Disturbing experience

I'm glad you didn't hit it - what if that just injured it further? And what if it wasn't injured to begin with? Far too many questions on this one.

When traveling on a local road, not a highway, we watched someone in front of us hit an opossum (at night). I screamed - Gary pulled over to see if anything could be done. Poor thing couldn't move, but wasn't dead. We do have a wildlife rehab nearby - but he was fairly confident the poor baby wouldn't survive the trip to the vet. We travel - well - with all kinds of things. He wasn't happy about it, but he couldn't just leave it there - and I was freaking out - so he did kill the possum. He came back and said it didn't have a pouch. It didn't even occur to me there could be babies.

...but when you're traveling on a highway - it's just not safe to pull over, and you can't make an informed decision.

Well, some of you may recall that I was upset over our "tame" skunk at work that someone ran over, and the injured mockingbird. Maybe I take these things too seriously.

To put it in perspective, I was once delivering cabinets to a house in a quiet little town when there was a screech of brakes. I went to look, and a high-school girl had hit a squirrel. It wasn't dead, but it looked like it wasn't long for the world. Absolutely limp, but conscious, unable to move. She was in tears. I told her to leave it on the curb, and if it hadn't died by the time I was ready to leave, I would put it out of its misery.

When I got done with my delivery, it was in the tree, cussing at me!

Thanks for the pics Steph! I had huge misconceptions about oppossums until I got to learn about your work with them!

I understand. I try to avoid even already run over animals on the highway. Last week on my way to work, I was going down a side street and a possum ran out in front of me and I had to put the skids on. One of my co-workers asked me why I didn't aim for it. I was horrified! I said i would NEVER run over an animal on purpose! He said he just aims for possums and cats, he only avoids skunks. What a jerk!

Originally Posted by spudsmom

I understand. I try to avoid even already run over animals on the highway. Last week on my way to work, I was going down a side street and a possum ran out in front of me and I had to put the skids on. One of my co-workers asked me why I didn't aim for it. I was horrified! I said i would NEVER run over an animal on purpose! He said he just aims for possums and cats, he only avoids skunks. What a jerk!

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Hmm...your coworker apparently thinks that it's okay to kill whatever he finds annoying...lucky for him the rest of the world doesn't agree, or I suspect he himself would be high on many people's lists.

Originally Posted by clixpix

Thanks for the pics Steph! I had huge misconceptions about oppossums until I got to learn about your work with them!

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Sooo happy you enjoyed Bitty's piccies!

I had always thought opossums were around the same intelligence as a cat - not smarter.

I'm actually guilty of feeding one before. There was an old scarred one that hung around my in-laws. It moved slower than most opossums -it would walk away instead of jogging/running, was huge, and just didn't seem to wander the area much at all. iirc they don't live that long in the wild? - if so I think this one might have been old for a opossum. Max stayed at my in-laws so when I'd call kitty kitty the opossum started coming, too. I'd put a bowl under the deck for him...

I haven't seen that opossum in quite a while. He either moved on or was killed/died.

A baby possum:


They're not particulary intelligent.

However, it's clear from the photos that the Australian animal and the American animal are not the same species.

Originally Posted by clixpix

Hmm...your coworker apparently thinks that it's okay to kill whatever he finds annoying...lucky for him the rest of the world doesn't agree, or I suspect he himself would be high on many people's lists.

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Oh yeah! Most days he would be at the top of mine. Actually we get along pretty well, he speaks his confused opinions and I set him straight. He handles it well.

Thank you Stephanie, for sharing that informative vibeo about awesome opossums.