An injured opossum at a wildlife center in Monroe County can’t put weight on her back legs. Now thanks to some creative care, she might learn to walk.
Standing upright is a big step for this opossum. It’s all thanks to the brace or what some might call “ ‘possum pants” that Intern Brianna Banko at Pocono Wildlife Rehabilitation and Education Center designed.
Banko says, "We had a bunch of old cat harnesses and leashes that were donated to us so we used one of those as our little kind of suspenders and were able to attach them to the pants which kind of helped bring her back legs forward."
The little marsupial came into the center about two weeks ago and couldn’t place her legs underneath her to support her weight. Examinations revealed nothing was broken and she had feeling in her feet.
Pocono Wildlife Rehabilitation and Education Center Co- Executive Director Janine Tancredi says, "There’s some compression in her lumbar vertebrae so the idea is to relax that pressure and get her stabilized to where she can actually build muscle on her back legs to be able to start pulling them up on her own."
They’re going to try the “pants” for a week with a combination of red light therapy. The light basically expedites healing.
Banko says, "Every case is special, every animal is special. Some are mean, some are nice. But you know, we all love her, she’s a little lovebug so we want to do everything we can for her."
Just this year they’re rescued over 200 opossums. While most people are disgusted when they pass by one on the side of the road, they’re actually something you want right in your own backyard.
Tancredi says, "They are so needed. The average opossum eats hundreds of ticks a day. It cuts back on multitudes of diseases and opossums are one of the only animals that cannot transfer any disease to humans."
Now the goal is to get this opossum to walk and then release her back out in Monroe County.