General Question

jonsblond's avatar

What should I do with this injured opossum on my patio?

Asked by jonsblond (44188points) February 19th, 2010

I don’t know if it is sick or injured, but it is still alive. My husband is at work and told me to kill it. I told him I just couldn’t do it and what does he say? “What if it was a zombie apocalypse!?”

Do I get the courage to kill it? Do I try to scoot it out to the woods behind our house? Do I wait for my husband to get home and be called a wuss for the rest of the weekend? What would you do?

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14 Answers

Cruiser's avatar

Be careful…sick or wounded animals are potentially dangerous especially if it is diseased. Call animal control if you have one where you live…otherwise let nature take it’s course.

jeffgoldblumsprivatefacilities's avatar

Call animal control, they should be able to provide medical attention if needed, or humanely euthanize if it is too injured to survive on it’s own.

And don’t take any shit from Jon. :)

tragiclikebowie's avatar

Why would you kill it? Do what @jeffgoldblumsprivatefacilities says.

lucillelucillelucille's avatar

Call animal control.Possums will tear you up!

jonsblond's avatar

@tragiclikebowie My husband works on a farm and deals with this kind of stuff all the time. In fact, he had to kill one the other day.

MissAusten's avatar

I’d also call animal control. We had a raccoon hanging out by our back door one night, and there was clearly something wrong with it. The animal control officer came, caught it, and took it away. He thought it had been hit by a car and said they would euthanize it.

Harp's avatar

I’d be a little concerned about a possum that’s out in daylight. That’s not a good sign.

Otherwise, I’ve evicted many a possum by putting on heavy gloves and snatching them up by the tail. They can’t reach around there to bite, and they naturally hang by their tails, so it doesn’t hurt them.

augustlan's avatar

ZombiePossum, oh no! Seriously though, I wouldn’t be able to kill it either. I’d be on the phone to animal control in a hot second. Poor little guy. :(

lilikoi's avatar

One word: Barbecue.

essieness's avatar

Just stand there and scream and hop around until the neighbors come running. Then let them deal with it. Somebody always wants to be the hero for the damsel in distress.

Trust me, I’ve tested this theory numerous times.

citygrlincountry's avatar

Do you have a wildlife rehabilitator in your area? Maybe it’s too late now, but that would be good to find out – and keep the number handy. If that particular rehabber won’t take your possum, they might know someone who would. I had such excellent results consulting one for some baby birds kicked out of their nest last summer.

Zajvhal's avatar

Ok dude..that’s a little creepy cuz I came home to an injured opossom in my yard…course it was the dog that injured him….and the dog that later ended up eating him. But man! I’ve never seen one of those things up close and personal…they’re nasty looking! Princess Bride wasn’t kidding!!

Zajvhal's avatar

LOL…pretty funny about the zombie apocolypse

smileyfase's avatar

… my dad would shoot it. Tho, it’ll probably be best in the long run 4 the opposum. :(

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