“It scared the socks off her!”
In a quaint Tasmanian tale, a woman embarked on a pantry-cleaning adventure when a peculiar discovery caught her eye. Nestled in the back of the cabinet was a fuzzy gray dot that initially resembled ordinary mold.
“She saw a mound of ‘mold’ in the far corner, leaving her wondering, ‘What had leaked?'” shared Wildlife and Community Together Tasmania on Facebook.
Undeterred, armed with a cloth, she reached into the cabinet to banish the assumed mold. To her astonishment, the fuzzy spot came to life.
“[It] frightened the socks off her!” recounted the organization in a post that adds a touch of whimsy to a mundane pantry-cleaning escapade.
In a sudden realization, the woman discovered that the supposed mold was, in fact, a living creature. Initially suspecting it to be a mouse, she wasn’t entirely certain. Swiftly reaching out for assistance, she contacted local wildlife carer Jude Lennox.
Lennox, after careful examination, identified the unexpected guest as an eastern pygmy possum, a diminutive marsupial native to Tasmania and southeastern Australia. Lennox remarked on the possum’s shy and elusive nature, emphasizing the remarkable occurrence of the little creature venturing into the woman’s home at all.
While the possum appeared unwell, it wasn’t actually sick; instead, it was in a state of torpor, a type of hibernation. Lennox decided to bring the possum to her own home, creating a cozy environment for the creature to safely hibernate in a tranquil room, surrounded by containers of native flowers and finely chopped grapes.
In sharing the possum’s tale, Lennox seeks to ignite a spark of compassion and respect towards wildlife.
“Every incredible creature in our midst deserves our protection and appreciation,” Lennox passionately expressed to The Dodo. She urges a departure from the prevailing apathy often directed at wildlife and advocates for a shift towards a mindset that values and safeguards all species.