{"id":2948,"date":"2012-09-26T19:45:00","date_gmt":"2012-09-26T19:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/2012\/09\/26\/peta-cant-leave-well-enough-alone\/"},"modified":"2019-08-16T18:19:37","modified_gmt":"2019-08-16T18:19:37","slug":"peta-cant-leave-well-enough-alone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/?p=2948","title":{"rendered":"PETA Can&#8217;t Leave Well Enough Alone"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class='__iawmlf-post-loop-links' style='display:none;' data-iawmlf-post-links='[{&quot;id&quot;:15124,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.folkschool.org&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:null,&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:15125,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/www.cherokeecountychamber.com&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/web-wp.archive.org\\\/web\\\/20251206064923\\\/https:\\\/\\\/www.cherokeecountychamber.com\\\/&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-04-20 09:43:19&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:206}],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-04-20 09:43:19&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:206},&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:9847,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/www.clayscorner.com&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.clayscorner.com\\\/&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:null,&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:15126,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/www.cbsnews.com\\\/stories\\\/2011\\\/01\\\/02\\\/sunday\\\/main7205692.shtml&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:null,&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:15127,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/www.charlotteobserver.com\\\/2012\\\/09\\\/25\\\/3555904\\\/peta-fights-to-protect-critters.html&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:null,&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:15128,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/www.wral.com\\\/news\\\/state\\\/story\\\/11588273&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.wral.com\\\/news\\\/state\\\/story\\\/11588273&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:null,&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;}]'><\/div>\n<p>Brasstown, North Carolina is a small little town in the far southwestern corner of the state. It is home to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.folkschool.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">John C. Campbell Folk School <\/a>where they teach everything from woodworking to quilting to story-telling.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cherokeecountychamber.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Cherokee County town<\/a> is also home to a quaint New Year&#8217;s Eve tradition called the Possum Drop. Held at Clay&#8217;s Corner, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.clayscorner.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the Possum Drop<\/a> actually involves the lowering -not dropping -of a live possum (oppossum, if you are a stickler for spelling) starting around 10pm. It is Brasstown&#8217;s answer to the dropping of the ball in Times Square. This event is unique enough to have caught the eye of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/stories\/2011\/01\/02\/sunday\/main7205692.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CBS&#8217;s Bill Geist who did a story on it for CBS Sunday Morning<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, it has also caught the attention of the busybodies at the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.charlotteobserver.com\/2012\/09\/25\/3555904\/peta-fights-to-protect-critters.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">They are now taking the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission to court<\/a> for issuing a permit to the organizer of the Possum Drop, Clay Logan.<\/p>\n<p>From <a href=\"http:\/\/www.wral.com\/news\/state\/story\/11588273\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">WRAL-TV<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"tr_bq\"><p>\n<i>PETA attorney Martina Bernstein said possums are timid animals and can actually die from the stress. She likened the New Year&#8217;s Eve event to torture for the animal.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>&#8220;It is something you wouldn&#8217;t do to your own dog or cat \u2013 have them hoisted up on a Plexiglas contraption for several hours with fireworks going off you know swinging in in the cold air,&#8221; Bernstein said.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>She argued that the state permit for the event was improperly issued because North Carolina law doesn&#8217;t allow wild animals to be kept captive unless it&#8217;s for rehabilitation \u2013 and that requires a captive animal permit.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>&#8220;There are very strict rules for that. It&#8217;s not a free-for-all,&#8221; she said. &#8220;But apparently the agency believes, if you don&#8217;t fit into these permits, we&#8217;re just going to make up something.&#8221;<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>Norman Young, the assistant attorney general representing the Wildlife Resources Commission, said the permit was legal. New Year&#8217;s Eve falls during possum season in the state, so Logan&#8217;s hunting license allows him to trap one for the drop, he said.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>&#8220;(This is) an event that does not show any particular harm to the opossum and I might add doesn&#8217;t meet the elements of the animal cruelty statute,&#8221; Young said.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Senior Administrative Law Judge Fred Morrison Jr. refused the state&#8217;s motion for the case to be dismissed which means that the case will live for another month. <\/p>\n<p>The last time that PETA threatened a suit over this Mr. Logan resorted to using a roadkill &#8216;possum which didn&#8217;t thrill the New Year&#8217;s Eve revelers. If PETA does win, the state&#8217;s assistant attorney general says it would be entirely legal for Mr. Logan to kill a oppossum, keep it in his freezer, and then put the frozen carcass in the plexiglass box on New Year&#8217;s Eve. <\/p>\n<p>My suggestion to PETA and one that I think at least the men in the Brasstown community would appreciate is for them to volunteer one of their brainless &#8211; but attractive &#8211; starlet backers to be put in the box and lowered on New Year&#8217;s Eve.&nbsp; Naked, of course, since wearing any fur would be against their principles which we couldn&#8217;t have.<\/p>\n<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Brasstown, North Carolina is a small little town in the far southwestern corner of the state. It is home&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":3,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3274,2022,504,505],"class_list":["post-2948","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-animal-rights-activists","tag-brasstown-nc","tag-peta","tag-possum-drop"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2948","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2948"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2948\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8383,"href":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2948\/revisions\/8383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}