. Angie Bryant, D-Nash, said she opposed the bill because of concerns it would "desensitize children" attending the event to animal cruelty.
West responded, "It's a good, clean event. There's no inhumane treatment of the 'possum whatsoever. The 'possum is treated very well."
Sen. Erica Smith-Ingram, D-Northampton, asked about the safety of the event, noting that a groundhog had bitten someone on the ear earlier this year while making his Groundhog Day forecast about the coming of spring. (Smith-Ingram thought it was Pennsylvania's Punxsatawney Phil, but it turns out the incident actually occurred in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, where Jimmy the Groundhog clamped down on Mayor Jonathan Freund.)
There have been no incidents so far at the event, which draws as many as 4,000 people, bill supporters said.
"In the mountains, our 'possums are well behaved," said Rep. Mike Hager, R-Rutherford.
CONNECT 2 TWEETCOMMENTEMAILMORERead or Share this story: www.wcnc.com/story/news/politics/2015/05...mmittee/27645511/TOP VIDEOS
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