Erie County resident Linda Bruno found out the hard way last month about the Pennsylvania Game Commission's orphaned animal policy and the state wildlife laws.
Bruno had brought home a baby opossum whose mother and siblings had been run over by a car on a main street through Corry, and she'd bottle-fed him back to health and named him Max.
She called the game commission, expecting an officer to transport the opossum to a rehabilitation center.
"He said, 'Unfortunately, we have to test him for rabies, and the only way to do that is to cut his head off,'" she said.
"I'd had him for three or four weeks, and he was a healthy little critter. (The officer) was going to take him and kill him, and there was nothing I could do about it."
Bruno was fined $100 for taking in a wild animal and has a court hearing next month. She said she got a call from the game commission a few days after Max was taken to have his head cut off for testing.
"They said the animal had been tested for rabies and he tested negative."
Game Commission spokesman Jerry Feaser would not comment on the court case, but he said the officer involved was likely unaware that opossums were removed months ago from the list of animals at high risk for carrying rabies.
"In light of that case, we are making sure all our officers are aware of that," he said.
