03/28/2025
Please be careful.
Opposum move very slowly & especially at night they can be easily run over.
I know because I still live with that guilt.
The rescuers & rehabbers need you to be alert.
At 2pm today, we got a text about an opossum hit by a car. They said she had babies. We responded to the message in less than 60 seconds. The caller said the mama was hit last night and had just died within the last couple of hours. We asked the caller to move the mama and babies off of the road so they didn't get run over. Over the next hour, we sent 6 messages asking if they could help, requesting updates, stressing that the babies would die if we didn't get them into care immediately. The caller never bothered to respond. At 3pm, we sent a request to our volunteers to see if anyone was nearby to check on them. Our volunteer arrived a few minutes after 4pm to find the mama and all of her babies in the exact same place, all deceased.
The sad fact is that the caller knew the mama was there last night and didn't die until until this afternoon. They did the bare minimum letting us know that she had died and that she had babies. Then those tiny creatures were left there to be run over again or to die on the hot black asphalt.
When you reach out to us for "help", please quickly respond to questions so we can assess the situation. Then let us know if you have zero intention of doing anything beyond what's been done. At least then we can try to find help and maybe have a chance at saving the animals.
Note: Don't come at us for "shaming". People need to think about consequences of their actions, and in this case, their inactions. If this post offends you, please scroll on by; we are busy trying to save wildlife. I'll spare you the photo of how they were found when our GWN volunteer arrived. 💞🐾
