• There seems to be an up tick in Political commentary in recent months. Those of us who are long time members of the site we know that Political and Religious content has been banned for years. Nothing has changed. Please leave all political and religiours commentary out of the fourms.

    If you recently joined the forums you were not presented with this restriction in the terms of service. This was due to a conversion error when we went from vBulletin to Xenforo. We have updated our terms of service to reflect these corrections.

    Please note any post refering to a politicion will be considered political even if it is intended to be humor. Our experience is these topics have a way of dividing the forums and causing deep resentment amoung members. It is a poison to the community. We apprciate compliance with the rules.

    The Staff of SOH

  • Server side Maintenance is done. We still have an update to the forum software to run but that one will have to wait for a better time.

Natural death or not?

O

OBIO

Retired SOH Admin
I am an animal lover at heart and have great respect for nature in all of its many forms but right now I am torn between letting nature take it course or intervening....a mamma Possum died in the apple orchard and there are five of the cutest baby Possums clinging to their momma, waiting for her to wake up and nurse them...but she is taking the long dirt nap. Do I let nature run its course and let the five cute baby Possums die of starvation over the next few days, or do I "bless" them with a quick, painless death and spare them the agony of a slow death by starvation? I am not squimish about euthanizing animals to prevent them from suffering....I was bred and born and raised in the hills of deep southern Ohio and have a long family pedigree that shows that I am a pure blood hillbilly...yep, if they had Hillbilly shows, I would win the Westminster Best of Show award.

I have never really seen baby possums up close in person...at least not ones this young. They are small....about the size of a hamster if that. Their little faces are white, but their bodies are a deep rich gray. They look like little mouse-sized Mimes. They are so freaking cute. Almost makes me want to keep one as a pet....but I know that Possums grow up to be real nasty and viciously aggressive.

What say you, my flight sim family....should I let nature run it course or should I intervene and euthanize the baby possums?

OBIO
 
Call the humane society. Let the baby Possum's live! If it is deamed they shall die, at least the humane society can do it the right way, and you're off the hook.
 
Yeah. This day in age it is not worth going to prison over trying to help nature out.. The animal lovers out there would string you up in a heart beat even though these little possums would die anyway. I say either call the humane society, but since they are possums I think they will most likely tell you to late nature run its course. Sad story though.
 
Have a look and see if there's a local animal shelter like Bone suggested,here in NZ we have the SPCA. They deal with all sorts of animals and situations. Or ask the vet if there's one in your area. I'm a farmboy too, grew up on a farm. I know what you must be feeling, you'd be feeling like youre in a difficult position to decide their fates. Usually in the wild nature takes its course, and of course naturally these wee mites would starve and die.
 
im a sucker for baby animals
if it were me id feed them and bring them up
mind you i dont know what id do with 6 possums
but i could not do anything different
one never knows i could come back as a possum
after i die
my personal belief is we are all entitled to be here
humans animals etc etc
and if i could save something i will
H
 
When I was living in California, I discovered a squirrel in the back yard that had been attacked by something, probably a cat. It was obviously paralized from mid-body downwards, because it was trying to crawl away using only it's front legs. I used a shovel to place the little guy into some bushes on the edge of my property, where I knew he would shortly die. I didn't have the heart to bash him with the shovel and put him out of his misery. Perhaps I should have. As expected, he was dead the next morning, whereupon I dug a hole and burried him. Not sure what I would do in the case of little baby possums. I'd follow the advice of others here.
 
is there maybe a nature center or a zoo around that might take em?
 
No nature centers close by. The Humane Society around here only deals with cats and dogs, the occasional exotic pet...nothing to do with wildlife though. I found the number for the county officer for the Ohio Department of Wildlife...will call him tomorrow morning if the 5 fuzz butts are still alive.

There is a part of me that says "If the momma Possum had killed over on the other side of the road, where I would not have seen her...the babies would die a natural death. All that has changed is the location of the mother's death...let nature run its course as it would if I had never seen the babies and their cute little faces."

There is a part of me that says "No animal should face the agony of a slow painful death by starvation."

