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May 03, 2006

Possum Redux

As I took the dogs out before daylight as usual this morning, I noticed Sassy take off after something. Since she didn't bark, I figured it was one of the many cats that roam the neighborhood. She was snuffling around in the leaves by the neighbor's fence when all at once she let out this loud, half yelp, half really pissed off bark.

Crap, I thought. She's been bitten by something. And she proceeded to fiercely attack whatever it is. So I hustled Sollie back into the house and grabbed the flashlight....and on my way out the door, the stout walking stick the previous owners had left outside the door since I wasn't sure whether it was a snake or varmint she had down.

The fight was over by the time I hobbled over to her, but she kept lunging at something then jerking back. Great, I thought. It's probably a big copperhead. Cautiously I moved the flashlight around until I can see what it is.

It's a big ol' possum, bleeding profusely from the head and not moving. But wait, what's that moving on its side?

Aw, shit. It's a baby possum, about 3 or 4 inches long. Which Sassy apparently thinks is some kind of special fuzzy Scooby Snack, because she's trying to eat it. But the little guy is valiantly trying to bite her with his barely-visible teeth, so she kept dropping him.

Now I'm not much of a possum fan, but you gotta admire that kind of grit. So I made Sassy stand back while I tried to figure out just what the hell I'm going to do with a baby possum at 5:30 in the morning. Finally, I noticed Mama possum's legs are twitching, so, hoping for the best, I brought Sassy back inside. After giving her treats for being a Very Good Dog and washing the blood off her legs (the possum's not hers), I decided to wait until daylight to see if Mama recovered.

After the sun rose, I checked out the window and Mama possum has disappeared. So I put Sassy back on her run, and took Sollie back out so he can finish his business. All is quiet, Mike left for work, and I started fixing my breakfast. Just about the time my eggs were about done, for some reason I looked out the window to check on Sassy.

She has something down in the leaves again. Crap. It's a baby possum. I turned my eggs off, got some leather gloves and went to see if it's too late to rescue the little guy. He seemed to be relatively unharmed, so I brought him inside & put him in the cat carrier....figuring if I can't find Mama, he'll be safe there until I can call Animal Control. (btw, talk about something that's so ugly it's cute. Not my photo, but this one was about that size)

I couldn't see any sign of Mama outside, but Sassy kept trying to go into the garage. Great. Just what I needed, a dead possum in the garage. Once again, I donned leather gloves, and with flashlight and stick in hand, I searched the garage. No sign of Mama possum. Hmmm. I put Sassy on leash, and we headed back into the garage. There's a possum in there somewhere, Sassy kept insisting. And after a few minutes, Sassy excitedly poked her nose under an old piece of carpet. Immediately there's a loud snarl and hiss.

Aha! I brought Sassy back inside, put on leather gloves again and took the little one into the garage. After peeping to make sure it was Mama possum and not one of the neighborhood cats, Mama and baby were reunited.

Not exactly a Disney moment, mind you. Mama was pretty riled up. I didn't want to get my arm half chewed off, so I gently tossed baby under the carpet on top of her....with her snarling and snapping at me. Baby squeaked a few times after he landed on her, and she quietened down so I quickly left.

Now I still have to call Animal Control so they can (hopefully) remove Mama and baby or babies from my garage and take them to a more suitable location. Like way, way out in the country.

I've had enough of possum wrangling.


UPDATE: The very nice Animal Control officer suggested the best course of action for now was to leave Mama and babies alone. He said he could catch Mama, but the babies would likely die if he did. Since I don't want dead, rotting baby possums scattered all over our garage, he suggested I leave the garage door open and only put the dogs out during daylight hours until Mama decides to leave for good. He implied that it wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing if Sassy did kill them all, but I don't want her eating possums because of the parasites she could get.

So, looks like I've been adopted by a possum family. Temporarily I hope.

And I have to add a big Thanks! to the Bentonville Animal Control for responding to my call so quickly. The officer was very nice, polite and professional as well. A pleasant surprise, since I'd called Fayetteville's Animal Control several times over the years we lived there, and they never once responded. At all. This officer arrived not more than 10 minutes after I called.

Nice to see our tax dollars are being well-spent here.

Posted by Rita at May 3, 2006 07:58 AM

Comments

Was the animal control officer John Arnold? Has kind of a Yankee accent? Really nice guy, by the way, and loves animals even though he has to kill a handful of dogs a week. For a shock sometime, during the day, go up to the Bentonville Animal "Shelter" by the city compost place on NE A Street. It's basically death row for dogs and Arnold would be the first to tell you so. It's sad to me that a city of Bentonville's size doesn't have a proper animal shelter right now. The conditions there are less than hospitable and it has a clear effect on adoptions. If you ever find a stray adoptable dog and don't mind transporting it yourself, try calling the BV animal shelter. They've got more space there and can keep dogs longer before having to euthanize.

I think there's a plan to cooperate with Rogers on their new shelter, with some of our dogs going over there once its built. I'm not sure; I'll have to look into it.

Posted by: Bill McNeal at May 3, 2006 12:31 PM

I don't remember his name (I'm terrible with names), but he did have a Yankee accent so bet that was him. He was extremely nice, and I hated that I bothered him when there wasn't anything he could do. But I didn't know that until I talked with him.

I try to stay away from animal shelters, else I'd end up bringing them all home with me. lol We got our last cat from the Bella Vista shelter though. Super nice staff there.

I think you're right about a joint B-ville/Rogers shelter in the works. Seems like I read about it in one of the local papers a while back. It's too bad that everyone doesn't take proper care of their pets so that shelters wouldn't be needed.

Spay and neuter today! [/Bob Barker voice]

Posted by: Rita [TypeKey Profile Page] at May 3, 2006 01:27 PM

You were lucky Sassy wasn't chasing after a skunk. Phew!

Posted by: Valerie at May 3, 2006 07:34 PM

Yeah, I'm REALLY glad it wasn't a skunk. One of my mom's dogs has a thing for skunks, he tries to kill every one he sees. He's always getting sprayed.

Posted by: Rita [TypeKey Profile Page] at May 4, 2006 12:45 PM