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Bloomsburg U Students, Neighbors Happy To Hear Charges Filed Against Three Who Abused Oppossum

BLOOMSBURG — Three men face charges of disturbing wildlife and unlawful taking of wildlife in Columbia County after troubling pictures were posted on soci...

BLOOMSBURG -- Three men face charges of disturbing wildlife and unlawful taking of wildlife in Columbia County after troubling pictures were posted on social media.

The photos showed them holding an opossum, kissing it and feeding it beer.

It's believed it happened at a house on East 1st Street in Bloomsburg during an off-campus party sometime over the weekend.

One of the men, Morgan Ehrenzeller, is a student at Bloomsburg University.

One of the people living at that house denied being at the party and told us that Ehrenzeller no longer lives there.

“My roommate got kicked out, no one else in the house was involved with it, you guys can just leave,” he said. “If you want to find him, look him up and find him somewhere else, you're not going to find him here.”

The Pennsylvania Game Commission says the charges carry a fine of up to $1,500 and up to three months in jail.

Some Bloomsburg University students who live near that house and say they are glad to hear charges were filed.

“I actually saw them chasing it up this alley with a bat and I was really, really upset because, personally I think that's wrong to do to any kind of animal, doesn't matter if it's a wildlife, doesn`t matter if it's a dog or a cat, like you shouldn't be doing that,” said senior Kenzi Kemmerer.

“Like we have a cat and my first fear is what happens if he gets out and they're drinking,” said senior Hannah Young.

Newswatch 16 is not showing a photo of the men throwing the opossum in the trash.

It's not known if the animal is still alive.

“It's scary to know that we live next to people that, what if it was our dog, the possum hung out here for a year, my kids named it Pete,” said neighbor Rebecca Shuman. “So to know we live next to someone who could do something so inhumane, it's scary.”

A spokesperson at Bloomsburg University said the Dean of Students' Investigation into Ehrenzeller is wrapping up but could not say more due to federal privacy laws.

The other two men charged in the incident live outside the area.

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