Playin' Possum

Backblip: I took this shot a week ago and just now realized that I'd used my other camera to do it. This is a small Virginia Opossum (Didelphis virginiana), commonly known as the North American Opossum --but I've always called them "possum."

I caught it in a humane cage in my back yard. This is very common urban wildlife here, and they come out only at night, very shy of humans. I believe that this one is "playing possum," an involuntary playing-dead reaction they have when afraid.

Some months ago on a very windy day, the hideout of a much larger one was upset by a gust. The creature ran around the yard loooking for another dark place, and seeing a clump of vines, it ran up the tree and down again, then away under a nearby porch.

I like possums. Lately I've been thinking or cooking a possum stew (a traditional Appalaichian dish --for the poor) but when I came face-to-face here, I simply decided not to. Too likable! I took him to a cafe to show a few friends and then to a cemetery, where I freed him (or her?).

OK possum, go play!