A police officer with the Forest Preserve District of Will County thinks a creature that got stuck in a pavilion post will be just fine after he freed it on a recent Wednesday.
Never mind that it looked to be dead when he laid it on the ground.
It was merely playing possum, he said.
Hammel Woods Preserve Dog Park in Shorewood is typically home to just dogs, but Joliet resident Rich Moravek knew it wasn’t a canine he and his border collie, Chloe, discovered Feb. 14.
Chloe had “sniffed out” a Virginia opossum, also known as a North American opossum, which had become lodged in a pavilion support post.
The opossum, which is roughly the size of a house cat, has a distinctive grayish-white torso and hind feet sporting a clawless, thumb-like inner toe. But it was the naked, scaly tail that Moravek recognized.
“They’ve got a different kind of tail,” he said Sunday. “There’s no hair; it’s like a piece of rope.”
Moravek wasn’t taking any chances with the obviously angry opossum.
“They can get nasty if they’re cornered,” he said. “If a possum bites you, you know you’ve been bit. They’ve got teeth like saw blades.”
He immediately alerted Forest Preserve District officials and then focused on keeping other patrons away.
“I told them, ‘Don’t go near that corner and don’t let your dog go near that corner,'” he recalled.
According to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, the “slow, secretive and solitary” opossum isn’t generally known as a fighter. It’s more likely to respond to threats by climbing trees, hiding in brush heaps and, as a last resort, playing possum — a temporary catatonic state that includes emitting a pungent odor, the agency’s website states.
Still, according to the National Wildlife Federation, there are no guarantees.
“Younger opossums are less likely than mature individuals to play possum,” the foundation’s website states. “But even older animals can’t be relied on always to collapse in a confrontation.”
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Forest Preserve police Officer Mike Reilly responded to Moravek’s call and managed to pry and pull the opossum loose. He carried it out of the park and set it down, where the animal executed its signature move.
“He played possum,” Reilly said in a district news release. “He laid down as if he were dead. That’s what they do. But I think he’s doing OK.”
Forest Preserve District officials said the post base was temporarily patched with duct tape and a permanent fix is in the works.
Dennis Sullivan is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.