Caught In The Headlights, photo by James Marvin Phelps
Tick season is upon us, and with the added threat of Lyme disease, it’s serious business here in Michigan. My friend Tara with the Leelanau Conservation District shared some information about opossums from Opossum Awareness & Advocacy (opossum facts image below that you can share):
Did you know that opossums eat up to 5000 ticks per season thereby reducing our risk of contracting Lyme Disease and other tick-born diseases? They kill vermin, including mice, and garden pests. They are not dirty; they are very clean animals and groom and clean as much as cats. Better still, most opossums cannot contract or spread rabies. Opossums are the United States and Canada’s only marsupials.
They may look a little scary to the uninitiated, but they are actually timid and do so much good for humans compared to most other creatures. If you see an opossum consider yourself lucky, leave it alone and please do not harm it. They have a hard time surviving in cold climates because they don’t have very thick coats. Sometimes opossums play dead because they are afraid. Please don’t hit them with your car. Spread the word and please help protect opossums!
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Thanks for such a helpful post (and great photo, of course!). Here’s to the possums!
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Are possum s. Protected in Michigan???
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We get opossum visitors to our yard sometimes.They love fruit for a treat.when they come around they eat the snails but don’t bother my vegetable garden unless I have ripe fruit.
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I have seen a opossum carrying her babies on her back in my yard some years ago. She disappeared under our deck but was never seen again… She must have found a safer place to raise her young.
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I love possums! We have a lot of wildlife in our yard and I had been hoping we’d see a possum. I got my wish about a month ago when we saw a grown Possum. We recently got a Nest night vision cam and found out we have 2 little possums. They are so cute to watch.. do you know what happens to them in winter? Do they hibernate our might we still see them? It gets pretty cold and snowy here. I wish more people understood these little creatures.
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