I was in a similar situation yesterday with a baby bird. The landlord, a young man he hires to do odd jobs and I were out behind the house tearing out the berry bushes, poison ivy and trees on the bank right back there.....the whole area had grown way too large, too dense, too tangled...it all had to be cut down to the ground to prevent damage to the house and to allow it to regrow and be managed as it does so. In one of the trees, there was a bird's nest...and in that nest was a baby bird that was just a few days or so out of the egg. We found in laying on the ground...nearly naked (it had the funniest looking mohawk of fuzz on its little head), shivering. I knew that the bird was a goner...just a matter of time. So, to spare it any agony, I euthanized it...don't worry, it did not feel a thing...instant death. Did I feel bad about it...yes...but only because I regretted the fact that the baby bird did not get to grow up and become a beautiful song bird flying about our property. I did not have any qualms about euthanizing it...it was the right thing to do...the only thing to do to spare the baby bird from suffering.

If the baby possums are alive tomorrow morning, and if the county wildlife officer does not have any other solutions, I will most likely euthanize them. I can't bring them into the house and bottle raise them...I don't believe in taking wild animals in as pets. I don't have the resources to do the whole animal rehabilitation center thing and to raise the possums and train them to live in the wild...and honestly, I would not want to be the one to teach 5 young possums how to craw up inside of dead rotting animals to get to the good juicy parts.

OBIO
 
Obio, a true hillbilly (I R 1) would take them in and raise them as livestock for the pot. Grandpa was kind of fond of possum baked with a sweet tater in it's belly. ;)

Seriously, I found one like that as a kid down in Arkansas and raised it. (I always had some kind of wildlife pet hanging around, Ellie May Clampett had nothing on me with the critters) Not only are possums, mean and aggressive, they're not the brightest critters out there. There's not really much taming them. After that one, I just let nature take it's course with them.
 
Possum Love..........

Possum, possum candlelight
Doin' the town and doin' it right
In the evenin'
It's pretty pleasin'

Possum Susie, Possum Sam
Do the jitterbug out in possum land
And they shimmy
And Sammy's so skinny

And they whirled and they twirled and they tangoed
Singin' and jingin' the jango
Floatin' like the heavens above
It looks like possum love

Nibbling on bacon, chewin' on cheese
Sammy says to Susie "Honey, would you please be my missus?"
And she say yes
With her kisses

And now he's ticklin' her fancy
Rubbin' her toes
Muzzle to muzzle, now anything goes
As they wriggle, and Sue starts to giggle

And they whirled and they twirled and they tangoed
Singin' and jingin' the jango
Floatin' like the heavens above
It looks like possum love

La da da da da ...
 
They have not been weened, so unless you can get some technical information quick and figure out a feeding plan, they are going to quickly die. You live in an area without the resources the metropolitan areas often have. So, the zoo or humane society is not an option (as you said).

Given the choice between starvation and quick death -- the answer is clear. And if that then is the only choice you have, I think it is better to euthanize them. As validation, that is precisely what any animal shelter would do.

Tough choice, but these things do happen.

Ken
 
Contact the nearest Wildlife Rescue. They'll send a rehabilitator out to pick up the babies. They do marvelous work. Susan is a volunteer with our local group and we've taken many an injured critter to them for care.

Bob

edit: here's the addy: www.wildlife-rescue.org
 
Cheezy

In our minds, Possum are varmints. But they do in fact play a vital role in the ecosystem...the removal of dead animals. Without Possums, Buzzards, flies/maggots and the rest of the scavenger crew critters, the world would be stacked quite deep with dead animals. I admit, the Possum does not have any traits that would endear it to the human heart....it's ugly, it's vile, it's mean....but that does not mean that the Possum is any less important than any other wild animal in the grand scheme of things.

OBIO
 
Let nature take it's course....they will feed other parts of the system. They'll die of dehydration first, and that will happen fairly quickly.

If they were kittens or some other domestic type animal (even skunks) my answer would be different. But they are not, and there's a reason why certain animals have never become domestic.


Remember, nature is a heartless, cruel, unfeeling, uncaring, bitch.

However, you are to be complimented on your concern.
 
OK. A new day has dawned and worked it's way up to afternoon...how are the baby possum's?
 
You can call your local police or sheriff's department, just make sure you use the non-emergency number, and get advice. They may actually have an animal control officer who will know how to handle the situation.
 
Last check was a couple hours ago....still alive and kicking. Not sure how long that will be true...it's a rather hot day, the sun is beating down. Those little Possums will die of dehydration in a short while. Have called the county rep for the Ohio Department of Wildlife and left a message, have called the local Humane Society and left a message hoping they would know of some resource/agency to call. I need to get the dead mamma buried before she starts rotting and stinking up the place....we are down wind from the apple orchard and don't want to smell rotting Possum for days and days on end.

OBIO
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top