Opossum Sightings

by Catherine, Richard, Rick, Brian, Anita, Merle
(Walpole, Cobourg, Brantford, Port Elgin, Coldwater, Belleville, Aurora, Chatham, Toronto, Ajax, Bath)

Wandering Opossum

Catherine from Walpole in Haldimand County wrote ... I go out to my garbage nightly to drop off cat litter, etc. & stood within a foot of a Opossum. I didn't know what it was at the time but thought "what a beautiful animal". I thought it was from the rodent family and it just stood there staring at me and then meandered away toward our side yard with many trees. I did not feel threatened and was amazed at how normal it wandered away from me. A few days later I was throwing some rice over our fence for feral animals to claim and came upon my Opossum friend again standing in our side yard in front of a large Spruce tree. I stopped and we stared at each other again. I spoke softly to it and then threw the rice just off from it's direction. I walked back to my door and it was still sitting there with an unthreatening pose. I looked it up on the computer when the word possum popped into my mind and yes I now know what it is. It is truly a beautiful animal. So clean and well kept looking. We feed the wild birds and a few feral cats so I am assuming that is what caused him to hang out but from what I have read it isn't a bad thing. We have raccoons, skunks, cats and aside from the damage to trees by beavers, and fright of coyotes I love seeing the wild animals especially those that pose no threat if not frightened unnecessarily.

Richard wrote to say ... I am a resident of Cobourg, Ontario and my children and I spotted two Possums in our back yard getting a snack. We often leave things out for our squirrels and birds, but these two are new additions to the neighborhood. The larger one walked right up on to the back porch so we could see it through the door! We have been here almost three years and this is our first sighting. We also have a local fox, so hopefully they have a good hiding place!

One of our readers wrote about their Opossum sighting in Brantford ... we live in an urban area, however my condo is surrounded by large mature trees, a very deep creek, and a forest of trees, on the other side of road. Saw it from my 5th floor balcony, and thought at first must be a raccoon, because we have quite a lot in this area as well, but the closer I looked, it was definitely an Opossum! I tried to take a video, but it was too dark to capture a good image, only can see how it moves, which is slow & with a back end wiggle LOL :)

Rick from Port Elgin wrote ... it is in the grass in the backyard eating what appears to be a piece of chicken from the garbage. It is about 12 inches long, shaggy grey fur with a curly light colored tail. The ears are two toned white and black. I checked a picture on the internet and surely it is a Opossum.

An Opossum was reported by one of our readers ... Line 10 North and Mount St. Louis Rd. East Coldwater. My husband and I just saw an Opossum crossing the road in front of our vehicle on Line 10 north Oro Medonte just north of Mount St. Louis Rd. East. Our address here is Coldwater and I have lived in this area for almost 60 years and this is the first time I have ever seen one. I have not heard of them farther north than Barrie but maybe the warm fall has them coming further north. Unfortunately no photo as I was driving and it was all I could do not to hit it as it crossed right in front of me.

Brian from Belleville said March 15/22 10:00 pm. I noticed our cat staring intently out the window. I thought it was likely another cat. It was dark and first off I thought it was a rat. I flipped on the front light and that's when I realized it was a Possum. I had my wife take a look and she agreed. I checked the internet and sure enough that's what it was. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get a picture.

A reader from Belleville reported ... it was New Year’s Eve and I went out to have a smoke and there at the end of my deck was a possum!

One of our readers from Aurora wrote to say ... our house backs onto a ravine with a creek and hardwood bush. Having a cup of Joe in the sun on the back deck when it wobbled out from under the lattice enclosed deck and slowly made it's way out of the yard. Never seen one alive before. It's possible it lives under there. I'll keep an eye out for it, try to get a photo.

Anita from Chatham wrote ... we found a baby Possum in our black box recycling bin!!! It was “playing possum” in the middle of the day! My sister thought it was dead and screamed bloody murder when it moved a little!!!

Merle from Toronto said ... I saw two the other morning about 6:00 am. I live in North York, Ontario. They were running across the lawn across the street from me and ran behind the hedges at a neighbours. Watched but didn’t see them again.

Possum sighted in Ajax ... Oh boy. I had to rescue my dog from a small possum today!! All those teeth and aggression!!

Just had a Possum in our back yard in Bath, Ontario, it’s walking really slowly was around 5:00 tonight. Very cool.

Thank you all for sending us your Possum sightings, I know our readers will find them interesting!