This white faced sucka has munched his last turkey egg at my house - Page 2

Relocating a NATIVE animal with a massive US range 15 miles is not going to result in an invasive species.

And you're quite incorrect about invasive species being the result of relocation, at least certainly not in the context of this post. If you read the natural history of the most common invasive species in the US - and I suggest it, it's interesting stuff; Tinkering with Eden and Out of Eden are both great reads - many were incidental, such as the introduction of mosquitos to Hawaii or the introduction of old world rats and mice to the US. Others were the result of poor containment and accidental release, like nutria and the feral cat/hogs. Many others were deliberate and for human use, such as the introduction of pheasants for hunting or a laundry list of fish species for fishing/consumption. Heck, the European Starling population in the US was started by a tiny flock deliberately released by a man who wanted a species from Shakespeare's plays in the US!

Now, I suppose if the OP had driven the opossum to say... North Dakota to relocate it, you'd be correct that it could result in an invasive species. But moving a pest a few miles away from your yard rather than killing it is not going to do such a thing. If anything, you could better argue that relocations upset the (very) local ecosystem by forcing the 250 acre (roughly) range that a male opossum inhabits by forcing it to accomodate one more small omnivore, or that on the off chance that the opossum is badly diseased that it could spread something to other local opossums - but these things happen naturally due to emigration/immigration so I don't particularly see them to be as big of a deal as they are oft made out to be. You could also argue that it is illegal in some states to relocate wildlife depending on the species - but then again, it's illegal in some states to shoot wildlife off season or without a license unless they are actively harassing and killing livestock, and I see plenty of posts on here where folks shoot x given predator if they so much as see it.

Everyone has different opinions on how to deal with problem wildlife in their coop. I just wanted the OP to know that not everyone felt her decision was was foolish and that she should have shot it.

Relocating a NATIVE animal with a massive US range 15 miles is not going to result in an invasive species.

And you're quite incorrect about invasive species being the result of relocation, at least certainly not in the context of this post. If you read the natural history of the most common invasive species in the US - and I suggest it, it's interesting stuff; Tinkering with Eden and Out of Eden are both great reads - many were incidental, such as the introduction of mosquitos to Hawaii or the introduction of old world rats and mice to the US. Others were the result of poor containment and accidental release, like nutria and the feral cat/hogs. Many others were deliberate and for human use, such as the introduction of pheasants for hunting or a laundry list of fish species for fishing/consumption. Heck, the European Starling population in the US was started by a tiny flock deliberately released by a man who wanted a species from Shakespeare's plays in the US!

Now, I suppose if the OP had driven the opossum to say... North Dakota to relocate it, you'd be correct that it could result in an invasive species. But moving a pest a few miles away from your yard rather than killing it is not going to do such a thing. If anything, you could better argue that relocations upset the (very) local ecosystem by forcing the 250 acre (roughly) range that a male opossum inhabits by forcing it to accomodate one more small omnivore, or that on the off chance that the opossum is badly diseased that it could spread something to other local opossums - but these things happen naturally due to emigration/immigration so I don't particularly see them to be as big of a deal as they are oft made out to be. You could also argue that it is illegal in some states to relocate wildlife depending on the species - but then again, it's illegal in some states to shoot wildlife off season or without a license unless they are actively harassing and killing livestock, and I see plenty of posts on here where folks shoot x given predator if they so much as see it.

Everyone has different opinions on how to deal with problem wildlife in their coop. I just wanted the OP to know that not everyone felt her decision was was foolish and that she should have shot it.