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Hi Seal Beach,
As you may know, for the last year, the Seal Beach Police Department has been providing Animal Control Services to the community. It seems like every day we learn something new and encounter unique situations involving animals in our town.
We’re back this week with more helpful information about interacting with the wildlife that also calls Seal Beach home. The Wetlands & Wildlife Care Center (www.wwccoc.org) provided these tips.
• There is an opossum in my yard!
As development encroaches upon once-wild land, people and wildlife have come into closer contact and conflicts have develop. With a little tolerance and understanding, what may have once been considered a nuisance may become a welcomed nightly visitor.
Opossum problems and solutions:
• There is an opossum in my yard. What do I do? Nothing!
Leave the opossum alone and enjoy watching wildlife in your own backyard. However, if the opossum is injured or an orphan (smaller than the size of your palm), then contact your local wildlife rehabilitation center, or your local animal control for help. Opossums are beneficial to you by eating unwanted pests around your home such as snails, slugs, spiders, rats, mice, and snakes. Opossums are free gardeners.
• They make my dog bark.
A dog will bark at anything it sees or hears. The best thing you can do for the opossum and your neighbors is to keep your dog indoors at night. This will also prevent your dog from injuring or killing the opossum.
• Will they attack my pets?
Generally, no. Opossums are docile, non-aggressive animals and will not attack your pets. They prefer to avoid confrontations. If escape is not possible, then the threatened opossum may bite in self-defense—as any animal would.
• Will an opossum bite my children?
Children should be taught to never attempt to pet a wild animal. Opossums are nocturnal; they sleep during the day and come out at night. Therefore, the chance of children encountering an opossum are slim. Opossums prefer to sleep in dark, secluded places. If your children are playing in this type of area, then there is a greater danger of being bitten by a poisonous spider or snake.
• The opossums eat the fruit off my trees.
Opossums prefer to eat rotting, fallen fruit. Keep the opossum out of trees by cutting branches away from the ground, fences, and roof. Cover the trunk with heavy plastic secured with tape. A cut-up plastic trash can will work.
• How can I keep them from coming into my home or garage?
Close all doors and unscreened windows before dusk. Keep pet doors closed at night. Put food away so the opossum will not be tempted to enter. If an opossum enters, then provide a safe exit route and leave the room.
Tips for living with …
opossums
Opossums are marsupials, or pouched mammals, and are related to the kangaroo and the koala. The opossum holds the distinction of being North America’s only marsupial. We should not consider them as pests, but beneficial to the environment as they eat all kinds of bugs and insects including cockroaches, beetles, crickets, and spiders. Snails and slugs are considered a delicacy. They also keep the rat and mouse population in check. Opossums have well earned the title of “Nature’s Little Sanitation Engineers.”
By nature, opossums are non-aggressive, non-destructive and do not pose a threat to humans, However, when threatened, they will attempt to defend themselves. Our best advice is to enjoy watching the opossums but leave them alone.
• Leave them alone
Opossums should be allowed to live in their natural habitat.
• Do not trap
Opossums are transient animals, staying only 2-3 days in an area before moving on. Removal is neither necessary or desirable. Wildlife experts agree that if opossums were eliminated from an area, the population of roof rats and other pests would proliferate.
• Other options
If you find an opossum continues to return to your area, try eliminating the things that are attracting it. Clear away bushes, wood piles and other hiding places, pick up fallen fruit from trees, and do not leave pet food out overnight. Try leaving an outside light on at night.
• Opossum proof your environment
Make the area where you live less desirable. At night, keep doors and garages closed, and close windows that are located next to tree limbs and fences.
• I found a baby opossum
Baby opossums begin life on their own once they fall off their mother’s back. They are usually around the size of the palm of you hand (excluding their tail). If they are not injured, please leave them be. They will be just fine, even though they are the size of a kitten.
Thanks, Wetlands & Wildlife Care Center, for this information.
Seal Beach, if you have non-urgent animal control questions, please call us at (562) 799-4100 ext. 1606 or email us at animalcontrol@sealbeachca.gov. For more immediate calls for service, please call our non-emergency number (562) 594-7232.
Keep your questions coming, Seal Beach! Email us at askacop@sealbeachca.govtoday!
