do not kill Opossums because they kill Lyme desease Ticks

[strever]

Why you should brake for & not kill  opossums


http://www.caryinstitute.org/sites/default/files/public/images/podcasts/pc_opossum.jpg

The Opossum is not the brightest of animals. When they are threatened, they pretend to be dead, which is where we get the expression "playing opossum." Sometimes, they do this in response to threats from oncoming traffic, which results in opossums becoming roadkill.
 The next time you see a opossum playing dead on the road, try your best to avoid hitting it. Because it turns out that opossums are allies in the fight against Lyme disease.
Possums, like many other small and medium sized mammals, are hosts for ticks looking for a blood meal. But opossums are remarkably efficient at eliminating foraging ticks.
"In a way, opossums are the unsung heroes in the Lyme Disease epidemic."
Rick Ostfeld, author of a book on Lyme disease ecology and a senior scientist at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, explains...
"Because many ticks try to feed on opossums and few of them survive the experience. Opossums are extraordinarily good groomers it turns out – we never would have thought that ahead of time – but they kill the vast majority – more than 95% percent of the ticks that try to feed on them. So these opossums are walking around the forest floor, hoovering up ticks right and left, killing over 90% of these things, as many as 4000 per week and so they are really protecting our health."
So it's in our best interest to have opossum neighbors. This means keeping their habitat intact with thoughtful land use planning, tolerating them in our yards, and, whenever possible, avoiding opossum collisions.

[nielsenammo]

I make my living trapping animals including opossum so I will avoid them in the road to do my part.

[gordonsbuck]

Apparently, they make good pets: 

[only1harry]

Good to know.
Opossums also get into chicken coops and kill chickens.  They get into homes and sleep in your walls and attics.  Most of them are also rabies carriers and can live with the deadly (for us) disease for many years without adverse effects. 

You can find a reason not to kill most game animals.  Raccoons eat rodents too, and my mother in law says the squirrels eating all her seed at her bird feeders (and not the birds) relax her and make her feel calm.  Coyotes eat rabbits which cause damage to crops, etc. etc.  "Both sides" will always come up with reasons not to shoot, or to take an animal that has a hunting season or is unprotected.

Because we have had posts like this in the Hunting Gate in the past that did not turn out too well, I ask that those who want to post respect others' opinions and keep it civil.

Thanks,
Harry

[nielsenammo]

Good to know.
Opossums also get into chicken coops and kill chickens.  They get into homes and sleep in your walls and attics.  Most of them are also rabies carriers and can live with the deadly (for us) disease for many years without adverse effects. 

You can find a reason not to kill most game animals.  Raccoons eat rodents too, and my mother in law says the squirrels eating all her seed at her bird feeders (and not the birds) relax her and make her feel calm.  Coyotes eat rabbits which cause damage to crops, etc. etc.  "Both sides" will always come up with reasons not to shoot, or to take an animal that has a hunting season or is unprotected.

Because we have had posts like this in the Hunting Gate in the past that did not turn out too well, I ask that those who want to post respect others' opinions and keep it civil.

Thanks,
Harry

Opossum do not carry rabies. They are a rare animal with a low body temp that makes them almost completely immune to rabies and the virus can not survive in their body and therefore they will not carry the disease with them.

[only1harry]

You are almost right.  Years ago when you did a search they told us otherwise.  Today it seems every web site is using the same exact words about how rare it is for a possum to have rabies.  Still most of the web sites state it is possible for an opossum to carry rabies.  It might be rare, but tell it to the people that have to take the rabies shot after being bitten by possums carrying rabies.

See this article about a man bitten by an opossum with rabies.

http://articles.latimes.com/1998/may/13/local/me-49343

Here is another about a boy getting bitten by a possum with rabies in 2008.
http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2008/apr/26/boy-bitten-opossum-rabies/

Harry

[nielsenammo]

You stated that "Most of them are also rabies carriers" and that is just not true.

I stated they are "almost" completely immune which is true.

[Motorhead]

Sadly like the Racoon , they have an affinity for cat/dog food and have no respect for animal doors, patios, porches or pantries with any trace of food to pillage.
There stinky & dirty vile creatures of nature .... With a LOT of teeth !


Respect em huh .... that's a tough one !

Good info however   

[cpt_sfc]

I say bring back DDT. I will leave the fate of possums and varmints up to you all, But we never had all this insect problem before the green hug a tree people took hold. I know the eagle!! and the bird eggs, on and on. thank you for the information.

[strever]

IF you live in or near tick country
Lyme disease is more deadly and dangerous for you then ANYTHING an Opossum can do to you
yes they are really ugly and stinky and messy
but this article gives us a reason to give them a little bit of respect and avoidance


i saw 2 Eagles flying over the house today and 2 pancake Opossums on the road
happy to see the first 2 and sad to see the 2nd 2

[floydlong]

I say bring back DDT. I will leave the fate of possums and varmints up to you all, But we never had all this insect problem before the green hug a tree people took hold. I know the eagle!! and the bird eggs, on and on. thank you for the information.

Hey, Max, I worked for an aerial application company in 1970 out of Macon, GA then further east. We were spreading Mirex, which was nothing more than chopped corn soaked in DDT. What were we trying to eradicate?....One of the most destructive bugs on earth, the Fire ant. These vile creatures were first brought through Florida aboard a freighter and began to spread eastward, really fast!! No further northward because of the cold weather. At 50 degrees F and less the ant becomes too lethargic to hardly move, so eastward ho they go. They had spread as far as east Texas when we were hired for the aerial application.

Rule 3 edit by BZ

[bird blaster]

Never seen a tick anywhere within miles of my house so we shoot every possum who enter the chicken turkey duck or rabbit coops or near it. I have had them kill turkeys before.

[shadow]

Every critter has it's place and selective harvesting is key to keeping a balance as for C-rat's they too have their place but harvesting them when needed go's a long way in putting meat on my table. As with our GTA hunters here we harvest, kill to consume or remove a pest problem, never kill for the thrill. Ed

[LAalex]

I say bring back DDT. I will leave the fate of possums and varmints up to you all, But we never had all this insect problem before the green hug a tree people took hold. I know the eagle!! and the bird eggs, on and on. thank you for the information.

+1.  I think, used sensibly it could do a great deal of good.  My brother lives up at Toledo Bend, and the eagles are beautiful to see, but if some of them had to go to kill the swarms of mosquitoes and fire ants that invade my property and my house, then so be it. 

Scotty

[StevenG]

DDT is still used in places with malaria spreading mosquitoes. That never stopped.

[squirrel_hunter]

  I live in the woods and have many ticks around.very few possums.ed is very correct on saying do not kill for thill...I worked in the wildlife field for 31 years and I don't ever recall a possum with rabies.i have dispatched 100's of raccoons wandering around in the daylight.

[MicErs]

Two points.


1) You can eat possum. 



2) Mom, said it is greasy.  I've never tried it.

[Habanero69er]

 

[floydlong]

Even though its a joke, rule 3 edit-BZ

[Back_Roads]

Wisconsin hangovers were bearable when there were less Robbins , only good thing that came from ddt , I imagine if there were more restrictions on it at the time, and not just used as a cure  all it would have not had the catastrophic affects that it did , that thing they say about hind sight.