Northern Michigan in Focus: Opossums

Sometimes, things get a stigma that they necessarily don’t deserve.

In this week’s Northern Michigan in Focus, Corey Adkins shows us an animal that may be getting a bad rap.

They are ugly, nasty and grotesque. Wait, you think I was talking about the opossum, don’t you?

No, quite the opposite. We’re talking about what they are hunting.

Ticks, truly ugly, nasty and grotesque, and this is supposed to be a bad year for them. But what does this have to do with the opossum?

“In the space of the year, they eat thousands of ticks,” said Ruth Fruehauf with .

They’re pretty much like the vacuum cleaner of the forest. Each opossum can eat up to 5,000 ticks per season!

“They help to keep the Lyme disease issue down to a minimum,” explained Sherry Goff.

This past Monday, Ruth Fruehauf and Sherry Goff from released four opossums back into the wild.

“It’s exhilarating to me. Their natural instincts start to kick in again, they’re happy, they’re exploring, they’re doing what they’re meant to do and fulfilling their purpose,” said Sherry.

But fulfilling their purpose doesn’t mean some people aren’t intimidated by them. One reason they can seem so aggressive is they can’t see you.

“They are very nearsighted, so if there’s anything that comes close to them, human included, they hiss and they were startled and they can’t see very well so it feels intimidating to them. So they appear to mean and aggressive, and they’re really just scared. They’re reacting to something that frightens them,” explained Ruth.

So if you run into an opossum, Ruth and Sherry has some advice. 

“Basically to just leave them alone. They don’t mean you any harm, and they won’t unless you corner,” said Sherry.

Ruth advised, “Just give them wide berth. Most of the time, they are going to be startled and take off. They’re not looking for a confrontation at all.”

Between the four opossums, they’ll eat around 20,000 ticks this season, but that’s not all!

“They’ll eat slugs. Who likes slugs? There’s not many animals out there that will eat the slugs, but they will eat the slugs,” explained Ruth.

Even though they can look like a friend who’s had a rough weekend in Vegas, you might just want to gamble on keeping them around.

“Don’t chase them away and don’t make them not welcome in the area that you’re in, because they can help you just about more than any other animal in the wildlife out there,” said Sherry.