Roadkill is an unfortunately common, everyday occurrence, but what people don’t realize is that there are sometimes secondary fatalities. If you ever come across an opossum hit by a car, you might want to pull over and have a closer look, or alert animal control…you could save a handful of lives.
When an employee of Wildlife Rehabilitation Center at Wisconsin Humane Society was on her way to work one day, she did just this…
When this mother opossum was hit by a car, she wasn’t alone. Her babies were still in her pouch, unaware that their mother had passed.
After the worker carefully picked up the mother and her babies and placed them into a cage, she heard a bark-sneeze sounding cry…
And found two more babies that had fallen out of their mom’s pouch.
The trained wildlife employee and all-around Good Samaritan carefully scooped them up, too, placing them in the cage with their siblings and mother. Instinctually and with hope, they crawled back into their mom’s cold pouch.
When Crystal, the cuties’ rescuer, arrived at the rehabilitation center, staff found that two of the babies had already passed…
So they worked quickly to ensure that there were no more fatalities following this tragedy.
They bathed and fed the remaining babies…
While it’s not the same thing as a mother’s care, it’s the next best thing staffers could offer.
(via The Dodo)
To help these little babies or others in similar situations, chose “Wildlife Rehabilitation Center” in the drop-down menu here. You can also follow the center on Facebook to see what other little critters get a second chance at life!
