# An Other Animal Story . . . strange . . . a dead Possum



## rockdoveranch (Jun 15, 2011)

I walk out this morning at 6:30 to give the bottle baby her bottle and turn the ewes and lambs out.  Normally in the morning they are still snoozing and spread out a little on their overnight pasture.  I can see the rams in the distance grazing on the berm at the big pond.  There is a fawn trapped in with the ewes.  Its mom is in the next pasture over where we still have some green grass growing.

Rather than snoozing, the ewes and lambs are bunched up in a herd in the middle of the pasture looking over at a fence line near where I am standing.  The bottle baby is a little hesitant to run over to me, but eventually does.  She usually races over to me.  The herd follows her, but are not taking their eyes off the fence.

I scan the field wire fence and see a dead Possum with its body half way hanging over the wire about half way up.  Some of its inners are hanging out.  Both front legs and one back leg are on the herd side of the fence.  There is plenty room along the fence line for a possum, armadillo, skunk or raccoon to go under.

I hope that because of the drought the coyotes are not beginning to come up looking for food around the houses out here, but if it were a coyote that got the possum I would think more of the possum would have been gone, if not all of the possum. 

I like possums!    I think they are cute!    I am hoping that there was no coyote and that the possum decided to climb the fence to get to the sheep bowls and somehow got caught.  And that it was a raccoon that munched down on it.


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## redtailgal (Jun 15, 2011)

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## rockdoveranch (Jun 15, 2011)

Redtailgal,

That is just soo cool that you got to raise an orphaned possum!  I am SO jealous!  When my kids were little we got to go visit with a wildlife rehab person just to see her house possum.  It was kind of on the fat side, but still, very very cute.  It was not house broken, but she did not mind cleaning up after it.  

A few years back we came across 4 armadillo youngsters along one of our trails in the woods.  Thought you might enjoy the pictures.


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## redtailgal (Jun 15, 2011)

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