Then there are the possums....

Cast - The whole family.

Starring - nine possums

People around here think we are mad.  Possums are caught and drown, although website information tells me that this is highly illegal (and cruel - they don't even have a fighting chance), people have said that that soon, we too will simply have enough of them and drown them.  The website says that possums can be re-located, but gives strict guidelines to times, where and when the relocation can take place.  We have borrowed Dad's trap (a cage with a slide door that shuts when the possum enters and takes the apple) and have relocated nine possums in two months!

Initially, we didn't know what the noise was at 2am.  Daughter knocked on our bedroom door, and I opened it and was faced with two eyes like saucers starring back at me and an anxious whisper...'there is someone outside my window'.  Husband got up and the three of us looked out of her bedroom window...we couldn't see anything.  Then we heard it, a coughing noise, and just near the window sill was a possum. Ohhhhh, it was so cute but made the worst noise!  We all went back to bed - but then the fun began.  Being territorial, the possum was either trying to impinge on the resident possum, or it was the resident patrolling his property, they chased each other for the next hour, SCREAMING, all over the roof!

The next night, Daughter woke us again with huge eyes...'There's something in the laundry'.  We opened the laundry door to find a possum (the size of a large cat) sat on the mat and eating the cat biscuits!  This wasn't the previous night's possum either!  The possum turned and looked at us, then back at the empty bowl as if to clearly point out that it needed refilling.  The three cats were all in their beds and watching the possum eat their food!  Clearly they thought it too big to take on.  We shooed the possum out and decided to get the trap.

Using an apple and some cat biscuits, we set the trap.  We were woken later that night again, by something in the laundry.  Getting up to investigate, a smaller possum was eating the biscuits.  He got such a fright when I opened the door that he dislodged the wood holding the cat door open and he was trapped in the laundry!  'Haha' I thought, ' I have you now', but as I approached him he started screaming!  To the audience of the 3 cats, the possum ran laps up and down the laundry, screaming until he worked out how to push the cat flap open and escape.

The next morning, the possum was in the trap.  He was to be relocated when Husband left for work, to bushland up a track from the road.  Daughter felt sorry for him, as it was cold, so she covered the trap with an old sheet.  Husband took him to work.  Husband reported that the possum was reluctant to leave the trap, and had to be motivated with a stick.  The possum ran up the nearest tree and looked disgustedly at Husband.

The next night, there was another visitor to the laundry!  The trap was set again.  In case you were wondering why we don't just lock the cat-flap - our oldest cat can't work out the cat-flap (he is 17) so would stay outside if the flap was closed.  Instead we put the biscuits away at night, but that doesn't deter our visitors!