Worker 11811 Posted April 25, 2007 Share Posted April 25, 2007 Sometimes you read things in the newspaper that make you just scratch your head... This article appeared on the front page of Secion "B" (Local) of today's newspaper: Possum buffaloes mother, children By K*** R*** k***r***@***news.com Teacher, it's true: A possum kept S*** B***'s kids from catching the school bus Tuesday. "M*** said, 'I'm not going out there, there's a possum out there,"' B*** said of her daughter's early-morning lament "I didn't believe her. But then I saw it and it was just sitting there and hissing." So B*** called *** police. They arrived at *** C*** St. to find the possum sitting on a fence post playing, well, possum. It was a tense standoff between the police and the possum. But G*** W*** quickly came to the rescue. W***, a deputy wildlife conservation officer, used a trash-can lid to bat the possum into a trash can. He put the lid on, put the trash can in his truck and left for the woods, where he said he planned to release the possum. "It just didn't like city life," he said. "So we'll take it out of the city." As for B***'s kids - M*** B***, 12, and M*** S***, 8 - they were looking for a ride to school after police departed and tying to figure how to explain to the teacher that they really did miss the bus because of an angry possum. I really don't know what to say after reading this! I don't know whether to laugh or cry! How can people be so STUPID?! You have to call the COPS because there's an opossum in your yard?! (BTW: What school did that reporter flunk out of? Doesn't she know how to spell "opossum"?!) The ONLY sensible thing said in the entire article was the game officer, "It just didn't like city life," he said. "So we'll take it out of the city." What the hell is the world coming to when people can't even handle some furry critter like an opossum in their yard?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wallee Posted April 25, 2007 Share Posted April 25, 2007 Must be a nice change for your balls. Sorry, couldn't resist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReFur Posted April 25, 2007 Share Posted April 25, 2007 Must be a nice change for your balls. Sorry, couldn't resist. Wallee!! Took me a few minutes to get what you meant!! Linda Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 26, 2007 Share Posted April 26, 2007 Down south it's Possum. Nice thing about Urban Possum's is their distaste and hostility to RATS. That's spelled R A T. There was one that frequented our Apatrment Building Trash Cans when I lived in an inner city 'suburb'. It was a suburb in 1880. Lots of wooded areas around and the Cincinnati Zoo near by. So Possum, that's me, am in my legitimate place since my Great, great, great x 500 grandparents before the whiteman came and ruined my lovely neighborhood. They did bring lots of nice tasty treats with then though and the trade off ain't all bad. They put them out for me special every day even. Only thing is he brought all these damn Rats who are not very good neighbors at all and try to horn in on my daily treats. The Rats and Possum have been at war every since. We're bigger so we win most of them and keep them away most of the time. I'm not sure that the stupid white man really appreciates our valiant efforts though since they think we really LIKE being out in the BIG woods all by ourselves. They must because they catch some of us sometimes and take us out there and dump us off. Takes us days sometimes toi get back home!! We get along fine with the Racoon. He's clean like us. They grab him and tote them out to the big woods too. Tehy don't like the woods any more than we do. Any self respecting Possum has moved to the city a long time ago if only to get away from those country bumpkins out there in the woods. The treats are just so much tastier. Some of us even get to have French cuisine!! whatever that is .. but it sure is tasty. Possum OFF Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReFur Posted April 26, 2007 Share Posted April 26, 2007 Worker, Women look at things like this differently, especially if it concerns our children. If there was a hissing 'Possum in my front yard, I wouldn't let my children out either. It could be rabid. Linda Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 26, 2007 Share Posted April 26, 2007 That is the problem; the drones want the nanny state. btw it took me a few moments to realise that the article wasn't calling the charcters rude words. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Worker 11811 Posted April 26, 2007 Author Share Posted April 26, 2007 Linda, you just get a broom and shoo it away. It will do one of two things. It will go away or it will play dead. Chances are it will play dead and won't wake up for several minutes. The kids can just waltz on by. When I was a kid we used to play with possums like that all the time. You poke them with a stick a few times and, "Plop!" They just roll right over. Once they faint, you can just pick them up by the tail, carry them out to the back yard and let them go. After a few minutes, they'll wake up and go their merry way. Sure, if you've never seen a possum up close, they are scary looking things! But, once the cop saw what it was he could have just harassed it until it fainted then picked it up and tossed it in the weeds, somewhere. Some people are just so removed from nature, these days, they don't know how to do the simplest things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 26, 2007 Share Posted April 26, 2007 Us Possum and Racoons are getting our own Lobbiest. The PeTA folks are stupid. They just don't know how to get things done. Gotta get Possum and Racoon Rights legislation. Once the news release