“It must have been stuck upside down in that confined space for several hours …”
A quiet afternoon of gardening quickly turned into an unexpected rescue mission when a homeowner in Australia noticed something unusual out of the corner of her eye. What looked like tiny arms were poking out of the bottom of a stormwater pipe — and they belonged to a possum in distress.
“She just happened to glance over and saw the possum’s little arms sticking out,” said Tracy, a volunteer with WIRES (NSW Wildlife Information, Rescue and Education Service), in an interview with The Dodo.
The curious possum had somehow wedged himself headfirst into the pipe and couldn’t get out. No one knew exactly how long he’d been stuck, but it was clear he was in bad shape. The homeowner immediately contacted WIRES for help — the very same call she had made before for the same possum, who had gotten himself into the exact same predicament previously.
“The last time, she heard a thud late at night and called us,” Tracy recalled. “This time, I felt sick when I arrived — he was barely moving. Being nocturnal, he must have been trapped upside down for hours. I honestly didn’t think he’d survive.”
Time was critical. Trapped animals can rapidly deteriorate due to stress, dehydration, and exposure. Tracy worked as quickly and gently as she could to get him free.
“He was incredibly weak and soaking wet,” she said. “I wrapped him in a blanket, gave him fluids right away, and rushed him to the nearest animal hospital.”
Thanks to her swift action, the possum arrived just in time. After several hours on IV fluids, he began to stabilize and was eventually released back into Tracy’s care. She nursed him for a week, slowly helping him regain his strength.
“When he was climbing again, eating normally, and acting like his wild self, I returned him to his home — this time with a custom possum box in the backyard tree,” Tracy said.
To prevent another incident, the local residents have since installed filters on their gutter drains, ensuring no more wildlife can get trapped. And while everyone’s keeping an eye out just in case, there’s hope that this little possum’s future adventures will be far safer — and far less dramatic.