Opossum Removal

This time it was opossum removal. Gosh I hate being called in after people attempt to do it themselves.  

A man and his young son decided to use a board, an axe, a trash can and a pair of gloves to destroy the ceiling of their shop.  Oh, yeah, they found and removed a dead opossum in the meantime, and I got a nice little job out of it.  After the euphoria of the “hunt” wore off, they realized that there were a lot of holes in the ceiling and something would have to be done about that.  Also, that the opossum hadn’t just crawled up there and died, but had time to leave quite a bit of poop and urine behind first.  I will have to clean that up first before I can do the repairs this opossum removal created.

While the man acted like it was no big deal, I think that he was more than a little nervous about what might happen when the opossum was located.  If alive, could it be vicious?  If dead, could he handle the mess?  The son was all cool head and trustworthy support.  Truly a helper to be relied on.  He could wield a hole-punching board as well as anyone.

When the stinking carcass was finally in the trash can it still had to be approached and wheeled out of the shop. Stinky gross work!

Opossum removal is best handled with tools and equipment much more sophisticated than an axe and gloves. It is unlikely that the opossum, had it been alive, would have actually attacked, but, as the man noticed, they have amazing teeth that could certainly do damage if used.  But, really, an axe?  With a young child?  They deserve points for enthusiasm, but not for safe, effective opossum removal.