Early on a Sunday morning in April this year, our son Jonathan was riding his bike on our street and came upon a 'possum which had been hit by a car. She was dead, as were two of her week-old babies, which were lying out on the street. However, a couple of live babies were also on the pavement. Jonathan came home and told my husband Henry and me about the situation. We rushed to the scene of the accident. I evacuated her pouch, and we ended up with seven living babies.
At home we kept them warm and called our veterinarian. (First thing to know: do not feed cows' milk to possums. They can't digest it.) The vet told us about a wildlife rehabilitator who lives about twenty miles away. When we arrived at her haven for distressed critters, Henry snapped this photo.
Copyright © 2001 Patricia B. Mitchell.