An Abundance of Possums

by Barb, DM, Jim Burke, Tracy Dearling, Elaine, Cindy, Liz, Craig, Anton
(Whitby, Sunderland, Brantford, Mississauga, Hamilton, Tavistock, Colborne, Thornhill, Kitchener, Innisfil, Mildmay)

Barb from Whitby reports ... I first saw a dead possum on a local highway near Port Perry, Ontario, about 20 years ago. No one believed me for years when I told them I had seen one. Typical. No one believed me for years when I told them I had seen a Turkey Vulture scavenging a carcass 15 feet off the road side about 25 years ago either. Last evening about 5 pm a small possum appeared through the neighbour's fence and purposely walked about 4 feet past me to a hole under our deck in Whitby, Ontario. I've always believed possum to be nocturnal so I was pretty surprised to see this one on the move at that time of day. I hurried my two Dachshunds who were in my yard with me inside. They didn't see it but are definitely picking up scent under the deck. My one dog managed to catch and kill a starling that landed on our lawn a week ago so I'm concerned about an encounter and would like to encourage the possum to move elsewhere. As I don't know their growth rate I couldn't say how old this little cutie was, but I would think that it hasn't left it's mother too long ago. I see online that some people have been able to make pets of them.

They also catch and eat ticks, so that could be an advantage to having one around.

DM from Sunderland wrote ... she showed up in my backyard about 3 weeks ago at night. I see her a couple of nights a week. She scrounges in the black oil sunflower seed hulls that have been dropped from the bird feeders. I leave water bowls for the birds. She drank from the bowl. She waddled away I thought either heavy with young or perhaps milk. I find her very interesting. She is just another critter in my backyard.

I hope she's still here, and she could have had a bunch of youngsters in her pouch, they are marsupials, North America's only marsupial, and carry their young in their pouch

Jim from Brantford, said ... I have a nocturnal visitor who visits my back yard practically every night. I have a movement activated light which tells me when something is moving around in the backyard. Lately, I can see a possum moving around, searching for food. Being a recent widower, I have leftover meals which I turf out on the back lawn for the birds. Imagine my surprise to see the possum taking advantage of my largesse. Heh!Tracy Dearling wrote ... our neighbour found a large possum on the fence behind his cedars. He has been frequenting our backyard. Happy to have him/her except they do like eating our veggies. Will call the local humane society this week for trapping.

Elaine from Hamilton East wrote to say ... at about 6 pm last October 18th, I saw an Opossum quietly travelling along the ground at our back fence behind the hops and then disappear under the fence into our neighbour's yard. I had seen it the day before peeking around the side of the roof of our workshop, obviously NOT a raccoon and I wondered who it was! Now I know.

Last fall Cindy wrote ... we live in Tavistock, just a few minutes east of Stratford, Ontario. My husband encountered one under his car this morning around 6 am. It ran, straight onto our side deck where it got stuck between the railing slats. My husband had to grab it by the tail and pull it out backwards. Frightened, it rolled down a couple of small stairs and took off across our front lawn and disappeared under some parked cars. I'm worried for the poor little guy. Winter is coming and there are many hawks in the farmland across the street. I really hope he survives.

Liz H from Colborne reported ... a few minutes ago, while standing on my lakeside deck, I spied a chubby possum trotting across my yard. He appeared to be running towards me as if I'd called him to dinner. Just as he was a few inches away from me, he ducked under the deck, where I guess he must be living. I was concerned to see that his tail had been chopped off, but I just read here that this might be the result of frost-bite.

Craig from Thornhill reported ... while trying to trap and relocate a persistent Raccoon that had been able to open our green bin at will and spread our recycling about the yard. We inadvertently caught a small opossum in our humane trap. Upon discovery I let him/her go without harm or relocating him/her. This is not the first time a opossum has been caught in our yard and let go over the years. They do not seem to cause any problems.

One of our readers from Kitchener said ... I noticed digging under my concrete porch. I thought the skunks we had last year were back and called a wildlife service. After about a week we caught a possum.

Anton from Innisfil said ... just couple of minutes ago I saw an opossum near Big Bay Point and Side Road 25, Innisfil, Ontario.

A reader from Mildmay wrote ... I saw a rather large possum in my backyard in Mildmay, Ontario, on June 30th. I was unsure of what it was at first. Have never seen one before.

Thank you all for writing to tell us of your Possum experiences.

We have had so many submissions to our website that I have had to combine yours with others!

I will also post this on our Facebook page so that our Facebook followers can also read it.

You will also find it on our Website Blog.