What is this animal?

joepye, you may not need to take the babies out of the pouch. If you find babies in a dead mama's pouch, take both mama and babes to safe place off the side of the road and have your local wildlife rehab folks collect both. Baby possums are really cute, much cuter than baby aardvarks if you need to dropper feed.

http://www.wildliferescueleague.org/report/opossum.html

I have to go back to my vet soon and I'll ask him for details. He's pretty good when I ask a question about my domestic animals and I bet given his practice is in this area, he might know more information on the opossum/rabies deal.

I think Joe can do it! If I can roll over a dead opossum and check, anyone can do it! No, it's not the most pleasant experience but the first time you actually find something will really motivate you to keep on checking.

LAKelley2, I had a very similar experience with Animal Control and a dog/raccoon incident. Yes Equil, they're strange here in NJ too.
My dog tangled with a raccoon right here in my driveway and the dog definitely won the fight. I called AC because it was obvious the 'coon was mortally injured and I didn't want it to suffer. The poor thing didn't move for the 40 minutes it took AC to get here except to lick it's wounds. When they got here, the woman spent nearly a half hour filling out paperwork rather than capturing the injured animal who took advantage of the time to limp under a neighbor's shed. While sitting with engine idling, the AC person saw 2 cats inside my house watching out the window and added them to her "list" of violations along with their sister. Even though all of my pets were up to date on their shots, they ALL had to get rabies boosters. The dog had to get a check up within 48 hours and was quarantined for 90 days, then ANOTHER check up for release--all paperwork forwarded to the AC folks. I foolishly had not licensed my animals, so that meant 4 licenses with late fees, a day off from work, a morning in court and $535 in fees and court costs. Yes, this was in addition to the vet bills for exams and unneeded rabies boosters. I learned a lesson about licensing, increased the hours of my second job to pay the fees, and vowed to NEVER EVER again call animal control for anything less than a dire emergency and after hiding all of my domestic animals. The saddest part of the whole story is that the dying 'coon dragged himself out from under the neighbor's shed 3 days later to sit in the street and await a passing car. I took care of him as humanely as possible and then had the unlovely task of disposing of his body. So when a fox came ambling dangerously close to me this summer and my dog did what she oughta by protecting me from the wild animal, I quietly got my shovel to finish the job with mercy and cussed those foolish people on government payroll who are supposed to help us taxpaying citizens with Animal Control. How very sad!

Leaving the raccoon to virtually die on its own such as that which you described is unconscionable. Raccoons are frequently documented as carrying rabies and then there is that nasty form of rabies coming our way from out east. I've had to call animal control quite a few times. I know the routine now, pull out every rabies certificate on every animal I own and have it ready for them to examine. I keep a nice folder in the mud room complete with my most recent vet exam on every dog and every cat. I long ago gave up trying to fight with them over vaccinating 100% indoor only cats for rabies. The dogs that do go out to pee and poop I can see.

Forgive me while I digress but I can't help but think of this very famous quote-

Hey, Equil, I thought I was the only one checking DOA possums for live babies! To those who think you couldn't do it, please know that you really can. After all, roughly 50% of the possums you roll over to check will be male, so no further investigation is needed. It is truly tragic to see live babies nursing from a dead mother, whatever your feelings for the species; they will die a slow and truly horrible death. If the babies are old enough to be furred, and if the mother has not been dead too long, the babies have an excellent chance of survival in the hands of trained rehabbers. And the babies are incredibly cute!

I've never found any research to explain why possums rarely contract rabies, but it is true; while any mammal can become infected, it is relatively very rare in possums. When one is infected, it likely happens when they feed on carrion that very recently died of rabies. And as for the quarantine rules when a domestic pet encounters wildlife, in most states the pet is quarantined for 90 days if pet has current vaccine status, six months if the pet's vaccine is not current. This is ultra-conservative in the extreme; but keep in mind that animal control is a human government service provided for human citizens/voters. Where there is any perceived threat/risk to human health, ultra-conservative rules come into play. Common sense and government regulations are rarely synonymous...

In my younger days, I worked for several years as an animal control officer, so feel I must say at least a word or two in defense of the profession. Like any organization, animal control agencies run the full spectrum from abysmal and indifferent to dedicated and compassionate. All share the fact that they are only able to enforce the laws written by others. In the field of animal welfare, there are laws that are antiquated, laws that make little sense, and laws that are woefully inadequate. For example, in most states cruelty to animals, however blatant and unconscionable, is a misdemeanor. As an animal control officer, you invest countless hours and work to bring a cruelty case to court in hopes of improving an animal's life; at best, if you succeed and the defendant is found guilty, he/she will pay a fine of a few hundred dollars and do some hours of community service. If you are supremely lucky, the court will take the animal away from the owner, and you can then hope that the local shelter can find him/her a new home. In most cases, the owner can go out and get a new pet the next day and start the cycle again.

If we as citizens want the welfare of animals, both domestic and wild, to change for the better, we must be the ones to work and lobby for better laws. There are many people in animal control who do truly care, but they can't help animals without the necessary legal tools.

I found a link to the Opossum Society of the US which answer any question you might have.

http://www.opossumsocietyus.org/

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