Why you should brake for possums

[MineralMan]

72. When I lived in California, opossums were frequent

visitors. Every evening, one or two would show up at our back door, where we had food out for the neighborhood's feral cats. I often sat back there to watch the cats come to eat. Along with the cats, we had other visitors, including raccoons and opossums. The raccoons were clever and inquisitive, but best left alone. The opposums, however, were slow, clumsy, and quickly got used to me sitting out there. They'd wander up to the food bowl, help themselves to some dry cat food and pretty much ignore me.

Oh, a couple of times, one would look at me and open its mouth and hiss. I just chuckled. They're not aggressive at all, and their defensive response is a bluff. After a while, they got very used to me sitting there, and I ventured to see if I could further befriend them. They liked lots of foods, but strawberries were a favorite. It didn't take long before they'd take a ripe strawberry from my hand. Once we got to that stage, it took little time before they'd let me scratch them on the head.

I liked their inoffensive nature, timidity, and non-aggressive behavior. My cats liked them, too, and I often saw our elder female cat walk up and sniff noses with a 'possum. I made friends with them and got to observe them closely.