random thoughts – Day 1,241 – (Thursday) – city wildlife

The wildlife critters of the cozy (code for small) grounds of The BungaLowell regularly feature Brown Bunny, Chuck Wood, the white kitty, the black kitty, the ginger kitty, the skunk that sprays fragrance into the air in the late night hours, and who knows what other unseen creatures. There are many more wildlife creatures in the vicinity, based on the deceased remnants on the roadside, which always makes me sad. The fawns and grown deer, turkeys and other birds, and the cats and dogs.

Some of the wildlife even makes its way downtown for a real city experience.

Garage oposum.

On August 10, 2017, as I pulled into a great corner parking spot on the fourth floor of the garage, an opossum (possum?) sat on the ledge of the window. To me, it looked nervous, but that might be the human tendency to assign human feelings to critters. 

Upon seeing said opossum, the mental debate began – to park, or not to park? Will I startle the furry little friend and cause him to topple out the window? Will it launch itself at me? I did what I had to do – parked the car and took pictures of my new friend.

On the way out of the garage, I found someone who worked there to tell him about the potentially nervous opossum in the window. Someone had already reported a “giant rat” on the third level, but the worker hadn’t found it when checking. I showed the picture of the opossum and clarified both the species and location, and he said he would contact Animal Control.

I still think it
wanted to jump.

Out on the sidewalk, I looked up to the window. The opossum seemed to be peering from under the window bar on level four as if it wanted to jump. I certainly understood (understand) the feeling.

There was enough concern about my new little furry friend that I sought out the garage staffer after work. The update on the critter from the garage guy was that when Animal Control arrived, the little marsupial was asleep on the ledge. Animal Control picked it up and relocated it to nature somewhere. I hope the opossum was placed someplace that didn’t frighten it. Someplace comfortable, and hopefully familiar.

In my imagination, the parking garage opossum frolics amongst the trees. No more confusing multi-level concrete garage for this little dude (dudette?). It hangs by its tail, happily ever after, in a wooded wonderland. Perhaps the nearby Lowell-Dracut-Tyngsboro State forest.

I haven't seen any other furry friends in the garage since the day of the opossum. Maybe that's a good sign that they are all in the woods playing, for as long as there are woods to play in.