Opossums left in dumpster serves as cautionary tale for owning exotic pets

An unfortunate discovery in a Red Deer dumpster is serving as a reminder around how to care for pets, especially exotic ones.

Serena Bos, head zookeeper at Discovery Wildlife Park, says on April 26, they came into possession of a bare-tailed wooly opossum left to die behind a grocery store. The animal is native to South America.

She says two opossums were discarded, with one killing the other because they were left togther in a small kennel.

“A nearby vet clinic had the opossums in their care for a very short time, and they did the right thing by contacting Fish and Wildlife, because that’s who’s in charge of animals in Alberta. Fish and Wildlife contacted us and asked if we would be able to give him a home,” Bos recounts. “Obviously, it’s not the right thing to just leave an opossum in the dumpster because it won’t survive our climate. It’s not native to here.”

Though they weren’t necessarily prepared to do so, Bos says they took in the animal.

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“That’s what we do. We provide homes for animals that don’t have one,” she says.

After sharing the story on Facebook, people inquired about how to make donations of money or materials for a new enclosure, and that’s when the tale took an unexpected turn.

“We had a lady contact us telling us it was hers, which was a little awkward because we knew they’d been found in a dumpster. I told her it was completely out of our hands, and that she had to contact Fish and Wildlife,” Bos says. “She said that she had a contract that she had sold these opossums and that if the people she sold them to were no longer able or willing to care for them, they were supposed to go back to her. She was not the person who put them in the dumpster.”

Earlier this week, Fish and Wildlife did indeed retrieve the surviving animal and returned him to his original owner. Bos says there are a number of important lessons to take away from the situation.

“People don’t realize the care that is required for some species, and are accustomed to cats and dogs. Even they can be a challenge for many people, and really, unless you spend as much thought on how long this animal’s going to live for, what its dietary needs are, it shouldn’t be something you do on a whim. It’s kind of like getting a tattoo,” she says.

Just because this particular species is legal to own, that doesn’t mean you should, Bos adds, noting there are big fines in Alberta for owning illegal animals.

“They [opossums] are nocturnal, their needs are very high, most small creatures like that smell horrible, and they should have high, tall enclosures.”

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NOTE: This story has been updated to include the proper name of the animals