The Possums of Autumn

by Monica, Kathleen, J. Mead, O. Wells, Kathy Smith, R. Breton, Alan Palmer
(Welland, Sarnia, Ajax, Etobicoke, St Thomas, Springfield, Brantford, Brampton )

Monica from Welland reports ..... I have been feeding a feral cat for about a year, having seen him emaciated during the winter months. He is now plump and getting a little friendly with me - at least I'm getting a stare and the odd "meow". Before now, he was very nervous and flighty. I noticed that the food I was putting out at night (plentiful) disappeared right down to the last tidbit. I suspected that I was feeding Raccoons or other creatures. This morning I got up at 04:30 and took a look out the door. To my amazement there was a Possum looking up at me from the bowl! I couldn't believe it. He didn't run away quickly, but waddled off. I saw him clearly. I live in the Niagara region just on the outskirt of Welland.

Kathleen Pretty from Sarnia, Ontario, wrote to say ..... We have had an intruder on the back deck during the night that the dogs are 'offended' by and then the other morning, (3:30 am) I let the dogs out and their high pitched barking told me something was out there. I shone a strong, high powered flashlight in the corner of the yard they were in, and sure enough, there was a Possum, cornered by my one lab, Diesel, and it had it's mouth open, obviously threatened by Diesel. It took everything I could muster to get Diesel back in the house, and the Possum escaped the corner and ran under our back deck. I know it has been out here around the back deck before, as the labs have a specific bark that means they are feeling 'threatened' by an intruder. But this time I saw it clearly.

J Mead from Ajax, Ontario, wrote to tell us ..... We live in Ajax and saw a possum in our lilac tree in the backyard a few nights ago (September 27). We were amazed as this is the first time we've ever seen one.

O. Wells from Etobicoke, Ontario, sent us this report ..... I saw a Possum last night (October 6, 2014) at 11 pm in my backyard (just in front of our back door) eating out of the bird seed dish. I live in Etobicoke Centre across from a golf course. My husband said it was probably a raccoon but I said it was much smaller than a raccoon, was light grey & had a long pointy tail. So, I looked it up on computer & sure enough, it was a Possum.

A reader from St Thomas, Ontario, wrote to say ..... We had a full grown Possum that wished to take up residence in our shed in Springfield, Ontario, back in 2010. We convinced him/her to head on back to the woods. Now today we had a much smaller one, most likely from a litter this year (2014) in St Thomas. We live in an area near the edge of the city that has been under going residential construction. We lost sight of it and the little devil waddled off and we are unsure where it has gone.

Kathy Smith from Brantford told us ..... For the last few nights we have had a huge gray and white Possum coming around the house. We live in the country on the outskirts of town. There are corn farms out here. This possum has a stick-like tail with a pom-pom on the end. It is very shy and doesn't stick around when the sensor light comes on. My husband won't allow me to feed it and I agree with him as it isn't good to feed anything but the birds, because animals will depend on it, birds do not. When we move from here, no one will feed it, so it's best to not start doing so at all. We have a domestic indoor cat, and she always lets us know when the Possum or a feral cat is around.

R. Breton said ..... My wife had trimmed some shrubs when she noticed the Possum at the edge of the lawn. I wanted to photograph it, but when I came out of the house with my iPad the creature could not be found. I searched again this morning (October 21 2014 ) but could not find it.

Alan Palmer from Brampton, Ontario, wrote to say ..... Thanksgiving Sunday October 12 2014, around 3:30 in the afternoon, we saw a Possum in the back yard gathering leaves, I guess for his nest.

A reader from Ajax said ..... Sited in the woods behind 875 Westney Road south Ajax, on Monday night at 10:00 pm. Healthy looking. It slowly climbed over the fence when I shone my flashlight on him.

Thank you all for sending us these reports of your Possum sightings - I know our readers will enjoy them as much as I did!