This photo takes me down the path of childhood memories. I was walking along my neighborhood creek when I spotted a young possum clambering about a bush. He looked to be out of sorts, so I grabbed some gardening gloves (such a wise child) and caught him. The gloves turned out to be my saving grace--he bit hard (check out those teeth!).
I took him to the university for rehabilitation, but he died of some disease (or was experimented on...). That was hard for a little tike like me to take, but I learned a good life lesson out of it: always wear gloves when handling ugly, diseased, large-toothed, and ill-tempered beasts. That knowledge has served me well in life.
Thanks for the photo, Ida.
Feb 19, 2008
Life Lesson Learned
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10 comments:
Somewhere out there, not even far far away, is a possum that actually thinks this one is beeee-you-tiful. ::grin::
ROUS
Ah, amandacheryl beat me. It does, indeed, look *exactly* like an ROUS. Remarkable, really.
Oh no -- possums are the critters that when I glimpse them I go "OMGUGLYRAT -- er, no, just an oppossum."
Every. single. time.
I've always thought possums were cute but this might be because, living in Minnesota, I've never seen one face to fang before. I still think they are cute, despite their apparent ability to remove human limbs in a single chomp.
Sherry at SofN
PS apparently, their range has moved north a bit becuase I acutally did see one, at a distance but live and in person, as it crossed the road.
Ahhhhh...he is so cute!!! People think he is ugly because his mouth is open wierdly but imagine it closed- AHHHH, look at him, is so adorable. I would love to pet him.
I cant believe you people commenting could be so cruel to this poor, cute, inicent possumm. He is so CUTE!!!
Dude, those gloves probably saved your life. Rabies is ultra common in opossums and causes disorientation like that. If you weren't wearing them, you could have died.
moving farther north means they tend to get frost bite. poor silly beasties!
Sorry, but I think you're mistaken about the rabies. Possums have an unusually low body temperature that makes it difficult for the rabies virus to multiply. It's extremely rare.
That's good news about the rabies. Possums are some of the few wild mammals I'm likely to encounter in my backyard (rats, raccoons, and squirrels making up the rest). Though, some of my children might count...
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