Tiny Baby Possum

Wrapping up the baby possum that fell out of it's injured mother's pouch while she was under attack by Magpies and a Kookaburra, in our front yard. The hand belongs to my 11 years old, to give some scale.
Sydney, Australia.
A few days ago I heard a huge 'racket' in the front garden, birds calling, possum hissing, and baby screeching. When I investigated, I found an injured brushtail possum mother under attack by Magpies and a Kookaburra. We suspect it had an encounter with a feral cat the night before, as they are nocturnal and rarely come out in daylight. However, somehow her baby had become dislodged from her pouch and was helplessly wriggling on the ground, much to the interest of the magpies. So the mother rushed the birds while we rescued the baby. Her fate is unknown, but she was seriously injured, poor thing. We rang a volunteer indigenous wildlife service which fosters injured and baby Australian animals, and they told us how to take care of it (wrap it in towels, like a pouch, put it in a shoe-box next to, but not touching, a drink bottle of hot water, and keep in low light., don't feed or give drink.) It was collected a few hours later, and though it is very young, it has a good chance of survival, with a few months care.



entry to 's First Impressions Contest.