Lindsey’s house was filled with commotion the other day, preparing for her daughter’s upcoming wedding, when an unsettling noise brought everything to a sudden halt. Lindsey swore she’d heard scratching from inside the walls, but when everyone stopped to listen, it went away.
For a house that has a large wooded area in the back, it’s not unusual to hear a small animal in the walls, but they typically make their way back out on their own. So when the scratching noise went away, Lindsey figured that’s exactly what had happened and returned to wedding prep.
Until, hours later, her husband made a heart-sinking discovery.
“Later that evening, Lindsey came home, and her husband found a single baby opossum all by itself in their basement,” Deema Al-azzeh, of Opossum Hollow Wildlife Rehab (OHWR), told The Dodo. “We were shocked! Our first thought was, ‘Mom has to be here somewhere.’”
Opossum Hollow Wildlife Rehab
Lindsey, who volunteers for OHWR, carefully scooped the baby up and began administering care. She and her husband searched everywhere for an entry point into the walls, hoping to find the opossum mom’s trail. But they couldn’t find one anywhere, and after the scratching stopped, they decided to end their search mission for the night.
“Lindsey called it a night, hoping that wherever mom was, she had made it back outside,” Al-azzeh said. “At that point, we assumed she had accidentally left one baby behind.”
But the next day, Lindsey heard scratching again, confirming her worst fears: The mama opossum never made it back outside.
“[S]he was still trapped,” Al-azzeh said.
Opossum Hollow Wildlife Rehab
Lindsey immediately called her colleagues at OHWR, and Al-azzeh arrived with a fellow volunteer named Cynthia. She then narrowed down where the scratching sound was coming from, and the team quickly got to work cutting into the wall. That’s when they found a second baby in “very poor condition.”
“We believe mom had fallen inside the wall cavity, and when she did, that baby became separated from the rest of the family,” Al-azzeh said.
The team carefully removed the baby from the wall and immediately began administering the fluids he desperately needed. While Lindsey cared for the sick baby, Cynthia continued cutting into the wall until she finally found the mama opossum guarding the rest of her litter.
You can see footage from the rescue mission here:
Cynthia gently snagged the mama opossum while Al-azzeh gathered the remaining two babies. They did a thorough check to make sure there weren’t any opossums left behind, then transported the little family to OHWR’s headquarters.
The entire opossum family needed intravenous fluids when they arrived at OHWR, but the baby who’d been separated was in the worst shape. He required antibiotics and regular nebulizer treatments due to inhaling drywall dust.
You can watch the little family recover here:
But thanks to OHWR’s care, the resilient baby eventually bounced back and graduated with the rest of his family from rehabilitation.
“Thankfully, everyone recovered well, and we were able to release the entire family back into the wild together,” Al-azzeh said.
You can watch them be released here:
The OHWR team was thrilled to see the opossum family return to their natural habitat. And Lindsey was especially pleased to be able to celebrate her daughter’s wedding, knowing that the critters stuck in her wall were OK.
This was hardly the first opossum rescue for any of the OHWR volunteers, but it instantly became one they’ll never forget.
“While we’ve certainly heard of wildlife getting trapped inside walls, this was the first time our team had ever responded to a situation like this,” Al-azzeh said. “We were incredibly grateful it happened at one of our volunteers’ homes — she was more than willing to let us cut into her walls to save the family!”
To help wildlife like this opossum family get the care they need, you can donate to Opossum Hollow Wildlife Rehab here.
Car Dealership Staff Hear Scratching In Ceiling — Then Reunite A Baby With His Mom
“This definitely increased the morale of everyone here.”
