Wild Little Critter

**Warning: Graphic photo to follow. 

Living in the small town, surrounded by cornfields and not too far from the river, means you sometimes get some wild little visitors.

When I was younger, my mom was a stay-at-home mommy. She put her blood, sweat, and tears in to taking care of my sisters and I, but she also volunteered for a program called the Wild Life Rescue Team. She would frequently get squirrels, raccoons, and opossums. Mostly babies whose parents had been trapped, killed, or run over and then the babies were discovered later. We would bottle feed them, rehabilitate them, and then they would be released into a no hunting area. That is where my love of all animals began.

The last few weeks, we have had an opossum visitor. He was in our lean-to when I fed our cats a few times and they didn't mind each other. In fact, the cats would love up on him. This being said, we let him stay. We fed him when he came around, and I ended up calling him Chaz.

He loved the old couch cushions we gave him. 

As you may be able to see, his front leg was injured when he came by one day. It looked as though he had gotten his foot caught and chewed his own paw off to get free. I felt horrible for him, and ended up keeping him in our cat enclosure outside to call Wild Life Rescue. I called them last Friday morning (We had put him in the enclosure Thursday night with food and water) and explained I had an injured animal. While waiting to hear, I would frequently go out and give him love. He would roll on his back and I would rub his belly, and scratch the back of his neck.

He looked so sad when I was taking him in, he had grown close to me and would come up to me to let me pet him. 

Around five that evening, we got a call someone could take him into the sanctuary to have a vet examine his leg and then complete rehab, and he would be released when that was all accomplished. I couldn't help but hurt for him when I loaded him up, taking him away from his 'home'. But, as you can see below, he needed help. 

The poor baby. 

I wish I could say that I knew how he was since then, but unfortunately I don't. I can only hope he got the help he needed and is on the fast track to recovery.