Mission
ImPOSSUMble
By pamela Boe
I
stood frozen in fear , backed up against the minivan , clutching the takeout bag from our favorite local Chinese restaurant as a shield ( which was dripping General Tso ’ s sauce down my leg .) For between me and my little cottage stood what looked like the world ’ s biggest rat , and it was as surprised by me as I was by it . Swallowing hard , I squared my shoulders , faced its beady black little eyes glaring from a ghost white face , and squeaked a lessthan-confident , “ SHOO !”
It returned a low , guttural hiss , and with the speed of an unimpressed snail , turned and waddled back into the woods , its straight , rat-like tail leaving a trail behind in the snow . My pride long gone , I skittered into the house , and considered the two important lessons I ’ d just learned : 1 ) General Tso ’ s sauce looks surprisingly like blood , and 2 ) opossums are more scared of us than we are of them . Of course , at the time , I didn ’ t realize that I had just had an encounter with an opossum . Like I said , I thought I ’ d just met the world ’ s biggest rat . But since then have learned I had indeed been lucky enough to meet North America ’ s only marsupial , and nature ’ s best eco-cleaner ! And now having learned a few facts about them , I am one of their biggest fans . In fact , if I ran into that critter again , I would definitely not shoo it off . Knowing what I know now , I would want it to spend time in our yard !
Why ? If you live in the Eastern United States , you should be familiar with the ravages of Lyme disease . The bacteria that cause it is transmitted by deer ticks — aka black-legged ticks — that bite any warm-blooded animal they can reach . Dr . Amar Duggirala , Director of Poolesville Family Practice , has been in the trenches of the local fight against Lyme for more than 14 years , treating infected patients with strong antibiotics . Some patients get cured , but some end up with chronic symptoms ( fatigue , muscle-aches , difficulty concentrating ) well after initial treatment . He laments that though doctors can successfully address an initial infection , patients can get re-infected , because there is no known vaccination .
In 2017-2018 , nearly 3,000 new cases of Lyme were reported in Virginia alone . And the trend seems to be holding steady . As long as the deer tick population thrives , so too does Lyme . But how to mitigate the deer tick population ?
The fact of the matter is , even
if deer were completely eradicated from the area , something that very few would wish , it wouldn ’ t eradicate the disease carrying deer tick population , because though they are named “ deer ” tick , they latch on most any warm-blooded animal . Neither would pesticides be a viable option to control ticks , due to the need to protect the pollinator count for nearby agricultural sectors . If only there was a decent natural predator for deer ticks that could help mitigate the spread of Lyme disease in humans ….
Enter the opossum ! Every week , these homely looking furballs vacuum thousands of deer ticks , ridding our yards of the vermin . These black and white varmints , as meticulously clean as Felix Unger when it comes to hygiene , wash their coats more often than the common housecat . As opossums waddle around yard and woods , foraging for food , deer ticks jump on to them by the droves , only to be cleaned and eaten — literally by the thousands . In fact , they are known to vacuum up to 5,000 ticks per opossum , per week ! Consequently , the opossum population is inversely related to the deer tick population . For that reason alone , it would serve us well to protect these small wild animals !
But they don ’ t just eat ticks . Noelia Schmidt , a natural resources specialist for parks in Montgomery County in Maryland , shares that , “ Opossums play an
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