North Carolina has a law that allows people to do practically whatever they want to the official state marsupial. If you think that's weird, wait until you hear the reason why the law's in place.
Granny Hildebran loved her possum stew. The first time dad caught a possum in a gum trap, we headed down the hill to Granny's house to present this delightful caged creature to Granny. I remember being mad that she was going to kill it and eat it. This was in 1969 or so. We went to her house the next day because she asked us to. Horror of horrors, she tried coaxing my twin sister and me into eating some, even adding dumplings to the greasy, grey goop. "Ooh, it's so good," she said. I'll never forget the musty, dead smell and grey steam coming off the pot. Dumplings or not, almost made me a vegetarian, well almost.
If she cooked him the very next day, she didn't "clean him out" properly (according to family lore from my late Grandfather). Since they live off garbage and bugs, etc. - supposedly you need to cage them for a week or two and feed them on cracked corn or chicken feed or something 'clean' before they will start tasting like they're "fittin to eat" :)
This law just goes to show you how backwards and ignorant the lawmakers indeed are! Give the south a bad name. This is being passed by suits and ties who do not know which end takes the poop! Ignorance at its best.... North Carolina should be ashamed!
Ok- in addition to reading the Rabbit Hole, I read the Institute for the study of War as they provide a unique perspective on the war in Ukraine. Today, on October 29th they intersect. As follows:
Unspecified actors may have purposefully conspired to shut down a prominent Russian Airborne Forces (VDV)-affiliated milblogger. A Russian VDV-affiliated milblogger announced on October 28 that he was forced to shut down his Telegram channel, implying that unspecified actors abducted the raccoon that the milblogger had been using as a mascot to help gain notoriety and fundraise for Russian forces.[44] The milblogger claimed that the channel generated over 20 million rubles ($212,000) for Russian forces within a year.[45] The raccoon gained fame when Russian forces stole it from a zoo when withdrawing from west (right) bank Kherson Oblast in November 2022.[46] The Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) has increasingly targeted Russian milbloggers in censorship and self-censorship campaigns, and it is possible that MoD-affiliated actors aimed to censor this milblogger.[47] The milblogger claimed that “traitors” abducted the raccoon and left occupied Ukraine and suggested that the milblogger may have personally known who took the animal, however.[48] Ukrainian Kherson Oblast Military Administration Advisor Serhiy Khlan stated that the raccoon had previously attacked Kherson Oblast occupation head Vladimir Saldo and criticized the Russians for losing the raccoon.[49] ISW is unable independently to confirm reports of the raccoon’s whereabouts or actions.
It's stories like this that my friends back in NJ ask "what's with the crazy hillbilly stuff in NC?"
Big "Bringing in snakes to take care of my rat problem" energy.
My goodness! If a law ever needed to be repealed, it’s this one. LOL!
Granny Hildebran loved her possum stew. The first time dad caught a possum in a gum trap, we headed down the hill to Granny's house to present this delightful caged creature to Granny. I remember being mad that she was going to kill it and eat it. This was in 1969 or so. We went to her house the next day because she asked us to. Horror of horrors, she tried coaxing my twin sister and me into eating some, even adding dumplings to the greasy, grey goop. "Ooh, it's so good," she said. I'll never forget the musty, dead smell and grey steam coming off the pot. Dumplings or not, almost made me a vegetarian, well almost.
If she cooked him the very next day, she didn't "clean him out" properly (according to family lore from my late Grandfather). Since they live off garbage and bugs, etc. - supposedly you need to cage them for a week or two and feed them on cracked corn or chicken feed or something 'clean' before they will start tasting like they're "fittin to eat" :)
Cleaning out does no good... if you knew the parasites wild meat has, you would know why older people back in the day died young.
“The Purge” for possums. I love the analogy.
Now, if we could just exchange the possums for politicians, I think that would be an exciting holiday activity we could probably all appreciate :)
Wow. One correction though. Possums apparently don't eat ticks
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34298355/
So, possums eat ticks in captivity and not in the wild?
Yes they do... google opossum cleaning ticks from a deer. I've seen it
This law just goes to show you how backwards and ignorant the lawmakers indeed are! Give the south a bad name. This is being passed by suits and ties who do not know which end takes the poop! Ignorance at its best.... North Carolina should be ashamed!
Ok- in addition to reading the Rabbit Hole, I read the Institute for the study of War as they provide a unique perspective on the war in Ukraine. Today, on October 29th they intersect. As follows:
Unspecified actors may have purposefully conspired to shut down a prominent Russian Airborne Forces (VDV)-affiliated milblogger. A Russian VDV-affiliated milblogger announced on October 28 that he was forced to shut down his Telegram channel, implying that unspecified actors abducted the raccoon that the milblogger had been using as a mascot to help gain notoriety and fundraise for Russian forces.[44] The milblogger claimed that the channel generated over 20 million rubles ($212,000) for Russian forces within a year.[45] The raccoon gained fame when Russian forces stole it from a zoo when withdrawing from west (right) bank Kherson Oblast in November 2022.[46] The Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) has increasingly targeted Russian milbloggers in censorship and self-censorship campaigns, and it is possible that MoD-affiliated actors aimed to censor this milblogger.[47] The milblogger claimed that “traitors” abducted the raccoon and left occupied Ukraine and suggested that the milblogger may have personally known who took the animal, however.[48] Ukrainian Kherson Oblast Military Administration Advisor Serhiy Khlan stated that the raccoon had previously attacked Kherson Oblast occupation head Vladimir Saldo and criticized the Russians for losing the raccoon.[49] ISW is unable independently to confirm reports of the raccoon’s whereabouts or actions.