Crazy Opossum

[jackalope]

I was out doing a little shed hunting yesterday evening and I happened upon the weirdest sight.. Up ahead in the trail was a Opossum just chugging around.. I walked closer with my super stalking abilities :rolleyes: and stood there watching this thing for about 5 min. Then I noticed he kept bumping into things as he sniffed around.. Then I noticed that he was walking in a big 8 foot circle straying off occasionally but a circle none the less. I took a stick and poked him in the rump and he instantly bared his teeth like a opossum does then stood up on his hind legs and began sniffing the air….. Son of a gun!! This Opossum is blind as a bat….. When he stopped for a second to dig. I acted like I was going to smack him in the face with the stick stopping only inches away from his nose.. He didn’t flinch, shy or anything to say he noticed the stick…

I stood and watched him for a few more minutes, My first though was rabies is the reason he was walking in a circle.. But it wasn’t foaming at the mouth, stumbling, or acting aggressive… Just a normal Opossum except for the walking in circles and bumping into saplings head on…

The funny thing is occasionally It would get a whiff of me and stand up to smell the air, as soon as I would move and the leaves would rustle he would start walking my direction, I kept moving around and he would follow me.. I finally decided to keep going shed hunting.. That dang opossum followed my sound for 50 yards before smelling something worth digging up….


When I came back by 2 hours later he was still there going in circles…. I got some food out of my truck and went back to give it to him…

[Thunderflight]

That's kinda neat.

I wonder if the ethical thing would have been to turn him over to an animal shelter or put him outta his misery.

[badger]

I've never seen a possum stand on his hind legs. That is neat!

[jackalope]

That's kinda neat.

I wonder if the ethical thing would have been to turn him over to an animal shelter or put him outta his misery.



I thought about that.. But I said this darn thing is old and he looked healthy, I figured he was doing just fine being blind. He made it through most of the winter even with snow and ice on the ground for 3 weeks... Opossums aren't picky eaters and probably find 99% of their food with their nose anyway. I figure he’ll be alright, let nature do it's thing.

I have a short 20 sec video. It's not the greatest as it was with my phone. I'll have to try and get it off.

[TheCream]

I have this image in my head of you walking behind this thing in a small circle for half an hour, and that image is making me laugh. :D

[jackalope]

I have this image in my head of you walking behind this thing in a small circle for half an hour, and that image is making me laugh. :D


Grandpa always said if you get lost in the woods to find a possum and follow it... He'll always lead you right to a road....

[jackalope]

http://i712.photobucket.com/albums/ww127/jackalope_1/th_0216091704-00.jpg (http://s712.photobucket.com/albums/ww127/jackalope_1/?action=view&current=0216091704-00.flv)

[TheCream]

Bear Grylls would whack that thing over the head and feast on it for 2 days. :D

[benehunter]

He might have got sprayed by a skunk.:confused:

[Cap't Ernie]

Cool video.

You probably would have had a hard time dispatching those things. I can remember more than one that the dogs wrestled and I impailed several times with a pitch fork.

oh, and
Grandpa always said if you get lost in the woods to find a possum and follow it... He'll always lead you right to a road....

LOL, that's a good one.

[uglykat26]

thats one tuff old bird to be living that long while blind

[deerhunter_matt]

With all due respect fellas, I think this thing's actions are in fact a result of rabies. The symptoms of rabies, while overall common and similar, are not necessarily the exact same in all animals. I think this possum was disoriented and wasn't able to process what was going on. If he really did smell you and recognized what was going on, he would have been acting quite different. Rabies infects the central nervous system, so it is also very possible that the thing was blind as well. That's my call on this.

[jackalope]

With all due respect fellas, I think this thing's actions are in fact a result of rabies. The symptoms of rabies, while overall common and similar, are not necessarily the exact same in all animals. I think this possum was disoriented and wasn't able to process what was going on. If he really did smell you and recognized what was going on, he would have been acting quite different. Rabies infects the central nervous system, so it is also very possible that the thing was blind as well. That's my call on this.

