Mission ImPOSSUMble

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BY PAMELA BOE

I stood frozen in fear, backed up against the minivan, clutching the takeout bag from Poolesville’s Oriental Gourmet as a shield (which was dripping General Tso’s sauce down my leg). For between me and my little cottage stood what looked like the world’s biggest rat, and it was as surprised by me as I was by it. Swallowing hard, I squared my shoulders, faced its beady black eyes glaring from a ghost white face, and squeaked out a less-than-confident “SHOO!”

It returned a low, guttural hiss, and with the speed of an unimpressed snail, turned and waddled back into the woods, its straight, rat-like tail leaving a trail behind it in the snow. My pride long gone, I skittered into the house and considered two important lessons I’d just learned: 1) General Tso’s sauce looks surprisingly like blood, and 2) Opossums are more scared of us than we are of them.

Of course, at the time, I didn’t realize I had just had an encounter with an opossum. Like I said, I thought I’d just faced off with the world’s biggest rat. But since then have learned I had indeed been lucky enough to meet North America’s only marsupial, and nature’s best eco-cleaner! And now, having learned a few facts about them, I am one of their biggest fans. In fact, if I ran into that critter again, I would definitely not send it off into the night. Knowing what I know now, I would want it to spend time in our yard! 

Why? If you live in the Montgomery County Agricultural Reserve, or anywhere else in the Eastern United States for that matter, you should be familiar with the ravages of Lyme disease. The bacteria that cause it is transmitted by deer ticks (aka black-legged ticks) that bite any warm-blooded animal they can latch onto. 

Dr. Amar Duggirala, Director of the Poolesville Family Practice, has been in the trenches of the local fight against Lyme for over 14 years, treating infected patients with strong antibiotics. Some patients get cured, but others end up with chronic symptoms (fatigue, muscle aches, difficulty concentrating) well after initial treatment. He laments that though doctors can successfully address an initial infection, patients can get re-infected as there is no known vaccination. 

In 2018, nearly 1,000 new cases of Lyme were reported in Maryland alone. And the trend seems to be holding steady. As long as the deer tick population thrives, so too does Lyme. Even if deer were completely eradicated from the area—a scenario that very few would wish—it wouldn’t get rid of the disease carrying deer tick population, because though they are named deer tick, they latch on almost any warm-blooded animal. Neither would pesticides be a viable option to control the ticks in the Reserve, due to the need to protect the pollinator count for the agricultural sector. If only there was a decent natural predator for deer ticks that could help mitigate the spread of Lyme disease in humans….

Enter the opossum! Every week, these homely looking furballs munch on thousands of deer ticks, ridding our yards, fields and forests of the vermin. These black and white varmints, as meticulously clean as Felix Unger when it comes to hygiene, wash their coats more often than the common housecat. As opossums waddle about foraging for food, deer ticks jump on to them by the droves, only to be cleaned and eaten—literally by the thousands. In fact, it is estimated that they vacuum up to 5,000 ticks per opossum, per week! Consequently, the opossum population is inversely related to the deer tick population. For that reason alone, it would serve us well to protect these small wild animals! 

But they don’t just eat ticks. Noelia Schmidt, Natural Resources Specialist for Montgomery Parks, shares that, “Opossums play an important role in the ecosystem. They are omnivores, meaning their diet consists of plants, berries, rodents, insects and other small animals. As predators, they help keep prey numbers in check and control pests. They also consume carrion (dead animals), helping to clean up the environment.” 

Opossums also eat snakes of all kinds, including venomous ones! Because opossums are impervious to rattlesnake venom, researchers are working to find a way to duplicate the very properties found within the opossum’s immune system for human use as anti-venom. Additionally, they are virtually immune to rabies because their normal body temperatures are too low for rabies to survive. So not only do they control the deer tick population, they mitigate the spread of other potential vermin-related diseases as well. They truly are beneficial creatures to have around.

Historically opossums have gotten a bum wrap. Feared because of their perceived ugliness, rat-like appearance and nocturnal habits, humans have been catching and killing these marsupials since colonial times. But we have since learned that they are not a critter to be feared or reviled. Nomadic and reclusive, they do not seek out altercations with humans. They are completely passive, falling into an involuntary comatose like stupor, complete with drooling, gaping mouth and foul stench when confronted by predators. They pose no true threat to humans. All they require is a little underbrush or hole to live in, away from prying eyes. 

And if you take a moment to look past a startling first impression, you will find they are quite cute. If you are lucky enough to see one, look carefully, for you might see they carry their babies on their back! Of course, like other marsupials, they start their newborn babies off in their pouches until they are large enough to hold onto their mama’s back. In fact if, sadly, you should see an opossum who has been injured or killed on the road, it might still have babies in its pouch that could potentially be saved by a local wildlife specialist (like the folks at Second Chance Wildlife Center in Gaithersburg - SCWC.org). 

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If you take anything away from this article, it should be that opossum are beneficial to humans, and need not be feared, but rather seen as a blessing! They won’t even try to steal your General Tso’s chicken, I promise. 

For more information or questions about opossums you can call the toll-free Maryland Wildlife Information line at (877) 463-6497. 

Pamela Boe is a freelance writer, blogger (Mamaboe.com), former paramedic, avid cook, gardener, and outdoorswoman. She lives in the Ag Reserve with her husband and two children.