- May 8, 2008
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Don't let people convince you opossums aren't a threat. They are shy, but only around animals much bigger than themselves. Unfortunately, they act much differently around cat and chicken sized animals. You will find many posts from those who have lost their birds to possums who ate them, or part of them, as the birds roosted. Babies and eggs will be taken first, because they are easy. The fact that they feed mostly at night makes them more of a threat, not less. They are nocturnal to avoid us, and anything else that might be after them. It also makes it easier for such a slow, stupid beast to approach prey. Their primary method of feeding is scavenging. This means rotting trash and roadkill. They have fairly powerful disease resistance, which helps them eat this trash. On the other hand, they also carry the diseases with them, and any bird attacked is likely to develope an infection even if it survives, especially since the wounds will be punctures.
I have had a lot of experience with possum. One of the earliest, and worst, involved a neighbors dog. It was dusk, and I and a friend were walking. We heard a scuffle in the neighbors yard. His yorkie was out on a lead and was being attacked by an opposum. The thing had chewed off one of the hind feet, and was clamped down on the dogs ribcage, which kept the dog from making much noise. We jumped in, and got the possum off the dog, which allowed it to start wailing. the nieghbor come out to see me with a furry animal by the tail swinging madly to keep it from curling up and biting my hands, and assumes we are trying to kill his dog. He tackled me, and possum was free. It went right back for the dog, and my friend grabbed a bat and cracked its skull a few hundred times. The neighbor was very apologetic, and somewhat thankful for the intervention, after he figured out what had happened. His dog died. The lesson from this is, if you have a possum by the tail, it can get you. Swing it against a post or something else hard, to stun it before you let go. They will come right back at you.
So, in my opinion, if you feed it, as some have suggested, you are a part of the problem. You will be training it to get easy food at your house, or more likely, any house. If you leave it alone, you will continue to have depredation problems from this particular animal. If you kill it, another may take its place soon. But.... there is not a limitless supply of possum in any given area. The remaining possums will have more area to take a territory from, resulting in a greater supply of non chicken food per possum to live on. The new possum coming in may not be as aggressive to your birds, depending on its first experiences with them. If it runs into a bird that puts up a fight, it may well learn that its easier to get food elsewhere. So, you have a couple of choices that are guaranteed to result in failure, and one that has a chance of giving a positive result. That is why so many of us here recommend killing offending wildlife. Not because we are cruel, or bloodthirsty. We are thinking with our heads, not our hearts, and that is the only logical solution, captain.
I have had a lot of experience with possum. One of the earliest, and worst, involved a neighbors dog. It was dusk, and I and a friend were walking. We heard a scuffle in the neighbors yard. His yorkie was out on a lead and was being attacked by an opposum. The thing had chewed off one of the hind feet, and was clamped down on the dogs ribcage, which kept the dog from making much noise. We jumped in, and got the possum off the dog, which allowed it to start wailing. the nieghbor come out to see me with a furry animal by the tail swinging madly to keep it from curling up and biting my hands, and assumes we are trying to kill his dog. He tackled me, and possum was free. It went right back for the dog, and my friend grabbed a bat and cracked its skull a few hundred times. The neighbor was very apologetic, and somewhat thankful for the intervention, after he figured out what had happened. His dog died. The lesson from this is, if you have a possum by the tail, it can get you. Swing it against a post or something else hard, to stun it before you let go. They will come right back at you.
So, in my opinion, if you feed it, as some have suggested, you are a part of the problem. You will be training it to get easy food at your house, or more likely, any house. If you leave it alone, you will continue to have depredation problems from this particular animal. If you kill it, another may take its place soon. But.... there is not a limitless supply of possum in any given area. The remaining possums will have more area to take a territory from, resulting in a greater supply of non chicken food per possum to live on. The new possum coming in may not be as aggressive to your birds, depending on its first experiences with them. If it runs into a bird that puts up a fight, it may well learn that its easier to get food elsewhere. So, you have a couple of choices that are guaranteed to result in failure, and one that has a chance of giving a positive result. That is why so many of us here recommend killing offending wildlife. Not because we are cruel, or bloodthirsty. We are thinking with our heads, not our hearts, and that is the only logical solution, captain.
