Oh....possum

The stairwell that I usually take up to my office (gotta get that morning exercise in) was blocked off this morning, with a huge metal grate that said "the bathrooms are closed for maintenance. Sorry for the inconvenience." "What a curious way to block the bathroom," I thought. I looked around to see what was going on and peeked up into the stairwell. Didn't find anything. When I had the grate half removed, I looked over in the corner and saw a huge possum! For those of you not familiar with the south, possums (short for opossums) look like huge multicolored rats. And they smell. And they might have rabies.

Anyway, I pushed the grate back, ran away, found some friends, and came back. There was a lady from Houston dept. of Wildlife Management (they actually share the building with us) with gloves and a net. She scooped the critter up, and carried him outside to who knows where. Maybe under my car. He bit her hand in the process.

For a clear image of what went on, here is part of the wikipedia article on opossum:

When threatened or harmed, they will "play possum", mimicking the appearance and smell of a sick or dead animal. The lips are drawn back, teeth are bared, saliva foams around the mouth, and a foul-smelling fluid is secreted from the anal glands. The physiological response is involuntary, rather than a conscious act. Their stiff, curled form can be prodded, turned over, and even carried away. The animal will regain consciousness after a period of minutes or hours and escape.

Yee-haw.