How wonderful! I live in a neighborhood of Boston, Mass., USA, and fear of rabies is one of the causes of local folks become separated from their natural surroundings and its inhabitants.
Priscilla
Unfortunately, rabies isn't the only game in town.
Have you seen Christopher Pine on TV lately? He's contracted something and it isn't pretty.
D
One can try to distinguish some types by calling them opossums.
Quite so. Other than what they may eat you could be inflicted with one wanting to dig a home. Imagine a 5 year old boy at the controls of a bulldozer.....
I figure they are not as voracious as rabbits
They are much bigger than rabbits but don't occur in such large numbers. All native fauna is protected by law regrdless of rarity.
D
They are built like brick outhouses and would weigh as much as a big dog. I've seen a house's foundations undermined by one or more of them because they dig huge burrows.
The wombat in our garden was just standing near a small personal access gate which leads out of our garden onto our drive which then leads down between the paddocks to the main road. My husband has a big shed down a track off the driveway where he keeps some old cars and he was going out that way to put something back in his shed. He saw the wombat and came back inside to get me so I could see it.
When he told me it was there, I doubted if it'd still be there when we got there but it was. It was facing us, but had started to dig under the gate to get out. My husband said that the digging hadn't started when he came to get me so it'd done a fair hole in the short time it took us to get there. It just stood there while I patted it on the head which amazed both of us. It even looked like it was mildly enjoying it as it lowered it's head and slightly closed it eyes and looked even more docile and dozy than they normally do.
After doing that for a time, we decided we should try to get him out the gate. I opened it but as soon as I got behind it, it didn't like that and moved off. I was going to try to grab it round it's middle from the back and lift it up and move it that way. We tried a couple of times and then it got under some bushes so we left the gate open and left it to itself. I'm fairly sure it would have been eating the grass on what we call our 'lawn' but there is nothing to stop it going anywhere in the garden except for the orchard which is also the chook run.
I'm sure they are protected but even so, I have a friend in a wildlife group who would be able to tell me how to 'relocate' or move it on if it becomes a real bother. When it comes round to spring and some growth in my vegetable patch would be the time I'd start to focus on any resident wombat if needs must.
LOL. He's never been pretty despite his high opinion of himself. When I saw him on the boob tube last night or the night before he looked red in the face. Is that what you were referring to? I've always found Pyne to be a total p.... (and I've actually spoken with him in the flesh on numerous occasions). I've always thought that his way of speaking to me was arrogant and patronising but he's I'd also have to say that he's quite bright which makes his support for the less smart jug ears all the more galling.
It sounds wonderful.
Having Rabies aaround would certainly put a damper on having any up close and personal dealings with wildlife.
US possums are very different to those of Australia. US ones always make me think of sticky beaks with those pointy little noses. I don't mean that in a critical way, just that they look like they should be the gossips of the animal kingdom.
No just his tendency to froth at the mouth over nothing much.
D
Yes indeed. He's doing himself a grave disservice by his behaviour given that he'd have to be a likely contender when they eventually decide to give Abbott the flick and realise that poor old Joe isn't up to any top job. But the whole lot of them are giving me the irrits at the moment. I'm just happy that I've finally retired and don't have to have anything further to do with any of them, ever.
It was over 50 years ago we fed those raccoons, and I'm now on the east coast and not in Michigan, so this doesn't scare me any.
Priscilla
They must have a vast time of separate evolution.
In the US the eastern opossums have a less pointy nose than the western species. Check out the picture on wikipedia of a Virginia one.
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