Opossum shot with BB gun
Pompano Beach, FL (US)

Incident Date: Monday, Sep 6, 2004
County: Broward

Disposition: Convicted

Defendant/Suspect: William Scott Bartlett

A house painter who unloaded his BB gun into an opossum after Hurricane Frances lost his appeal to overturn his felony animal cruelty conviction. On Sept. 6, 2004, the night after the hurricane hit Florida, William Scott Bartlett spotted the sharp-nosed marsupial hissing at his cat and shot it with the gun, according to court documents. The animal had taken refuge in the garage of Bartlett's Pompano Beach home.

Bartlett, 42, followed the opossum into a nearby field, where he shot it with ''countless amounts of pellets or BBs,'' according to deputies from the Broward Sheriff's Office, who were called after a neighbor reported the incident.

An animal control officer testified that the animal suffered before it died. Barlett was taken to jail, where he bonded out on $100 and later received probation. Penalties for the third-degree felony can be as much as five years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.

Bartlett's lawyer, Fred Haddad, wasn't happy with the appeals court decision. ''He had the right,'' said Haddad, adding that he would petition for a rehearing. `This was an animal that may have been rabid in the neighborhood.'' Todd Hardwick, owner of Pesky Critters in Miami, said people often mistakenly fear the cat-sized omnivores are rabid because they have a guttural hiss and drool like mad when they feel cornered. ''It will not chase you through your garage and tackle you,'' he said. ``If you back off, they will scamper.''

In his appeal, Haddad wrote that Bartlett was simply trying to kill a pest that `took a threatening posture.'' He also noted, among other things, that it is legal to hunt opossums in Florida.

Judge Robert M. Gross of the Fourth District Court of Appeal did address the hunting argument, noting that a 'licensed hunter may`take' a fur-bearing animal under the appropriate circumstances.'' But Gross said this wasn't appropriate.

References

• « FL State Animal Cruelty Map

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