Watsonville, CA - Last week, a female opossum was found sleeping in a corner behind some plants, just outside a variety store. Before rescuers could arrive to assess the animal, it was assaulted with a boot and ran into the shop.
Inside the store, the opossum found many good places to hide and sleep during the day, until one day... when an employee was moving plastic crates filled with merchandise, and her fingers felt hair inside the box. Startled, she ran to the front of the store to get help.
WildRescue's Duane and Rebecca responded, but could not locate the opossum. The next day, they returned with their tracking expert, Cooper.
Within 3 minutes, Cooper pinpointed the marsupial's location. It was in between a stack of heavy windows. It took some time, but the team finally caught up with her.
Once captured, the team did a brief exam to make sure she was okay to set free. They quickly noticed the blue crumbles between her teeth. She had been eating rat poison!
The blocks have since been removed.
The opossum was transported just a few miles away to Monique, with Native Animal Rescue, where she was treated with Vitamin K to counter the anticoagulant rodenticide.
UPDATE 10-26-12: The opossum is doing very well and should be ready to release any day.
4 comments:
Great job as usual, team! Shame on the person who assaulted the poor critter with a boot!
Poison doesn't solve anything. The animal dies in a bad spot indoors and it stinks. It's too bad people think the cute little harmless possum is a rat.
Yay Cooper!!! I have always wanted a safe, find-the-injured-animal-to-rescue-it kind of tracking dog. Let me know if you have any tips for training the ... erp ... chows! :-) Winnie
Thanks, Winnie. I train my dogs to NOT 'go after' ANY animal (unless I say so). With Cooper, he has a great nose. I give him 'assignments' to keep him in practice of using scent over sight. Just got lucky - he's protective yet submissive and inquisitive. Blood test indicate he's a mastiff (always A for Awesome) and greyhound (What?), which gives him his dainty, couch-potato, non-aggressiveness. While much can be said for training - it is a dog's genetics that will, in the end, get the best of you. I would say start with a good foundation breed for what you want - Working Breed etc. Chows...... hmmmm...... : 0
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