It's Official.

I've gone soft. Not many years ago, I would have found a way to eliminate these little buggers. This is one of at least 3. I don't think they have even opened their eyes yet. They are not quite as big as a tennis ball.

Instead, I spend a couple hundred bucks on exclusion fencing. LOL

I'm with ya. I've got a possum that eats with my barn cats. Ol' boy is scarred up and drags a hind leg, looks like he's 90 years old. He gets a pass.

Same here. Don't know how many of them I have "saved" in recent years. Wife refers to me as the "Bunny Daddy" now.

Moosetrot

If you keep horses or sell hay to horse ppl you should not tolerate any possum

These ain't possum'. Might be grinning, but not possum'!

That pic was from about a foot away. It's no wonder they are near the bottom of the food chain. Just a whisker above my pea crop.

You are right LL. I don't keep any hay in that building, so thats another reason he gets a pass!

Possums don't get a pass from me but several rabbits have. Rather rabbits will untill the wife's marker garden suffers.
Why are opossum bad for horses?

Rabbits give the birds of prey something to eat besides quail and turkey poults. No rabbit hunting on our properties.

Saw a guy browsing through the Duke traps at the local Rural King today so I wandered over to check out what they had, they were all out of dp's. Talked to him a bit and at one point he asked me If I ever had problems with possums. Told him, "only when they get in my coyote traps"1

I'd rather have the opossum than the horse

Funny isn't it? When I was a kid I would shoot tweety birds for no reason. I'm now 50 and have adopted the live and let live philosophy. Make no mistake about it I still trap and hunt. Hunt for food and nothing else. Trap critters that (This word is unacceptable on Trapperman) me off on my farm.
The older I get the more I respect life and do not kill for craps and giggles.

X2

Opossum are a known vector for Equine Protozoal Myeloencephalitis (EPM) . It is shed through the feces. If any opossum feces comes in contact with feedstuffs for equine uses , like hay , this could be very bad for horses.

Thanks, more ammo for when my wife gives me the huff and look when I go way out of my way to rid another opossum off the farm.

No problem , glad to help.
I've been around horses a bit in my life. There is a fair amount of 'gentleman horse stables' in my area. Some of these folks have very deep pockets. Makes for extra ADC work when going to one of these areas for another problem animal. Once the horseowners are educated on EPM , they want you to trap any opossums in the area to protect their expensive horses.

They dont all carry EPM. Except for cowboys most horse people are women and girls. Their affection for them is more like an obsession. Before you quote a price to eliminate any marauding possums find out what they think about fur trapping. If they are against it,(and many of them are especially urbanites that board their animals) triple your fees. We should all of us Tmen and women make this pact.