A dog unexpectedly came to the aid of not one but two orphaned possums when the two baby animals found refuge in his corded fur on two separate occasions. Sally Watkinson, who lives in Melbourne, Australia, shared that she and her partner, Jon, found a tiny marsupial making itself at home in the fur of Kato the Puli.
“So here’s something you don’t see every day. A Puli (Kato) with an orphaned baby possum attached. Said possum apparently found Kato and climbed aboard to hitch a ride,” Sally Watkinson posted on Facebook.
Her dogs didn’t react as she thought they would. “Hugo and Kato seemed to barely notice it was there. It’s most surprising that Hugo was not barking frantically at it. Apparently Kato was seemingly oblivious also.”
Knowing that the wee animal needed care, Jon began reaching out to animal rescue groups. “Jon spent the rest of the afternoon researching wildlife rescue and eventually had to walk the dogs to a nearby vet to let them take the possum prior to collection by the wildlife rescue,” she said.
It must be something about the Puli’s corded coat, or Kato himself, that gave comfort to the tiny orphan.
“[She’s] probably not quite weaned yet but seemed well enough and was clinging on for dear life, Watkinson wrote in a response to a Facebook comment. “I think [s]he found the right dog for that. [Her] eyes were pretty bright still.”
The baby is so adorable. Watkinson explained that the possum is a “little girl who is doing well and is now with a wildlife carer until she is well and old enough to be released.”
But Kato’s unsuspecting rescue of orphan possums wasn’t over! It happened for a second time. Watkinson wrote in an update:
“It happened again!!! So bizarre. Today I went to Jon’s house to pick [the dogs up up] to find Kato again with another baby possum, this time on his actual back. Quite astonishing. This one was annoying him a bit more as it seemed to be digging in a bit, Hugo was still ignoring it. This time the vet nurse nearly fell off her chair when we turned up.”
The way the boy is clinging to Kato’s coat is similar to how baby opossums cling to their mother.
Watkinson added, “The second possum is a little boy who should also be ok.”
Local animal control will also be on the look out for the possums’ mom, in the hopes they can be reunited. “Apparently, if you catch them soon enough they can successfully be reunited,” Watkinson wrote on Facebook.
It’s not the first time a dog has come to the aid of marsupials. A sweet dog took care of a whole litter of them after their mother was killed. And it’s not the first time a tiny Australian animal has clung to a dog’s fur – there was the time a Golden Retriever was out for a walk when an orphaned baby koala clung to his fur.
As sad as it is that the two youngsters lost their mother, it’s fortunate that they found Kato and his family so they could get the help they need to survive.
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