Possum on our back

by Bob Mitchell
(Lindsay, Ontario, Canada)

About 2pm today, March 23, 2013, I stepped outside through our back sliding doors to get something off the deck (a frozen bowl of chili) and ran smack into a critter I vaguely recognized from photos.

It was eating the frozen chili! I stopped, called my wife, and it backed away slowly down over the steps to ground level, which was mostly covered with a few inches of snow.

It then made its retreat from where it came over the fence at the back of our yard (it climbed it with ease but was never in a hurry) and on into our neighbors yard where it disappeared behind some buildings.

We tried to come up with its designation and my wife said it was likely a Possum, and I agreed.

She thought they lived in the woods and I replied that I'd never seen one though I'm a hunter and have spent a good deal of spare time woods walking.

Anyway, it was indeed an Opossum, light in color with a pointy pink nose, naked tail, light gray/ whitish all over with no noticeable patches of black. It looked like it was quite healthy and weighed around 2 - 3 kilo or 5 to 7 lbs.

Thanks for telling us about your Possum Encounter!