He wasn't lethargic. He wasn't foaming (which happens in later stages). He wasn't aggressive, he was eating, his hind end didn't looked crippled. The below is from the university of Florida...


Opossums, like most other animals, are susceptible to infection by the rabies virus; however, very few rabid wild opossums have been documented. Extremely high doses of the virus have been required to experimentally infect opossums as they seem to be highly resistant to the disease. Even though they do not often carry rabies, opossums can still deliver a nasty bite.
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/UW026


If it's true i should have bagged it and sold it to a research lab.. Kind of a catch 22 as i would have to state it's wild and selling a wild animal is illegal in Oh... I don't think it was rabies.

[Hawgleg]

When I came back by 2 hours later he was still there going in circles…. I got some food out of my truck and went back to give it to him…[/quote]

Jack, I see your on the Obama train spreading the wealth, even with the possums.

[wildohio22]

I have this image in my head of you walking behind this thing in a small circle for half an hour, and that image is making me laugh. :D
me to i see him walking in circles with a stick and a cell phone in hand :D

[deerhunter_matt]

He wasn't lethargic. He wasn't foaming (which happens in later stages). He wasn't aggressive, he was eating, his hind end didn't looked crippled. The below is from the university of Florida...



If it's true i should have bagged it and sold it to a research lab.. Kind of a catch 22 as i would have to state it's wild and selling a wild animal is illegal in Oh... I don't think it was rabies.

Not likely, true. Impossible? No. I just find it very very hard to believe that this animal wasn't suffering from some type of disease, not necassarily rabies (which as I stated before, can affect animals in different ways) I also find it very hard to believe that if this thing was blind, a yote didn't take advantage of it's predicament. You got that close to it without it really giving a sh**, imagine what a coyote would do to it.

[antiqucycle]

likely drunk from fermented wild grapes.

[gdcpony]

If I was taught right, a possum will go blind first from old age. I was told that a blind possum was well on the way to being a dead one just from age. Of course, I was also told this can happen any time after 2yrs of age for them. Could this be it? I have checked the internet, but can't find a reference to it. The science teacher who told us this made it seem as a common thing.

[buckeyeskulls]

I've seen a coon do that. It would walk is circles, only to the right, and run into poles and trash cans. This happened in Columbus and the funny thing was watch some security guards trying to chase it off. I was told that it probably had distemper.

[jackalope]

Not likely, true. Impossible? No. I just find it very very hard to believe that this animal wasn't suffering from some type of disease, not necassarily rabies (which as I stated before, can affect animals in different ways) I also find it very hard to believe that if this thing was blind, a yote didn't take advantage of it's predicament. You got that close to it without it really giving a sh**, imagine what a coyote would do to it.

True, I also thought it may be distemper. But they usually get that when they are young, and the odds of them getting it decrease dramatically after year 1. But Distemper would have had him down and probably laying close to water.

I called a long time vet friend of mine last night. He confirmed that it was highly unlikely the Opossum had Rabies but probably had encephalitis. (an acute inflammation of the brain) That could have been brought about by any number of things but most likely Lyme disease, Symptoms of encephalitis include walking in circles and blindness. It could have also been caused by the bacteria Chlamydia psittacia resulting in encephalitis. He said there were any number of things that could have caused the encephalitis. but the two he mentioned were probably 90% of the causes, but he was 100% sure the Opossum had encephalitis.

He also said that the animal will tend to walk to it's dominant side.. Since the opossum was doing left-hand circles the animal was probably left handed...

See when you go shed hunting you never know what you'll find.. I found a left handed opossum with encephalitis that had a STD Chlamydia

[deerhunter_matt]

Holy sh!# that 'possum waz a durty mofo! He gots clamydia from them girls that work the block, didn't he? Yea, I figured it was some type of disease. I didn't doubt he was blind, but it makes sense that something brought it on. I guess knowing that, I probably would have taken a stick and put the thing out of it's misery with a swift whack to the back of the head/upper neck.