Look what's lurking around my yard...

[bobbi-j]

Not contradicting, but I find it odd that the possum would attack the dog for no reason. Possums usually only start biting when they're cornered or have babies to protect. Most of their hissing, open mouth gaping is a bluff, they want you to just leave them alone. They really (generally) just want to get away and go on with their business. Playing dead is an involuntary muscle response.

When I did wildlife rehab, my young possums would sometimes hiss and growl and open their mouths when I would reach into the cage. Once I touched them though? Snuggly buttheads who wanted their numnums.

Just for clarification (and I'm not judging either way this turns out) possums are very beneficial. They carry few diseases (although spell danger for horses) and eat a variety of pests, such as slugs, snails, mice, young rats, small snakes, etc. They're really fascinating animals, and they have their worth in nature. Their teeth are very sharp though. Generally (although obv not the case with OP) they are much shyer animals than raccoons, and aren't as liable to pick a fight.

I understand that you want to eliminate this possum, I do. I just ask that you please do it humanely and painlessly (as doing it any other way is cruel, and unnecessary, no matter how you spin it. No animal deserves to die buried alive for doing as it has for thousands of years.)

I really do understand protecting what's yours, and having responsibility for your animals. I get it, sometimes there is just no alternative to putting the animal down. But I'd like people to keep an open mind, and not completely villify the wildlife around them.

Really, that's how most of us want to deal with our predators. We're not out to torture or cause undue suffering to an animal. One quick shot and it's done. Most of the time, the animal never knew what hit it. I know, I know, there was another poster who did torture them by burying one alive and allowing another to starve to death. I truly believe, though, that most responsible animal owners would not do that. We have animals for a reason and that reason is not because we like to make them suffer.

 

[Australton]

Lost cause.

 

[keesmom]

I haven't used it, but I know dry ice works. FedEx mistakenly put the 11 birds I was sending to OR on a flight with dry ice. They looked like they had just gone to sleep.

 

[6of6chicks]

Deleted 7/24/2014.

 

[The Yakima Kid]

The whole reason I started this thread was to get suggestions for how to humanely kill the possum. To me "humanely" and "painlessly" are pretty much the same thing, so I didn't think to specify painless. I've said it before, and I'll say it again - I'm not a trigger happy predator hunter that is just looking to blast it to bits. Do I like possums? No, I don't. But that doesn't mean I want to torture them. Quite honestly the best option seems to be the hose attached to the tailpipe of the car. From what I understand about carbon monoxide poisoning you just drift away and die in your sleep. That's about as good of a death as I can think of for the possum. Even if I had a gun I'm not experienced enough to guarantee a clean shot, and drowning on nail polish in the lungs also makes me cringe. I certainly never said I would bury it alive!

The carbon dioxide/dry ice method is also humane and does not involve nail polish in the lungs - but I suspect carbon monoxide is more humane.

 

[The Yakima Kid]

There's no pet food left out and it can't get to the chicken feed in the run. I have lizards and bugs galore, though, so maybe it's eating those? There's no water source either. But come to think of it my neighbor does leave cat food out - that's part of the reason we get so many skunks. Maybe the possums are just wandering from her yard - attracted by the chickens? She's the only close neighbor that I have.

If you are on good terms with your neighbor, you could mention that his cat food is attracting wildlife, including rodents, which brings in predators, including snakes. (For some reason a lot of people are terrified by an itty bitty serpent - perfectly reasonable in Oz where it seems most are venomous members of the cobra family, but sort of silly in the US..)

I have the same problem here - only worse since in addition to the guy who leaves dog foot out, we have a neighbor who deliberately feeds the raccoons.

 

[DylansMom]

Just curious here, does anyone know if opossums will attack and kill poultry if they have access to an alternate food source? I ask because we have had a family of Opossums living in our barn for the past 10 years or so. We see them every year and have seen them with babies on occasion. They have lived peacefully with our cats, chickens, guineas, turkey and peacocks. We believe in a live and let live philosophy and so long as they do no harm we do none to them, if they were to start killing our birds they would be dealt with swiftly. Our chickens are completely free range roosting where they want and the opossums could easily get them if they wanted, but we've had zero deaths and zero disappearances. So why would some opossums be so bloodthirsty while others are not at all? As for the alternate food source, we put out a very big dish of hard cat food every evening, this is where we usually see our opossums...eating cat food.

 

[subhanalah]

WRONG ANSWER! Do not transport wildlife unless you have contacted fish and game and determined it is legal in your state; transportation may spread parasites and diseases to new areas where they were previously unknown.

Opossums roam downtown San Francisco from time to time; and that area has been developed since the middle of the 19th Century. It isn't always a matter of people moving into where the animals were living, the other way around is just as common. Bambi, for example, loves suburbs because there is no hunting. Bobcats enjoy living under backyard sheds in Bellevue and Redmond, WA, where they thrive on a diet of rats, domestic cats, and small dogs. Coyotes live in downtown LA. Cougars haunt California suburbs, as do raccoons, skunks, and the ubiquitous opossums.

Our method is to live trap, then place two blocks of dry ice in a garbage can and pour a little water on it to start the carbon dioxide gas evolving. I place several layers of cardboard to make a platform for the trap to avoid causing freeze burns to the animal, making sure that there is room for the gas to flow easily around and into the trap. I place the animal, trap and all, in the garbage can, and close the lid. This suffocates the animal and is generally accepted as humane.

Nitrogen gas is even better, except for those burrowing animals who are capable of detecting lowered oxygen levels.

Like rabbits. You can't euthanize rabbits this way.

Really, that's how most of us want to deal with our predators. We're not out to torture or cause undue suffering to an animal. One quick shot and it's done. Most of the time, the animal never knew what hit it. I know, I know, there was another poster who did torture them by burying one alive and allowing another to starve to death. I truly believe, though, that most responsible animal owners would not do that. We have animals for a reason and that reason is not because we like to make them suffer. 

I know a woman that was having her 6 year old daughter drown mice that had been caught on sticky traps.

Although, I do hope that this is the case what you posted above.

 

[gander007]

Funny as a child I had a Possum for a pet and it would hang out in the wood shed and always stole the dogs food and really did not get along with our Raccoon but if ether one had a chance they would have gotten in the chicken coop and killed the chickens ....

My thing is if you catch the pour creature you need to put it down and you do not have a fire arm I am sure a neighbor hood boy would be more then willing to do it for you ...... Just a thought .......

 

[lularat]

Quote: I know a woman that was having her 6 year old daughter drown mice that had been caught on sticky traps.

Although, I do hope that this is the case what you posted above.
Edited by subhanalah

I also believe that if you have to destroy an animal, do it in the most humane way. To the OP, I would feel the same way. If there is a threat to my pets, then the threat has to be eliminated. I do not like having to kill a wild animal, but in some cases, it can't be avoided. My pets are part of my family and it is my job to protect them.
Subhanalah, you mentioned a woman using glue traps. I am totally against them. If you must kill any animal, including rats and mice, do it quickly and humanely. Glue traps not only trap mice and rats, they also trap lizards, frogs, birds, and any other small animal that gets on them.