Stray cats, neighbors' cats, wild raccoons, opossums. Years ago I started putting out food for them -- for the cats and raccoons, but not for the opossums. I did not like opossums. I thought the things were ugly as homemade sin and I just didn't want them around. So whenever an opossum was out there, I would stomp and yell and run them off. And they always did run off, until ...
Well, one day one of them didn't run off, but just continued to stand there and look at me. Without flinching when I continued to stomp and yell. The critter was looking me straight in the eye. Who was it who said that the eyes are windows into the soul? That opossum's pleading eyes were saying to me, "I'm hungry. Don't you have something for me to eat?"
I thought, well, the critter might be ugly, but s/he can't help that, and s/he gets hungry just like anybody else. So I went into the house and came back out with a bag of crunchy dry cat food and poured some into that pot I keep just outside my front door. And the opossum just waddled over to the pot, not making any effort to keep away from me, not showing any wariness at all about me, and started crunching away.
The critter obviously knew that I wouldn't hurt him/her. I think a lot of animals have a sense about things like that. I cannot tolerate cruelty to animals and I think the opossum sensed that.
But keeping an opossum for a pet like this woman does? No, I couldn't do that.
-- Ron
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