gets out how badly we've been treated and how misunderstood we are all those kids will be our demonstrating on our behalf. You just wait and see. OFF Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wallee Posted April 26, 2007 Share Posted April 26, 2007 Once the news release gets out how badly we've been treated and how misunderstood we are all those kids will be our demonstrating on our behalf. You just wait and see. OFF Ya, cause possum's is so cute and cuddly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 26, 2007 Share Posted April 26, 2007 YEP its an odd thing this; I think you have it in one Worker. Thing is, whenever I hear AR influenced MPs mouthing off I tend to email them. Anne Widdecombe for example wants busbies banned, and yet is completely ignorant of how and why the bears are culled for them . She didn't know th difference beween a Cree and an Inuit; didn't know about native outfitters in Saskatchewan. Didn't know it is done in a Conservation framework. She will ignore all that information too. YET IF she wants to save bears so much, why doesn't she support measures to reintroduce them to the UK? And I am not thinking Scottish highlands. I am thinking maybe Milton Keynes. Bears survive well on the fringes of human populations. Wouldn't it be fun to hear the urban proles whinge when there is a bear in the yard? Wonder how long 100 bears would last in Milton Keynes. Or wolves or coyote or lynx or puma. Someone may alrady be doing that while some of us turn a blind eye It is like the fox. British Police keep a lid and media blackout on fox attacks on human babies; hysteria would result and that is not a bad decision. Regularly they will entice cats to play with the cubs over weeks then delive a disabling blow while the cat is unsuspecting, and her cubs will kill it clumsily. It is nature. That is how it works. The fox has every right to kill a human baby or a kitten. Or for that matter a lamb or ducklings. The difference being that the farmer knows that. He tolerates the fox ; and hunts with discipline and fairns to disperse and kill the eak fox who is more lkely to take a lamb. It is discrimainatory; seasonal, and the fox's presence is tolerated; even encouraged . We need some to keep the rabbits down. But in the city, if it got out what they do...if it was a human baby or a domestic kitten torn limb from limb and hardly anything eaten, I wonder how it would be tolerated then by the townies? I am glad they don't know; for the urban foxes sake; poor mangey creature as it is because they don't control the weak. But someone is going to go to the media one day with a kill story; then listen to the urban proles squeal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 27, 2007 Share Posted April 27, 2007 The 1880.s vintage house that was converted to Apartments (circa 1940 conversion) had gareages out back and the trash cans were next to the garage. When I went out in the morning to go to work I would throw my garbage in the can. Possum would look at me coming over to the cans and soon as I lifted the lid he played 'Possum'. After the first several times he never ran when he would see me and only when I got within touching distance would he ball up. Pogo was popular at the time and since he was a possum I named our trash can Possum Pogo. I always thought of him as my pet I didn't have to feed. I did indirectly of course. As Red Green might say .. "He wasn't cute but he was useful" OFF Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auzmink Posted April 28, 2007 Share Posted April 28, 2007 Similar sort of Story in Auz, if we get a Possum in the roof we are supposed to do very little about it, just block up its entry hole when its out! Trouble is, thats at night, and finding the entry hole is difficult. We are not allowed to 'relocate them' as they get stressed and it might lead to their demise! Talk to any New Zealander about Possums and the relocation across the Tasman Sea, it didn't seem to do any harm, more the opposite! As humans we must be in harmony with nature, to understand boundaries and values - not knee jerk reactions. Auzmink. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Velvet_Tigress Posted April 28, 2007 Share Posted April 28, 2007 OFF Possum, was it one of your cousins I saw snooping around in MY trash the other day? Tell him that he scared me half to death! We have all sorts of wild creatures where I'm at, it's not uncommon to hear wolves on rare occasion, or coyotes or fox, and the other night I had to call the neighbor when I thought I heard a kid screaming in the woods and it turned out to (probably) be a fox in heat or a bobcat. And the garter snakes are out too. One of my cats found one of what turned out to be whole mess of them of them in my basement. I'm all for nature. OUTSIDE my house. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Worker 11811 Posted April 29, 2007 Author Share Posted April 29, 2007 I've got to admit possums aren't the most beautiful looking animals. And if a garter snake goes shooting off through the grass I'm almost always startled by it. I think anybody who says they haven't been scared or startled by some animal is a damn liar. On the other hand, once the initial shock wears off, and you realize the thing isn't going to go for your juggular you don't have to go running off to the police or the government to save you. My God! It's JUST a possum! You can probably just IGNORE the thing and it will eventually get bored and go some place else! The thing that gets me most upset is that people like that think they should depend on the government to "save" them from things like this. Of course, government is all too eager to take people up on the offer... and TAX them for it! I remember ReFur telling us a story about the hawk that got into her house. It's kind of funny in retrospect but I remember her talking about all the commotion that ensued. I think her situation was MUCH worse than this little ol' possum! I blame it all on Barney! