Poor Possum!

[trev333]

Who I just saw sitting front row courtside at the Tennis final...

 

[HoodieMcFoodie]

Who I just saw sitting front row courtside at the Tennis final...

Is he wearing a South Sydney jersey?

 

[stxrus]

I once had a German Shepherd that was great with people, very friendly. But every so often we found dead pigeons in our back yard. I don’t know how he caught them.

As a kid we had a black lab and would occasionally find a dead blue jay in the back yard. Not mangled just dead. Sorta WTF?

One day my mom saw Miss Dempsey (named before we goy her) standing rigid in the yard looking over her shoulder. Not moving. Suddenly a jay would come down and grab some fur and go back into the pecan tree. This happened 2-3 times and the dog never moved until the bird, obviously, got closer to her head and she jumped up and chomped once on the bird. She spit it out and paid no more attention to it.

This happened to about 10 jays over two summers and then it stopped

 

[Wrighty]

Why did the chicken cross the road?
To prove to the armadillo it could be done.

Why did the hedgehog cross the road?

To see his flatmate

 

[Wrighty]

I’ve had to dispose of many dead opossums (and other animals) at work. I try to treat them with as much dignity as possible. My coworkers have expressed impatient disdain, when, after scraping opossums off the road with a shovel, I take the time to bury them as gently as possible.

It makes me very sad.

One of the hardest for me was wading into water to recover a large and beautiful rare bird that appeared to have been shot for sport.

Really get upset by road kill. Even more upset at drivers who hit a living creature and carry on regardless of it suffering.

 

[3fngrs]

The other day we were talking about five pounds of possum in the headlights tonight! Some of you have eaten possum. Well, just like when we talk about something here on the forum and ads start showing up in my email for whatever it is we talked about, so did the possum. We were out walking and there was a possum alongside of the walkway. Dead as a doornail, a young one from his looks. Probably three or four pounds, and still black and white with a kind of small tail. They usually turn off gray after they get a little older.

I came back in my car with a shovel, and buried him, but not until I poked him around quite a bit to make sure he really was dead. Some guys had one laying on a flat-topped doghouse one time and said look at the dead possum we found. I said I don't think he's dead and took a shovel and poked him and he hissed at me!

Me must have made his way over from the golf course about a mile away and got run down for his trouble. That's the only place he could have come from, it's all developed everywhere else around our place for several miles. They have kit foxes over there, so it's not beyond reason that they would have some possums.

You didn't eat him?

 

[Jared Purdy]

The other day we were talking about five pounds of possum in the headlights tonight! Some of you have eaten possum. Well, just like when we talk about something here on the forum and ads start showing up in my email for whatever it is we talked about, so did the possum. We were out walking and there was a possum alongside of the walkway. Dead as a doornail, a young one from his looks. Probably three or four pounds, and still black and white with a kind of small tail. They usually turn off gray after they get a little older.

I came back in my car with a shovel, and buried him, but not until I poked him around quite a bit to make sure he really was dead. Some guys had one laying on a flat-topped doghouse one time and said look at the dead possum we found. I said I don't think he's dead and took a shovel and poked him and he hissed at me!

Me must have made his way over from the golf course about a mile away and got run down for his trouble. That's the only place he could have come from, it's all developed everywhere else around our place for several miles. They have kit foxes over there, so it's not beyond reason that they would have some possums.

They have made their way up to south central Canada (around lake Ontario). My mother use to have to fish them (dead) out of her pool. That was about 10 years ago. Up until last fall, I had never seen a live one. We now have at least one in our neighbourhood in Toronto. There's plenty for them to eat here, and enough places for them to escape the winter days that are harsh.

Curious looking animal. About as homely as homely can get. The one I saw was super fat, and as the OP described, it must have been an older one as it was grey. It was in my back alley, just lumbering along in broad daylight. It was not the least bit concerned with me standing ten feet from it, taking photos with my cell phone. Glad to have some wildlife diversity around here. The "Trash Panda" and the squirrels are ubiquitous. We also have a couple of gorgeous red foxes in the hood. There's coyotes in the ravines not far from us, but I've never seen one.

