Man Drops Off "Hairless Cat" At Animal Rescue Shelter But It Was Actually A Baby Possum
A chilly October night turned into an unexpected wildlife rescue when a man found a tiny pink animal that looked like it would not make it through the cold. He wrapped it up and brought it to the South Plains Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Texas, where staff were expecting an orphaned baby possum, but the first look at the intake footage told a very different story. What seemed like a hairless cat quickly became one of those cases that makes everyone at the shelter do a double take.
Gail Barnes, the center’s executive director, was watching the drop-off area when the box arrived, and the mystery only got stranger from there. Once the baby animal was safely inside, the team realized they were dealing with a possum, not a cat, and that little mix-up set the stage for a surprisingly sweet rescue story.
Then Peach arrived, and the internet had a new favorite possum.
In an interview with The Dodo, Gail chuckled:
“As I was bringing the box back, this arm comes out ... and it’s hairless, and I go, ‘Oh my gosh, this is not the possum. This must be a hairless cat.’”
Of course, in the safety and warmth of the facility, Gail realized the baby animal was indeed a possum.
The wild possum had only a few speckles and sprinkles of hair on its feet.
She told The Dodo:
“I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, she’s so cold! She was hypothermic, so we had to warm her up. We put her in the incubator, got socks, heated them up, and got her temperature back up to where it was supposed to be.’”
This rescue echoes the woman who saved an abandoned baby animal, shocking everyone with how delicate it was.
With no idea how long the baby possum had been without her mother, their first warmed-up possum goal became weight gain.
They gave the baby possum a variety of foods to snack on and said that she eagerly and gladly ate it all right up!
“If the mother knows that something is wrong with the baby, they’re going to drop them off or discard them. So she probably was scared to death.”
Upon closer inspection, vets at the facility realized why the baby possum appeared to look almost like a hairless cat at first.
She has alopecia, an autoimmune disease causing hair loss. With no fur to protect her from the elements, such as extreme cold and heat, this little possum would never be safely released back into the wild.
Instead, SPWRC put out a call to action, requesting sweaters for the hairless little one.
Dubbed Peach, she has since received donations from across the community, including pouches, sweaters, and hand-me-down clothes from hairless cat owners.
Peach has more than doubled her weight, thankfully, and she will have a possum roommate named Remy. The duo will live in an indoor/outdoor enclosure featuring a cozy den for snuggled-up naps and plenty of space to roam and play.
Thanks to an improved diet, Peach is growing some hair, but her condition will still prevent her from ever being released.
When SPWRC put out a call to action requesting clothes for Peach, they probably did not anticipate such an enthusiastic response. Gail says that Peach now has a summer and winter wardrobe. What a lucky little lady!
Gail and other volunteers with SPWRC insist they do not usually advocate for dressing up wildlife animals, but Peach is a special case.
They hope that the alopecia possum will help reduce the stigma around possums in general. Gail told The Dodo:
“Possums are one of the most misunderstood animals. People trap them; they don’t want them in their yard; they think they look prehistoric because they have more teeth than any other mammal. But they’re really very beneficial. They’re scavengers-they eat all your insects, your bugs, and your snakes.”
To donate a small sweater to the possum, you can address it to South Plains Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, 3308 95th Street, Lubbock, Texas, 79423. To help the center care for wildlife in need, you can make a monetary donation via PayPal.
Before it was a hairless “cat” scare, this possum turned into an affectionate lap cat. See how the hard-to-find possum became a cuddly mess.
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