I'd sincerely advise against SRS's thoughts about picking up a 'possum that has sulled - played dead, as it can suddenly decide that it doesn't want to be dead any more, and come out biting and scratching. 'Possum teeth are long and sharp, and since the animal is really particular about what it eats - anything dead - bites must be treated for infection by medical folks, and rabies shots started immediately, if you didn't secure the 'possum that bit you.

I had three young men working for me some time ago who got involved with a 'possum. The one was from 'possum country and automatically an expert on the breed. He decided to pick the beast up, and the beast decided to bite down on his thumb, the canine teeth meeting in the middle, so he, understandably dropped the 'possum. Cooler heads prevailed, if there were any cool heads in the car at that hour of the morning, and shortly afterwards, three rather drunk young men showed up at an all might pharmacy asking the pharmacist what he had that was good for 'possum bite.

When they came in to work the next morning, I asked if they had kept the animal, or arraigned for rabies shots, two ideas that had not occurred to them. The clinic decided that since they had not retained the animal for testing, the injured man would need to take the rabies shots, and as this was some time ago, it was the 28 shot series, administered into the abdominal cavity - something to do with proper absorption back then.

Don't play around with wild animals!

Dave