Pluto opossum

Pluto isn't the name you'd expect a wild animal to have...then again, Pluto the opossum isn't wild. In Dallas Texas, Ron Abbe found a mouse sized baby opossum surrounded by cats in the front yard. She was tiny, wet, and shivering. Ron took her into the house and cared for her, nursing her to health with the full intention of releasing her back into the wild. Though his pampering had the opposite effect. She was treated with love and affection, like any normal pet would be. She was hand fed, and groomed daily. She ate cat food, her favorite flavor being flaked trout with a side of mealworms. She had a thing against water, so she drank apple juice instead. Pluto would sleep on the bed and snuggle with stuffed animals, not to mention her owners!

When it came time to release her, she was taken outside. As soon as she touched the grass, she fell over, closed her eyes, and stuck out her tongue. She played opossum. Then Ron realized Pluto had been domesticated. She lost all her fear of humans, but gained the fear of the outdoors. She wouldn't have been able to live a single night outdoors on her own.

So Ron and his partner Robert kept her. She's a big baby, loves being picked up, held, and petted. She spends the day asleep on the bed and her evenings wandering around the house. She's litter trained, and cleans herself for hours on end. She could be cleaner than their cats! Ron never imagined that an opossum would make a good pet. And seriously, they shouldn't be. But without intervention Pluto would've been another casualty of wildlife in human territory. For them, it's a win/win situation.

"Pluto" 16x20" acrylic on canvas. (C) Cara Bevan 2012

This commission is going to Texas soon! Woo!