It all started out as a ‘normal’ call out… Female voice on end of phone stating that one maybe two possums had been found in two old car bodies her father had bought to ‘do up’ The details were sparse, but a rescue’s a rescue, so off I trotted… rescue kit at the ready.
I arrived to find two very rusty, dirty, oily 1930’s Daimler cars full of odd bits of body, engine and who knows what else. After a bit of a peek under the remains of the bonnet and a dig around in the back, a big grey fluff ball was spotted, partly down a hole, under something that can only be described as “stuff” under more messy “stuff”. I gathered up a large fold down cage, put on the full safety gear - heavy leather jacket, long leather gloves, beanie [in case they made it up my arm onto my head], towel and prepped the owner on how to safely close the lid once possum was placed in, as I wouldn’t have a spare hand or time to close it myself.
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| Old 1930's Daimler, similar to ones in rescue |
Firstly I had to make sure nothing would fall on the possum, then I made my move… Gotchya! The possum was about 2kg, a good sized juvenile with plenty of fight, just as I turned to put it in the cage, I slipped on a bit of car and he wiggled out of my grip! As luck would have it the possum headed straight for an enclosed area with me in hot pursuit… a net would have been useful as possums, when cornered, can be quite vicious so with care I approach and again luck smiled on me. as it headed up the wall in front of me making it easy…. Gotchya..again! The transition into the cage was made with a big sigh of relief.
Now to find out if was there another one in there? The Car’s owner said, yes… Whilst I was chasing the first one, the other had de-camped and headed for the other car body. Again came the careful movement of boxes, windscreens and bits of canvas all covered in possum poo. I hoped this one was going to be easier… smaller and in a better position, I grab what turned out to be a little girl, put her in the big cage only to see her flatten herself out and start to slip between the bars of the cage. A wild grab and someone was dispatched to get the smaller basket from my car. Two possums captured and no injuries.
“So”…I asked… “Where did you buy the cars? I’ll need to take them back and release them within 50mts as soon as possible“ The answer surprised me… “You’ve got quite a trip then mate… we got these in Victoria! A bloke brought them, then got sick and sold them to us a few weeks later, we’ve just spent two days bringing the cars home on the back of a trailer”. So with no other option I took the pair home and secured them in my ‘spare’ Aviary.
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A few frantic calls later we determined that they cannot be released in South Australia, so unless we can get them across the border they will have to be euthanased. They seemed to be fit and well, with no visible signs of stress [ie mange or hair loss] so destroying them would be a terrible shame. In the mean time we gave them a good feed of leaves and fruit, as it was likely they’d probably not eaten in the last few days.
As luck would have it my Father is a wildlife rescue officer in Victoria, so I called him, outlined our ‘problem’ and asked him to make some enquiries from his end. An email was sent around to members of Fauna Rescue asking if anyone would be driving to Victoria in the near future as we had two visitors who might need a lift back home.
The next day my father gave me a name and number for a Wildlife Vic. Carer called K, who lives in Nhill near the main highway (between Adelaide & Melbourne) who may be able to help. I called and explained what had happened. K immediately stated she would help, if we could get them to her she had a site where they could go straight away, except she’d be on holiday for next two weeks.
Over the next two weeks we had numerous offers to transport the possums home, people even offered to make a special trip to take them. We’re not talking short distances… this is a 600-700km round trip! Unfortunately all the offers were either when K was away or a couple of weeks later and we were keen to get them home sooner rather than later, before they became ‘humanised’.
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| Romeo either helping to hold or stealing sweet potato from Juliet |
A decision was made to extend my day off to 3 days leave and then I’d travel the extra 3hrs further to see my parents for a long weekend. So on a wet and wooly Wednesday afternoon our road trip began. The box, covered over and seat belt used to strap it in. [Business class compared to their last trip…]whilst C stayed home to care for our other possums and two dogs.
I’m not sure how many of you have driven long distances on fairly straight roads with little traffic on your own in the wet and gathering darkness, but it isn’t fun! Especially as you need to keep noise levels as low as possible to prevent the possums further stress. I was glad to make it to Nhill 3.5hrs later, Romeo and Juliet were quickly moved to a prepared aviary and settle in for the night, while I continue on my trip.
On the Saturday I dropped in to K’s on my way home. K told me that the pair were at a release site already, she’d checked them out the next morning and as they were in good health and no worse for wear after their trip she saw no reason to extend their captivity. Romeo and Juliet now have their own little Hamlet… a ‘native tree’ forested area with no in-situ possum families and appear to have happily settled in. so All’s well, that ends well.
(Thank you to everyone that offered to help both from Fauna Rescue SA and Wildlife Vic. It was nice that interstate friendships can be founded over such seemingly little things as two ‘accidentally’ well traveled possums.)
PS: I hope Shakespeare doesn't mind my shameless use of his works in my story :)
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