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Horse people like to blame them for giving their horses EPM, a brain disorder caused by a parasite that they carry and pass in their feces that the horse would then have to eat.
While yes possums do carry it, so do pretty much any other small meat eating mammal. And guess which one is most likely too poop in some loose hay then cover it up ?
Yep the cat hanging out in nearly every barn. If people kept their horse feed secure it wouldnt attract things like possums , mice, snakes etc

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The most gut wrenching job I ever did was getting rid of a ran over & smashed possum in front of my house in late July.

 

As far as your senses go it was sort of like making out with a skunk while looking at a picture of Rosie O'Donnell. 

Edited by IHAVEGAS
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57 minutes ago, IHAVEGAS said:

The most gut wrenching job I ever did was getting rid of a ran over & smashed possum in front of my house in late July.

 

As far as your senses go it was sort of like making out with a skunk while looking at a picture of Rosie O'Donnell. 

I think it was Jeff Foxworthy who said "Skunk isn't the worst smell but it is THE MOST smell."  

Even so you shouldn't demean skunks and possums by bringing Rosie O'Donnell into this.  That's just nasty.

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1 hour ago, IHAVEGAS said:

 

I will bite, what smells or looks worse than a smashed possum in the late July heat?

 

Can't be worse than the average dairy farm during calving season when there's a big heap of them that didn't make it. They usually sit for awhile till it seems like no more will be added, then someone comes along with the bale forks on the skidloader and takes them away. 

I can think of some other things but that example was the easiest to explain.

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43 minutes ago, TonytheTiger said:

Can't be worse than

 

Probably not a workable debate because there is no way to share courtesy sniffs. 

 

I will offer up that the reason 'playing possum' works is that the animal stinks too much like a gone bad corpse for the dog / coyote / whatever to want to keep messing with it, and that is when the critters are still alive. 

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Stinky

The opossum's guise of death goes so far as to produce a smell of decay. From his anal glands, the opossum's body emits green mucus that will discourage most predators from feeding on him while he's in his comatose state. This smell leads the predator to believe that the opossum's body is a rotting carcass. Unfortunately, being run over by vehicles is now the most common way in which opossums are killed -- the smell does nothing to help them in this situation.

 
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4 hours ago, IHAVEGAS said:

 

Probably not a workable debate because there is no way to share courtesy sniffs. 

 

We'll have to take samples and send them cross country to settle this properly. I'll pay shipping.

 

On a side note, I've disposed of 13 opossums (opossi?) in the last four months and a similar number of raccoons. I've never noticed the opossum stink people talk about, but some coons have a smell that really bothers me, kinda like stale piss with a special hot garbage sauce. I actually don't think skunk is that bad either, but I have yet to be sprayed. I might change my tune then... 

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6 hours ago, TonytheTiger said:

I actually don't think skunk is that bad either, but I have yet to be sprayed. I might change my tune then... 

 

 

True story, Feb 2010, Upside is my dogs name, wrote the email to my brother while waiting for the stores to open.

 

 

 

 

Subject: Some days start out better than others


About 6:15 or so this morning Upside had to pee. So I got out of
bed and let the dogs out. I set the screen door to stay open and left a
piece of paper wedged between the inside door lock pin and the hole in
the wall the pin goes into.
Morning routine is; let dogs out, fix doors so dogs can get back
in when done, go back to bed, get up when dogs come back and close doors
up right.
The dogs came back inside in near record time this morning, they
usually dawdle and for a moment I was proud of them for sticking to
business. I inhaled and then lost that moment of mild elation.
     One or both dogs had found a skunk, and it was intense, so I ran
them from the hallway back to the door as fast as I could. 
The inside door was only partially open, when I whipped the door
full open I found that the skunk had followed the dogs and was standing
on the other side of the door.
The skunk turned to his right to take aim (I probably look scary
when fresh out of bed & in underwear and my yelping probably didn't
help).
Being suddenly within hair counting distance of a skunks cannon
is more startling than I think I would have imagined. I can attest that
this particular individual demonstrated admirable signs of cleanliness
and good hygiene.  
I backed off and the skunk didn't fire. I don't know if it had a
humanitarian impulse or if it was just feeling dehydrated after
drenching both of my dogs and my carport.
The skunk was now facing down the basement stairway. It had the
option of turning around and leaving the house or going down to check
out the basement. It decided upon the latter option.
I'm not completely sure that indoor rifle hunting is a well
thought out sporting practice, but as I was now completely awake and
feeling motivated to take some sort of action I found my glasses and
pants, loaded up Dad's .22 and crept downstairs. I actually tried denial
for a while before I took the hunting route, but there is just so long
that you can choke down air that would make a buzzard cry while
pretending that there is not a skunk in your basement.   
The skunk was nowhere to be found. I'm assuming that it has
found some nice nook to take a nap in.
It is now about time for the stores to open so I reckon I'll
head in town and purchase a skunk trap. I'm not sure how you approach a
skunk inside a trap in your basement, but that will be a problem for a
later time. I've also left the basement door that leads outside open and
the stereo cranked up, best case is that the skunk is not a rock and
roll fan and will decide to head out on its own.  

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9 hours ago, Hi-Power Jack said:

You can't leave us hanging like that  ....

 

How did it end  ???

 

 

Anti-climatic.

 

Bought a trap & put tuna in it - had to go to work - skunk was in trap when I got home - sort of snuck up on trap around the corner and covered it with dark plastic - skunk did not spray - skunk did not survive the release process.

 

They make this powder stuff that you put in water that releases some kind of a gas that helps with odors, I think they use it for houses where they are not quick to find a deceased person, between the powder stuff and time the smell eventually went away. For a few days everything I ate or drank tasted like skunk spray. 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

there is a famous song....

 

one possum got hit by a car near my house...

 

why it decide MY porch was where to crawl...  gah.

 

I bagged it.  it was pretty bad and I think worse than skunk.

 

let the "ten thousand dead babies and nuns" debate continue!

 

miranda

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