Bucket O Possum

Right now as I type this, on my back porch there is an opossum. It is trapped in a large galvanized metal bucket with chicken wire on the top. It is being haphazardly guarded by my dog, though I don't think it'll escape anyway.

The poor little thing is a baby opossum and is extremely cute. Then it bares it's teeth and you start to see what it would look like full grown.. Fortunately though it is just a little baby, it might be 5lbs when wet.

My husband used to always want to go to this Mexican eatery in town because once under the outside decking he saw a baby opossum. So I thought I'd keep it here until he gets home.

Even though when I called him to tell him that it was in the back yard and if I left it alone the dog would kill it. He told me to let the dog kill it.

Of course when I reminded him of the baby opossum he used to adore at the Mexican restaurant, and asked him if he would sit back and watch our dog kill it. He replied: "No, but YOU'RE the one watching the dog kill it, not me." (I shouldn't really type the names I calling him in my head.)

I tried calling a pest removal place. They couldn't come out and get it today, and I sure wasn't going to leave the poor thing out there to be mauled to death by our dog. Our dog won't eat it btw. She just likes to play with things until they're dead and no more fun. I'm sorry but watching my 45lbs. normally very sweet hearted dog (at least with people she is) maul to death a poor little rather defenseless opossum, is not on my list of things to watch today. Nor would it be on my list of things to watch ever.

I was advised by many to just dump the thing in the neighbors yard. Which would be fine, if I could be sure it would stay there. But see, opossum's don't understand fences as boundaries, so with the dog's water outside and my hopefully soon-to-be producing garden, I really don't want an opossum to be around to seal my veggies (like I don't have enough competition with the squirrels). Not to mention that the opossum's like to run around at night and cause my dog (and the other neighborhood dogs)to bark incessantly.

So the poor opossum is sitting terrified in a bucket, safe, waiting for my husband to come home so we can drive out to an uninhabited area and release it. That way my husband gets to share in my experiences today. :) Thats what he gets for trying to put the death of an innocent baby creature on my head!