OPOSSUM, OPOSSUM, OOOOOOO(SHIT)POSSUM!

Yes, we had a friendly visit from our neighborhood possum yesterday. When i went out to do chores i found him gladly crunching on the cats food in the goat barn.  "Well, you can't stay here," i explained to him but all he did was grin at me.  "I mean really, guy, if you poop you can cause great damage to my ponies and we can't have that!  Now go!"

Opossum poop can cause Equine Protozoal Myeloencephalitis (EPM)which is a neurological disorder caused by a parasite. The opossum and a parasite called Sarcocystis neurona have been implicated although current research suggests other hosts and other parasites may be involved in disease transmission. The infective form of the parasite is passed in the poop. If a horse eats contaminated poop then it could develop neurological signs. 

But he just stood there giving me that menacing smile.

He didn't even try to play dead, and the ones we've had the pleasure of meeting before didn't either.  Maybe that's an old wives tale.  But Mr Opossum was having none of that, he was hungry and the cat food looked real good.

So i got a broom and sweeped his little rump down off the cage where the cat food rests and he didn't run out - but ran into the storage closet.   So i locked him in there and went and got the live trap.

It took him about two days before he decided to check out the live trap and the can of cat food i put in there, which doesn't surprise me because the few opossums i have met before really seem quite stupid.   Like the one that got his head caught into the rope that was on the adjustable height ladder: it has a loop at the end and he got his head into the loop and in trying to free himself, just ended up choking himself to death.  Now cats, when presented with something around their head, will naturally back up out of it, these guys i guess think that moving forward will eventually set them free, not realizing that the fact that they can't breath might be a sign that it's not working.

So this morning i found him in the cage, and he was a little perturbed.

I like how they just open their mouths at you, like THAT'S gonna scare me!  His ugliness is more frightening then his  big teeth or lack there of.

He had of course rammed himself against the cage so many times he got himself a bloody nose.

I put the live trap in my car and took off  down the road to set him free.  I stopped a few miles away and lifted him and the cage outta the car.  I opened the cage very carefully, although no opossum I've ever seen would come at you, but caution was a good idea here as with any pissed off animal. He seemed apprehensive at first and wouldn't come out of the cage so i tipped it over and dumped him out.

Then he rode off into the sunset.

Good bye Mr. Opossum!

Hopefully he won't end up at our friend's house; Squash Blossom Farm. Sorry Susan, but i did kinda set him free close to your place. : )