Ever see a possum chasing a skunk?

[David G Baker]

I live in a relatively rural area of Mid Michigan where there is plenty of wild life. Last night while looking out of my sliding glass door I saw a possum running as fast as it could chasing a skunk. I always thought that possums were non aggressive and played dead when threatened but it looks like I was wrong. I haven't laughed so hard in years. The skunk got away.

[Matt Ocel]

Wheres the pix?

We used to have possums, My wife used them for animal education programs. They are dumb as a rock.

They also stink as bad as a skunk.:eek:

[David G Baker]

No pics, it happened to fast and was quite dark so I guess it didn't happen. :D
I have live trapped possum a few times and transported them to the forest when they became a nuisance. I didn't find that they were as stinky but they were very messy, it would take a while to clean the cage after they were released.
I have been wondering why the skunks were spraying late at night with out any provocation that I could detect. I now have a suspect.

[Matt Ocel]

Oh you are correct.
I was thinking about porcupines.
We also had a couple of porcupines. They STUNK!

The possums, they are just dumb, they would just walk around and lay in there own - you know what.

[Joe Pelonio]

You must have been lucky enough to see the one opossum in the world that runs fast.

I have seen opossums many times, even up close and personal, but have never seen one run. I once was shifting a pile of yard cuttings and one came out from underneath, and just slowly meandered away. In fact the number of dead ones on the roads around here in spring are evidence that they don't run too fast.

[David G Baker]

I saw my first living porcupine last weekend while in the Upper Peninsula. I have seen several road kills in Lower Michigan but have been wanting to see a living one.
The porcupine lumbered across the road like he didn't have a care in the world.

[David G Baker]

Joe,
We spend a lot of time observing the critters in our front yard. I am amazed at the speed some of the critters can move at when they want to.
I have been thinking about getting one of the motion detector cameras and mounting it on one of my trees so I can get a better look at some of the nocturnal critters that visit us. We have a fox that visits frequently but we haven't been able to get a good look at it.
We have a feisty red squirrel that chases everything away from the ground feeders we have for the doves. It has even chased deer away if they show up before dark.

[Doug Shepard]

I've only run across them 3 times and in each case they acted different from everything I'd ever heard about them. Twice was while walking the dog and they were able to skedaddle pretty quickly. They can move when they want to. The 3rd time was ages ago when I acidently cornered one between our shed and the fence. It spun around showing a mouthful of teeth and doing a nasty sort of hiss/growl and started slowly coming towards me like some nasty, big evil rat. I got the heck out of there. Maybe some do play possum when threatened but not that one.

[Jim O'Dell]

Only Possum I've run into was back at the old house. One night on last trip out, the dogs were barking and carrying on, and wouldn't come in when called. I've got a high powered rechargeable spot light I took out to see what's going on. I'm under the Peach tree by the back fence, get out from under a low branch, shine the light up to the fence about 4' away, and there he sat, same expression that Doug talked about. Lots of teeth and hissing. I just grabbed the dogs one at a time and took them inside. Never saw it again, but I bet there were babies involved. Probably in Doug's case also. Jim.

[Kevin Arceneaux]

Possum + CB Short = no more possum

Nasty critters, just above an armadillo.

[Bill Cunningham]

Possums are now moving into Canada! I'm about 50 miles north of Toronto, and had one in my garbage last fall.. He was back around in January with about 3-4 inches of his tail missing.. Must have froze off.. I opened the back door to scare it away, and it just stood there .. So, I took a mop handle that was near the door and wacked it over the head, and showed it's teeth, and snarled at me.. Keep a old 'daisy' by the door for squirrels, the old ones (1930's vintage) have a lot more power than the wimpy new ones.. Pinged it in the arse four or five times, and 'then' it played possum and buried it's head between the fence and the outside wall.. If I had had gloves, I would have grabbed it by the tail, and flung it across the yard.. But not being all that familiar with possums, I didn't know how fast they were able to move so didn't want to chance it.. Seem like nasty little critters.. The problem here now, is if I shoot the damn thing, even with a .22 I'll have the swat team kicking in my door at 3 in the morning.. I'm surrounded by 911 dialing hoplophobes

[David G Baker]

I haven't found possum to be too big of a problem so most of the time I leave them alone. Raccoons on the other hand, cause a lot of damage because of their higher intelligence so if I spot more than a couple showing up at night I set the live trap and transport them.
The chipmunk and red squirrel population explodes around here every Summer. Both do a lot of damage so prior to the gas hike I would trap and transport, I now feed the fox that visits nightly. It checks out my dumping ground almost every night. I use a quiet pellet rifle so the swat teams haven't caught me yet.

[Joe Cunningham]

A few nights ago I saw a funny looking, shaggy cat go skittering across my (urban) city street.

After the pungent aroma wafted towards me, I realized it was a skunk. I've seen plenty of skunks growing up in the 'sticks' here in CT, but with the urban setting, it didn't click at first.

[Clara Koss]

lucky for the possum that the skunk got away right????? whewwwwww....:p

[Bob Ross]

We just got home from a week's camping in a south central Ohio state park. I had no idea the racoons and skunks have been hand-fed by other campers and do not hesitate to try to claim their "entitlements".

I had to recon the area after dark before letting the dogs out of the trailer. :D

My daughter and family stayed two nights in a tent. They caught a 'coon in their tent..it had opened the zipper and walked in. There was no food in the tent.

PLEASE: do not feed wild animals in park settings and keep your food secured so they are forced to hunt/scavenge as nature intended.

[Charles Seehuetter Panama City]

The Possum are abundant here in the Florida panhandle. During the depression many families survived on them. The town of Wausau, Florida is the self proclaimed Possum capitol of the world.
See here: http://www.wausaupossumfestival.com/
Possum meat is actually not bad to eat, all though it's a little greasy. The festival seems to be almost a "must attend" event for politicians here and everyone has a good time, including Florida Governor Charlie Christ.
http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2006/aug/06/marsupial_madness_politicians_seek_votes_possum_fe/?state

It's held the first weekend in August in case you want to attend next year.:)

They can get very aggressive and have some nasty teeth. I had one in a cabinet in my workshop a few years ago and spent two days trying to get it out. I ended up having to shoot it there. What a mess it made and yes the do stink.

Just a little useless information I though you may like to know :D