OH-NO!!

Oh Yes!!!

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Anyone who knows me, knows that I come across the strangest things. From a snapping turtle that layed eggs on the side of the road to a domestic ferret running down the middle of the busy road, amongst many other crazy things!! I proceeded to rescue the turtle eggs and bury them in the backyard. They eventually hatched out and I had over 25 baby turtles that I released back into the wild.

***

The ferret was another story that did not end well and the poor vet tech who I was hysterical balling to, threw me a kitten to hold and love as I handed over a dead ferret. He would have been fine if the stupid guy I was yelling too just stayed in a parked position. Needless to say, a few profanities later, I was rushing the ferret to the vet...

Ugh.

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Anyhow, back to this story. I was heading to work this morning with Graydon in tow and we had just gotten off an exit and proceeded onto an on ramp. As I drove up the on ramp (its a bridge over a railroad track) I noticed something on top of the chain link fence. I drove past it and realized that it was a baby opossum. After realizing what I saw, and announcing it to Graydon who saw the same thing, we turned around to see it again. As we drove past it, it looked like he was repositioning himself to try and make a jump for it.

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Needless to say he would not have survived because it was about a 100ft drop on the other side. I drove past him, pulled over, did an (illegal) u-turn and drove past the opossum to park. We jumped out of the car, and I was lucky enough to have a bucket because I did have a fleeting thought of cuddling the thing in my lap as I drove.
Ummm, yeah right...this baby had teeth!!

***

So we walked down to where the bridge and the chainlink fence started and out of safety I had Graydon stay on the side before the fence. I continued down the side of the bridge to the baby and the poor little thing was shaking like a leaf...

It was pretty far up there and I had to stand on my tippy toes on a curb to just be able to reach the end of his tail. Yes...I touched him...
***
Really not thinking it through, once I got his tail I realized that the front feet would not let go of the fence. These little guys have five fingers just like us and believe me he had a death grip on the fence. I grabbed a lace throw I had in the car from the pottery show I did over the weekend (stay tuned for pics of that) so I wrapped it around my arm and proceeded to try and pull him down. Afterwards Graydon said that the opossum looked like superman flying when I had a hold of his tail. So with the free hand and arm that was wrapped in the throw, I reached up and he crawled onto it and wrapped his little arms around me. Not letting go of his tail I put him in the bucket and put the throw on top of it.

Now what the heck was I going to do with him?
I stopped by a nearby vet who gave me two phone numbers for the State Police. They in turn gave me three numbers for the DEC, who in turn gave me one number for a wildlife rehabilitation specialist. She did not answer but the DEC guy told me it was ILLEGAL to transport wildlife in your vehicle. OMG, who knew. That goodness I didn't get pulled over...
***
So I ended up deciding to let him go in a field, woody area up the road. Hopefully this little guy makes it on his own. Like I said he did have teeth and I do hope nature kicks in and teaches him how to fend for himself.
Now, believe me when I say the weirdest things happen to me.