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 29, 2007 Share Posted April 29, 2007 My Ex recently had an urban encounter with wildlife that brought on the City regulators. It seems it's against the law to kill a Queen Bee in the City of Seattle She had to hire a Professional Bee Keeper to remove the Queen. Once removed it could not be placed elswhere so the Bee Keeper takes it to a "Holding Area" where the Bee eventually dies. This all coast her several hundred dollars to starve a Bee to death. Can anyone make any sense of this at ALL??? I've been struggling with this one since she told it to me and I'm still at a complete loss. Possum OFF and Pogo have many Urban cousins Tigress. You must have really fine quesine as they are very discriminating as to which Trashy Restaurants they frequent. OFF Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Velvet_Tigress Posted April 29, 2007 Share Posted April 29, 2007 Worker, want to make sure the garter snakes are gone from my basement? The neighbor kid took out fifteen of them, and there might be more. I'd go do it myself, but the wolf spiders down there freak me out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 29, 2007 Share Posted April 29, 2007 Aw Kate you ruined my illusions about you! A femme fatale must have power over animals! http://vdsden.thefurden.com/cpgfd/displayimage.php?album=lastup&cat=0&pos=10 Ahhh Andrea Spedding(Gale Sondergaard)the Spiderwoman. http://us.movies1.yimg.com/movies.yahoo.com/images/hv/photo/movie_pix/strand_releasing/kiss_of_the_spider_woman/sonia_braga/spiderwoman.jpg http://www.best-horror-movies.com/images/from-dusk-till-dawn-snake-dance.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Worker 11811 Posted April 30, 2007 Author Share Posted April 30, 2007 Oh, those wolf spiders DO make a satisfying "Squish!" when you stomp on them! There may have been fifteen snakes NOW but, if you wait a few more weeks, there will be LOTS more of them... Ifyouknowwhatimean! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 30, 2007 Share Posted April 30, 2007 I have a pet Black Runner [similar to a Wolf Spyder]. One of the few spyders west of the Cascade Range. They are very good at taking care of the other less desirable critters like Moths. They love moths that love my furs. So I love Black Runners. They're harmless to humans. OFF Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Velvet_Tigress Posted April 30, 2007 Share Posted April 30, 2007 Aw Kate you ruined my illusions about you!A femme fatale must have power over animals! http://vdsden.thefurden.com/cpgfd/displayimage.php?album=lastup&cat=0&pos=10 Ahhh Andrea Spedding(Gale Sondergaard)the Spiderwoman. http://us.movies1.yimg.com/movies.yahoo.com/images/hv/photo/movie_pix/strand_releasing/kiss_of_the_spider_woman/sonia_braga/spiderwoman.jpg http://www.best-horror-movies.com/images/from-dusk-till-dawn-snake-dance.jpg Sorry about that! When it comes to one or two snakes I can deal. I grew up around them. When it comes to a ball of snakes on the floor, that's when I get a little bit squeamish! Same is true of my wolf spiders. I thought I saw one chasing a mouse one day. The spider was much bigger than the mouse too. When they do jump at me from time to time they earn the infamous 'squish' of death still, after I have an appropriate amount of time to jump. The cats seem to love chasing them all over the place though, so they're not "all bad." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 1, 2007 Share Posted May 1, 2007 You have spiders bigger than mice? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auzmink Posted May 1, 2007 Share Posted May 1, 2007 Ahhh TOS, how we in the UK concern ourselves with the pitiful insects of life here in the UK, but miss out on all the real wonders. Auz - with the 7 deadliest snakes in the World, had a few tapping at my windows before......you just have to close the door, block up any holes and keep a firm long-handled spade close by. NZ - insects bigger than an adult hand - timid mind you but BIG. USA - well - already described...... Such is nature..... Auzmink Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReFur Posted May 1, 2007 Share Posted May 1, 2007 I am not in love with spiders. But, snakes!! OMG, I would flip out Velvet!! Not sure you could get me to stay in the house!! I don't care if they are harmless ones! I have phobia, no doubt. Rationality of is not important. I remember being a little girl and hearing stories about snake dens. Never got over it. Think the movie, The Raiders of the Lost Ark, finished any common sense I had on this subject! In the outdoors, I don't usually have a concern since they don't want to be near me either. Linda Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Velvet_Tigress Posted May 1, 2007 Share Posted May 1, 2007 The biggest wolf spider I have seen in the basement was almost as big as my hand. Now my hands aren't big or anything, but I *heard* it when it was moving around. THAT'S too big for me! As for snakes, and lots of them...Ew. I am glad I'm not in Australia though. The snakes there would keep me from ever leaving my house. Or living in the city ten stories up. Kate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 1, 2007 Share Posted May 1, 2007 Tigress Except for the weather you would love the Pacific Northwest. Hardly any Snakes or spiders. Ah but then there is the nine months of overcast and rain OFF Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now