On the other hand...

Having dedicated a whole post to the tragedy of dealing with injured possums, I have here a story of success against the odds.

Blink was born with one eye and was found injured as a baby. It is likely she was either 'deposed' by a sibling, or her mum was attacked by another possum or cat and Blink was left to fend for herself.

Blink was found by a member of the public [like many of our rescues] and our friend S. took her to our local vet. As mentioned previously some vets will work on native animals 'pro-bono' only charging a nominal fee for medicines or x-rays etc [It's always best to check 1st though]

S initially thought she would be handing Blink over for euthanasia, however on examination the wound appeared superficial, but once checked out, the vet suggested stitching up the wound and giving her a chance as in his opinion if she was born one eyed, she would have a better chance of surviving than if she'd had 2 eyes then lost one later.

Blink

S readily agreed to have him patch up Blink and then took her home to provided post op care, keeping the closed wound clean and feeding antibiotics to her with her formula, as well as plenty of love and attention. After several weeks Blink was handed on to us to care for. We'd had a bad run, losing several possums too badly injured to survive, including one that came to us on Christmas eve... a little fellow called Nick, whose mum was either poisoned or had a kidney disease, he'd lasted a few days then passed away probably from whatever killed his mum. It made Christmas a sad occasion this year, so the opportunity to care for one with even a half chance of survival was jumped at.

Nick

My wife took over nursing duties and after a while the stitches in Blink's flank were removed. At this stage we were still unsure if Blink would survive, as she seemed to have difficulty using her back legs, dragging them behind her and was very uncoordinated with her impaired vision. 

Over a period of several weeks, my wife began physio with Blink, working her hind legs, giving her back massages, getting her to grab food, placing her on branches in the aviary and catching her as she invariably fell off again. Many a time my wife would come back into the house in tears, Blink having failed a simple climb or traverse of a branch, we worried that she'd need to be put to sleep.

If Blink didn't improve soon, we would have to make a hard decision and take her for euthanasia, because she wouldn't be able to survive if she couldn't walk and climb on her own. It's a decision we didn't want to make, as she''d shown she was a real fighter to have gotten that far. Within weeks we would need to put Blink and her new buddy TJ, outside in a large aviary. This would be the last chance for her. If she could not get around in the aviary, she had to go to the vets!

TJ and Blink

Then success! Blink began getting the hang of.. well, hanging on. She was not as strong or agile as we'd like, but perhaps, just perhaps she'd improve some more now. We put up extra branches and out to the aviary go TJ & Blink with plenty of soft leaf mulch on the ground, just in case Blink falls! At first Blink was reluctant to move off the shelf where their nesting box is placed, but over time she's realised she can get around and reach those juicy leaves and pieces of fruit, dotted around the aviary.

Blink on the shelf.

Finally climbing for leaves.

There's still a few months before they move onto the larger enclosures where they'll spend the rest of their lives and we see daily little improvements in Blink's movement. She's still a little uncoordinated and will never be as fast or agile as her buddy, TJ. But this is one little possum that has beaten the odds and will survive to a ripe old age when she could as easily have not made it past a few months.

Success, Blink gets to the juicy stuff!

TJ having a feed too.

When it goes wrong...

WARNING: This contains graphic images of injured and dying animals.

One thing to remember, is that Possums wouldn't normally need our help. For them to need our care in the first place, something dramatic has happened in their life.

Things that can lead to a possum being in care include; Severe weather events (Storms, strong winds, wild fires etc), Tree damage (either natural or through human intervention), Animal attack (other possums including their own siblings, birds, dogs, humans or by far the most common; cat attack), Human interaction (Hit by cars, demolishing buildings, vandalism or physical attack.) lastly there's factors like Natural Selection, Disease, Abandonment etc.

The Million Dollar Question:

With any possum entering into care the first thing we need to consider is: Will this possum survive?
Is it going to be able to live a normal life? If we answer No or Unlikely at that early stage, then 99.9% of the time the possum will be taken for euthanasia (put to sleep humanely).

Why?

We feel it is kinder to the possum not to make it suffer any longer than necessary, (despite what our vanity or feelings of wanting to give it a chance) as in most cases the possum will pass away despite our efforts and we would have just extended it's pain and suffering. It is also the view of many Vets, animal advocacy groups, the D.E.H and Fauna Rescue, that No animal should suffer un-necessarily.

Our experience:

In the last 12 months my wife and I have had many possums enter our care, about one half of these have been injured or ill and have not survived or were euthanased. One had an unknown infection, one was injured by a vehicle and the rest were cat attack victims.

Ring-tail attacked by a cat.

The injuries inflicted by cats are severe and if not treated within an hour or so of the attack, the possum is unlikely to survive due to the bacteria cats harbour in their claws and teeth. Cats (and dogs) will grab and shake the possum, causing neck and spinal injuries as well as punctures from teeth and claws.

This Ring-tail died in our arms from it's injuries.

The trauma of an attack (if the possum survives) can also manifest itself later as hair loss and mange infection, which if not treated can kill the possum.

How to treat a possum?

We are not going to give specific treatment information here, rather state that the first and best answer is always consult with a specialist; either a Vet or very experienced carer (call Fauna Rescue). These people will have seen or know how to treat most ailments you'll come across, and will also give you an independant view on a possum's chance of survival.

Vets should always be the ones to put any animal to sleep, they can do so quickly, humanely and painlessly.


Many vets will offer cheap or free services to registered animal carers, animal welfare or rescue groups etc. and will often only charge for medicines, giving their time for free. Wildlife in South Australia can also be 'surrendered' to a vet if the vet insists on charging you a fee for euthanasia as they are then legally bound to care for the creature (including euthanasia).