THE POSSUM-BILITIES
by Brenda Ice
As a girl growing up on a small southern farm, I probably had a wider variety of
pets than most. My mother was an animal lover too, which made it a little easier
to do the "Mom can I keep it?" thing with success. As an adult, I
continued my collection of pets, which by now were only the domestic kind --
cats, dogs, hamsters, an occasional squirrel, a pair of skunk and maybe a bird
or two. That is, until one warm May evening, when into my home and heart came
the animal that was to forever change my life.
My son was visiting, and since he is night sport's editor for a newspaper, he's used to keeping late hours and there was a West Coast ballgame he wanted to watch. My fur babies feel they have the obligation of training new people to the true doggie duties in life. One of these duties includes letting them in and out on demand. (No, they are not spoiled!) After about a dozen or more in and out door openings, my son decided to just leave the patio door open.
Well, you guessed it -- he fell asleep on the couch leaving the door open. The next morning as I came downstairs, my dog Sammi -- all 160 pounds of her -- accompanied me to the kitchen, to make sure I didn't get lost, and stopped at the bookcase by the door and started to bark her "one of my babies is under there" bark.
Sammi's babies can be anything from a
ball to a kitten, but I knew "we" would have to get whatever was under there or
there would be no peace in the house that morning. I got down on all fours with
Sammi's big ole' Newfoundland head stuck in the way, trying to see what was
there.
There he was, all bristle and blow,
about two months old and scared beyond belief! A baby opossum! He must have
fallen off his mom's back and become lost in the dark,
because he was much too small to be on his own. I guess he found his way to the
first warm dry spot available. Fully furred and with almost all of his fifty
teeth, he did his best to scare away the two monsters. But, after all, he was
only a baby, and I'm a sucker for anything furry and helpless.
Now, most southerners are not known to be possum lovers and I had never been a particular fan of them myself. Like most other people, I was under the mistaken opinion that they were mostly rat like -- nasty, garbage eating smelly things! Nothing could be further from the truth! Sweet Pea (don't laugh) was the sweetest, most gentle and cleanest animal ever. They clean themselves as thoroughly as any cat and can be trained to use a litter box. With opposing "thumbs", they grip and use their hands in a very humanlike fashion. I had no idea how to take care of this kind of baby, so I immediately turned to the modern day information hub, the Internet.
What little information available on possums has been compiled by a worldwide
network of "rehabbers". These beautiful selfless people have made it their job
to help these little fellows and to educate the world on what wonderfully
valuable creatures they really are.
That was then. This is now. And many, many opossums later, I am fully and
thoroughly hooked! I have successfully raised and released all but two that have
been put in my care. Miss Molly is a non-releasable due to an injury to her
right shoulder and leg. But she's my little princess
and an ambassador for her kind. She and I visit clubs and schools to educate
people on the good that opossums do in our environment. We try to show how
gentle and smart they are and that they should be left alone to do their little
opossum thing.
People are always amazed at how sweet and soft and gentle she is. Now they're
hooked too! After all, when you live with a princess who has over 75 million
years of heritage behind her, you are indeed privileged. When she accepts
you as one of her special people and looks to you for comfort and affection,
well let's just say your life is never the same again.
-- Brenda Ice
Webmistress Bari DuBois