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Loading...Opossum in My Overcoat: How I Saved Her That Night
Written by Mary Cooper of Dallas, Texas
I have always loved animals and have rescued a few along the way. One night, I was driving home as I went down a dark, curved street and noticed an opossum in the middle of the road between the lanes. Its face was injured and there was a pool of blood below. The poor creature was so terrified, it stood absolutely still.
A man in a truck was driving the opposite direction and slowed down as I called to him. He stopped and waited to warn me of oncoming cars as I darted over to the opossum, laid my Bill Blass overcoat on the ground and tried to coax the animal to walk onto the coat so I could then pick it up. The animal remained frozen, so I wrapped the coat around it, carefully picked it up and ran to the sidewalk. The opossum allowed me to carry it, but once we were across the street, it struggled to get down. I held onto it and put it in the open back of the man’s truck.
I asked the nice man to follow me to my apartment complex, which was just around the corner. Without letting him see which apartment I lived in, I ran up to my place and got a cat carrier. I went back to the truck, and the man helped me put the opossum into the cage which I then put in my car.
I Turned to the Opossum Woman
I went on my way and proceeded to call the city of Dallas about animal rescue, but they were unavailable. I called my mother who suggested I call the Highland Park police who are very resourceful. They were, indeed, as they gave me the name of a woman in Oak Cliff who is licensed to rehabilitate opossums. So I contacted Donna, “the opossum woman,” and drove out to Oak Cliff at 10:30 p.m.
When I arrived, her husband and she rushed out, unscrewed the cage and picked up the opossum (putting their hands under the belly to avoid being bitten). They knew exactly what to do.
She Fully Recovered
It turns out the opossum was a female, so we called her Lucy. Weeks later, I called Donna and she said that Lucy was fine and that she had let her out on a green belt after her recovery.
I never thought I would impulsively risk my life, ruin my favorite designer coat and let a strange man follow me to my apartment complex, but it was all worth it as it had a positive outcome. The funny thing is that, at the time, I didn’t even know what kind of animal I was rescuing. I thought it might be an opossum. Since then, I have learned a lot about opossums, which are marsupials that carry their babies in their pouches (from the kangaroo family, not the rat family). I now live in an area where opossums roam around my property at night and sometimes I leave a little food out for them.
Need More Good News to Make Your Day?
If you need a little break from all the bad news and dire forecasts we read each day, treat yourself to a few quick glimpses of joy that will lift your spirits now. We invite you in to take a look at some of the happiest animal rescue videos around.
Brought to you by The Great Animal Rescue Chase
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Read more: great animal rescue chase, opossum rescue
Photo Credit: © Crystal Craig | Dreamstime.com
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339 comments
+ add your ownThank you for rescuing Lucy
...♥
Great rescue story. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you Laura, for Sharing this!
So glad the lady saved the possum. I personally have always been scared of them because I know they bite and are not very pretty at night. lol
You are a wonderful Person!!! Rock On!!!
They are beautiful.Reading the comments I am so glad that so many people are willing to help them.The world needs more animals helpers like the lady in the article.
When I worked in animal rescue in the Seattle area in the 1990s, possums were frequent victims of cars, dogs, even bicycles -- every fast-moving thing on the roads after dark. We had a wildlife rehab clinic as part of our facility, and we took turns to answer calls on injured wildlife after hours, so I got lots of experience handling them. Their eyesight is poor, and when frightened they tend to freeze (playing possum!). I learned that if I took a dry washcloth and laid it over the possum's face, it would be docile enough to pick up easily. Then, driving back to the clinic, I would hold the little creatures on my lap and do Tellington Touch circles (a massage technique) on their ears. This usually was enough to bring them out of shock. It's funny how few people recognize possums, though. It was often hard to know what sort of animal I was going out to help from the callers' descriptions. Once a man demanded that I come immediately and remove a "pink armadillo" from his garage! Of course, it was a possum!
Lovely!
thanks
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