It Wasn't Oscar the Grouch in My Can

This morning I noticed that I had some tangerines and apples that had seen their better days. I decided that my birds and squirrels would love these as a treat. I quartered all the tangerines and apples and placed them on a paper plate to take outside. I spread them out on my picnic table and then went to throw my plate in our outside trash cans. I was surprised to see something furry balled up in my trash can, and it wasn't Oscar the Grouch from Sesame Street. It was a possum. A stinking possum at that....stunk up my trash can. Not that my trash can smells like a bed of roses, but this was pure wild animal stink.

He decided to peek up and look up at us. I think he had been in here for about 2 days. I heard something Saturday and Sunday night around the trash cans, but never saw anything.

Called Animal Control, who wouldn't come out unless we thought he was rabid, so I did the next best thing.....I called my daddy. This is my animal control guy. He has a stick with a hook on the end ready incase the possum decided to charge him or fight back. They are vicious little things when they feel threatened. We just watched a segment about them on "Wild America" this past weekend.

I think he was content on staying down in this empty trash can. He didn't seem to make any effort in getting out. The funny thing was that the trash can wasn't tipped over. We couldn't figure out how he got in without tipping the trash can over. We finally figured out the mystery. There were tiny paw prints on our riding lawn mower which was sitting next to the trash cans. We think he climbed the lawn mower and jumped over in the empty can. I bet he was surprised that there was no food for him to eat.

I think that he was playing possum in this picture, because we found out later that he was very much alive. My dad took the trash can to the edge of the woods and let the little possum go free. You would have thought that he would have been happy and would have scurried off into the woods. Not him!!! He took a few steps then looked back at my dad, then went into the woods, but circled back out. He finally trotted into the woods out of sight. Maybe he went back to his family or maybe he just went in far enough to spy on my trash cans. He might be planning on hitting them again under the dark of night. Oh where! oh where! is Ernest T. Bass when you need him??? He would have known exactly what to do with a possum.