West Virginia Woman Told to Stop Rescuing Opossums

[Sequoia]

http://images.google.com/url?q=


PARKERSBURG, W. VA. — The Division of Natural Resources has told a Parkersburg woman to stop rescuing orphaned baby opossums because possessing wildlife is illegal in West Virginia.

Sarah Stapp heard from the DNR after her efforts to save baby opossums that had lost their mothers were recently publicized in newspapers across the state. The 42-year-old former science teacher cared for the orphaned animals until they were about 50 days old, and then returned them to the wild.

Stapp has kept several opossums as pets because they could not survive in the wild. She obtained special pet permits for them.

While it is legal to keep some wild animals as pets, West Virginia does not allow wildlife rehabilitation, except at two licensed facilities that work with raptors or endangered species. In October, the DNR destroyed 60 raccoons being kept by a Berkeley County woman.

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http://enn.com/wild.html?id=900

[GoddessOfGuinness]

1. Here's a link to the raccoon story...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/18/AR2006011802304.html

Broke my heart to read it... :cry:

[Wcross]

2. Put them out in the road!

Thats where their going to end up anyways! I swear they have a death wish or something.