 

[WRHB]

As a kid we had a black lab and would occasionally find a dead blue jay in the back yard. Not mangled just dead. Sorta WTF?

One day my mom saw Miss Dempsey (named before we goy her) standing rigid in the yard looking over her shoulder. Not moving. Suddenly a jay would come down and grab some fur and go back into the pecan tree. This happened 2-3 times and the dog never moved until the bird, obviously, got closer to her head and she jumped up and chomped once on the bird. She spit it out and paid no more attention to it.

This happened to about 10 jays over two summers and then it stopped

That makes sense. The pigeons we found had obviously been bitten but weren’t torn apart. Good thing I was always nice to him.

 

[Wildeman]

My dog hates them for some reason. He’s gentle as a rule, a big 100lb lovable giant. Loves kids. Bites heads off possums. Not kidding, and not sure why. They aren’t bad creatures - they eat snakes and smaller rodents I believe, but love fruit. I don’t go after them, but my dog sure does.

Yep, same with my dog, kills Possums and Raccoons....and Cats..
.Squirrels...

 

[bgmacaw]

A while ago we had this one show up on our bird feeders one evening. At first, my wife thought it was a cat and started walking toward it saying "Kitty, kitty". Then it turned around and hissed at her. Funny stuff.

 

[burtonfan]

Ooops! I thought this would be a George Jones thread...

 

[MarkieMark]

My dog hates them for some reason. He’s gentle as a rule, a big 100lb lovable giant. Loves kids. Bites heads off possums. Not kidding, and not sure why. They aren’t bad creatures - they eat snakes and smaller rodents I believe, but love fruit. I don’t go after them, but my dog sure does.

Tell the dog possums eat ticks. Lots of them.
Maybe the dog will be more tolerant next time.

 

[johnny k]

I would check your spy ware.
I would also say,

 

[trapdoor2]

Living in the South (Alabama, South Carolina), possums are very common. One year, Rocket (dog, Pyrenees mix) started barking his head off at about 10pm. Then his girlfriend, Skye (Brittany mix) would chime in...both going wild, noisy, etc. So, I go out to find them leaping up at a big ol' possum on the 6-foot wood privacy fence. The possum was just sitting on the top board, ignoring the dogs.

So, it was raining. I went out with my umbrella and poked him over the fence to fall on the other side. They're not dangerous, I could have picked him up but they can be dirty and smelly, etc., and I didn't have gloves.

Next night, same drill. After a few nights I was calling him the 10 o'clock possum.

One night, the dogs lit up and I heard a thump, some wild yelping and then quiet. I looked out and the possum was on the ground and the dogs were sniffing around it. I put on gloves and went out. That possum was putting on a great dead-show. The dogs weren't interested. I picked him up and threw him over the fence (there was a small wild area with a culvert, etc.).

He didn't return for a few nights...but eventually came back and we went thru the drill again. I finally figured out how the dogs got to him. Rocket had learned that the fence was flexible. He would leap up and 'bounce' against the top rail of the fence, causing it to shake...hard. The possum couldn't hold on and fell inside.

Eventually I think the possum got tired of being flung over the fence. He would sit in a tree near the fence and the dogs would bark at him for a few minutes...until I gave them the cease-and-desist order.

I don't do anything with roadkill. Vultures gotta eat too. Rocket hates vultures (any large bird). If he could catch one, he'd probably explode with pride.

Possum was a very common meal down south. One of the famous cookbooks (Betty Crocker?) had a possum recipe in it well into the 1960s.

 

[CCK1]

Ooops! I thought this would be a George Jones thread...

Me too!

 

[Toto'sDad]

You didn't eat him?

A little too ripe for eatin'.

 

[rghill]

Racoons and Opossums have expanded there territory into the Phoenix area. I don't think they are native, but found their way here due to plentiful water and garbage cans. They have also brought with them their love of playing tag with cars, but unfortunately losing. I have seen some pretty fat racoons pressed along the sides of busy freeways and roads in the middle of town.

 

[Greggorios]

Reminds me of an "off-beat" indy movie from the early 2000s about, well...burying small animals-respectfully. I remember liking it.

 

[memorex]

 

[Mike M]

Wait, this isn't a George Jones thread? Ok, I'm out of here