Possum

Our Jack Russell terrier was the first one to notice that an opossum had moved into our basement. He went wild trying to get at it. The possum, who’d nested on a high shelf, retaliated by throwing things at the dog. The basement rapidly devolved into a complete mess.

Possums are smart and this one had taken advantage of an open basement window to move in. I might have let it stay had it not declared open war on the dog.

For a while, it was a stalemate. We put delicacies in the Havahart trap; he ignored them. But he found my piecrust irresistible and, bam!

We took him to the far side of the Genesee River to rewild him. One final scowl and he ambled off into the shrubberies. He never did find his way back.