How to kill an opossum
When I went looking for ways to kill a Lexington opossum I found a lot of information that surprised me, the main ones being
that these animals in certain parts of the country are still hunted as food for humans and for their pelts. If I ever
have to to kill a Kentucky opossum it won't be to eat it or to skin it so I am not going to go into details about the methods
they use to kill them for these purposes. It should also be understood that the people who do this for these purposes
have the appropriate licenses and permits because if they don't and they keep caught I believe the penalties can be pretty
severe.
Having already said that the penalties for killing a Lexington opossum without a permit or license can be pretty severe then if you are
contemplating going that road I suggest you get a permit or license before you do anything else. There is at least one recorded
case of a man being arrested and charged for illegally killing a Kentucky opossum by hitting it with a shovel, his own daughter made the
phone call to authorities because she believed what he did was cruel.
The most common way most people look at killing a Lexington opossum is with poisons, due to the animals habits that quite easy to lay poisoned
baits for. Everyone should be advised that there is no legal or registered opossum poison for sale, that means anything to use the poison
the animal is illegal. Also, due to the opossums ability to deal with poisons most poisons in doses that would kill humans do nothing more
than make the animals sick, and sick opossums can be dangerous, they are more prone to bite and their habits become unpredictable until the
effect of the poison wears off. Every professional has said that poisoning Kentucky opossums is incredibly cruel and inhumane, surprisingly they all
said that shooting the animal would be better for it. As well you have to consider when using poisons that you may get the wrong animal, like
a neighbor's pet.
I suppose you're wondering why I've hardly mentioned shooting the Lexington opossum as a solution, well it's pretty simple, discharging a firearm in any
kind of built-up area to shoot an opossum will get you arrested pretty quick, permit or not, and as most “pest” opossums tend to be where houses
are, well.
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