[Homestead] Playing Possum
Karen L. Black
karen at plamondon.com
Sun Dec 14 21:17:31 EST 2008
James writes:
> Did you know that it is not something the possum does voluntarily? It as
a
sort of fainting coma brought on by stress and fright.
We have possums in western Oregon (introduced by immigrants from the South)
that compete with the native raccoons for the "trash-eater" niche. When I
was attending Oregon State, I had a job with campus security doing "dorm
patrol" -- checking that the doors were locked and shut, watching for
suspicious activity, etc. I came across several wild animals on campus,
including possums. They must not have found me frightful enough, since they
always bared their dozens of pointy teeth and hissed at me.
Happily, they don't seem to do well in the Coast Range, so I haven't had to
deal with them as predators. Raccoons, bobcats, coyotes, owls, hawks and
crows are bad enough.
Karen Black
Norton Creek Farm
Blodgett, OR
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