ith Ohio's legislators struggling to
agree on just about anything it is comforting to know these elected
officials are rear unanimous hog-wild agreement over something
anyway.
Call it allowing motorists to bring
home the bacon, as it were.
Members of Ohio's House of
Representatives have agreed to allow motorists who run over a feral –
or wild – pig to keep the animal's carcass. Just as they can when
their Buick has a too-close encounter with a buck deer.
Supporting House Bill 199 were 99 of
the state's House representatives.
The lone hold-out who huffed and puffed
his opposition to the sensible measure was state Rep. Matthew Lundy,
D-Elyria.
Under the bill's provisions a motorist
whose vehicle make roadkill of the piggish critter can claim
first-dibs on the animal.
Oh, and the same applies should a
motorist's automobile or truck crunches the living daylights out of a
wild turkey.
The only stipulation requires the
motorist to report the incident and seizure to an Ohio Division of
Wildlife officer within 24 hours of the incident.
Also, the proposed measure give the
Wildlife Division the authority to establish a season and bag limits
on wild/feral hogs, giving the species game animal status.
Presently the state has no such
stipulations though the Wildlife Division does encourage hunters and
others to dispatch such animals on sight and as a highly destructive
invasive species.
Though Ohio has long permitted
motorists to claim what's left of any deer that gets creamed by their
vehicle, any number of states dictate that any such wild animal or
bird still belongs to the commonwealth.
As such it is illegal for a motorist to
toss whatever might remain of a crushed critter into an automobile's
trunk or the bed of a pick-up trunk.
- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
JFrischk
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