possum

11 Stories

Man on Confiscated Possum: 'Feels Like They Kidnapped My Kid'

William Voiles of New Orleans says his pet marsupial was taken by officials during Mardi Gras

(Newser) - William Voiles isn't feeling very celebratory this Mardi Gras season, even though he lives in the epicenter of the festivities: the Big Easy. That's because the artist's pet possum, Saffron, was confiscated from him in the French Quarter by Louisiana wildlife officials, and now he's vying...

Possums Provide Way to Catch Pythons. The Hard Way
Possums Provide Way to Catch
Pythons. The Hard Way
new study

Possums Provide Way to Catch Pythons. The Hard Way

Snake ate one with a GPS collar, and researchers were able to track and kill it

(Newser) - Researchers didn't set out to turn possums into python meals, but their study nevertheless suggests a novel way to curb the invasive snake population in Florida. As the Tampa Bay Times explains, wildlife researchers fitted possums and raccoons with GPS collars to study their populations near the Crocodile Lake...

'I'm Being Held Hostage by a Possum'
'I'm Being Held
Hostage by a Possum'

'I'm Being Held Hostage by a Possum'

Police in New Zealand resolved a weird case

(Newser) - In the annals of police emergency calls, it's a strange one. "I'm being held hostage by a possum," a woman informed police in Dunedin, New Zealand, reports UPI . It seems the woman was unpacking her car when she felt what she thought was a cat run...

Photographer/Barrel Racer Says State Took His Opossum

Boudoir portrait photographer and social media star is worried about his 'baby'

(Newser) - A barrel racer, boudoir photographer, social media star, and unofficial wildlife rehabber is pleading for the life of his "baby," a 4-year-old opossum with a bone disease. To be clear, that’s all one person. The person is Matt Mathews. The opossum is Donovan. Saying it's a...

In Small NC Town, No More NYE Possum Drop

Town of Andrews finally gives up controversial practice after years of backlash

(Newser) - A longtime New Year's Eve tradition in North Carolina appears to have finally come to a close. The Wall Street Journal reports that, after years of protests by animal rights activists, the town of Andrews won't carry out its holiday "Possum Drop," in which a live...

Opossum Breaks Into Liquor Store, Gets Drunk on Bourbon

She sobered up at a wildlife center

(Newser) - An opossum that apparently drank bourbon after breaking into a Florida liquor store sobered up at a wildlife rescue center and was released unharmed. Emerald Coast Wildlife Refuge officials say the opossum was brought in by a Fort Walton Beach, Fla., police officer on Nov. 24, the AP reports. A...

NZ Plans to Kill Every Rat, Feral Cat, and Possum

In the world's 'most ambitious conservation project'

(Newser) - New Zealand could soon be the envy of New York. The country has announced a "world-first" project to exterminate all non-native pests, including possums, stoats, feral cats, and rats by 2050, reports the Guardian . Why? Well, the pests, which the government says cost $2.3 billion per year, also...

Thousands of Possum Tails Mysteriously Dot NZ Roads

No one has a clue how they got there or why

(Newser) - Thousands of possum tails turned up mysteriously scattered across roads large and small in the Auckland and Northland regions of New Zealand over the weekend. Travelers who've counted them as frequently as every few hundred yards have been posting about them on Facebook, reports the New Zealand Herald , but...

NC Town to PETA: Fine, No Possum Drop

Brasstown organizer says he'll just drop roadkill instead

(Newser) - New York City drops the ball, but the small North Carolina town of Brasstown has rung in most of the last 20 years with a little something it likes to call the New Year's Eve Possum Drop. The AP describes it thusly: "The Brasstown event involves enclosing an...

Principal: Possum Toss Contest 'Lets Kids Be Kids'
Principal: Possum Toss Contest 'Lets Kids Be Kids'
critics agog in new zealand

Principal: Possum Toss Contest 'Lets Kids Be Kids'

Animal activists furious after children hurl animal carcasses

(Newser) - Animal lovers are snarling after a New Zealand elementary school event featured children hurling possum carcasses. But the school principal insists the bizarre contest "lets kids be kids." Students in the rural Manawatu school lobbed the dead animals by their tails to see how far they could throw...

Drunk Man Busted Trying to Revive Roadkill

Long-dead Pennsylvania possum gets mouth-to-mouth from passerby

(Newser) - A central Pennsylvania man has been charged with public drunkenness after witnesses spotted him by the side of the road attempting to give mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to a dead possum. Donald Wolfe, 55, was also waving his hands around as though conducting a seance. He was "extremely intoxicated" and "...

11 Stories