It’s time to look back on 2024! Check our blog between Christmas and New Year’s for a variety of stories and memories of 2024 from the staff and volunteers of the Wildlife Center of Virginia.
On the outreach team, our job is to share the stories of the animals that pass through our doors. You might think this would be easy—after all, we admitted more than 4,500 animals this year, each one with a story to tell. But it’s not as simple as it sounds. How do you tell the story of the 17th eagle we've admitted with lead toxicosis? Or the 362nd cottontail caught by a cat? Finding ways to connect these stories to people, to inspire action and change, can be a real challenge.
But whenever I start to feel bogged down, a patient comes along to remind me why I tell their stories—and why it’s so important. This year, that patient was Virginia Opossum #24-1019.
Virginia Opossum #24-1019 arrived at our hospital on May 1, 2024, from Crozet, Virginia. She was only the second patient we admitted that day, with another 19 coming in after her. Like every other patient, our front desk team quickly processed her details, gathering information from the rescuer and bringing her back to the hospital for an exam.
At first, the opossum didn’t stand out to me—she was one of many animals admitted that day. But later that night, when Dr. Olivia shared a photo of her with a tiny cast on her leg … I don't think I'm being overly dramatic when I say she captured my heart.
I quickly looked up the opossum in our database and discovered what had happened to her. A dog had attacked and killed her mother. The juvenile opossum was likely clinging to her mother's back during the attack and was flung off in the chaos, injuring her leg. Her rescuer found her trying to crawl away in a neighbor's yard and brought her to the Center, hoping we could help.
And like always, we did our best.
Dr. Olivia performed the exam. The opossum had fractured her femur—a serious break in such a small bone. Dr. Olivia didn’t have a pin small enough to stabilize the fracture, so she custom-crafted one specifically for the opossum's leg. The surgery went smoothly, and a cast was placed on her leg to help the bone mend.
Over the next month, I continued to closely follow the opossum’s progress. The fracture, over time, fully healed, but the opossum still had a long road to release: physical therapy. You see, even though the bone had healed, the opossum was still partially dragging the leg, and would need to relearn how to walk again.
The vet team performed physical therapy twice per day, and day by day, I got to see the opossum slowly build up strength in her injured limb. At first, she struggled, walking on her knuckles rather than using her foot properly. But with encouragement from our vet team, she continued to work at it. And by May 26, after weeks of hard work, the opossum had officially “graduated” from physical therapy and could walk normally again.
I think somehow she knew. I mean, just look at her face absolutely beaming with pride!
From there, the rest of her journey was relatively easy. Some time getting acclimated to the outdoors again, practicing how to climb and forage for food like an adult opossum. Some time to grow bigger and stronger. Finally, on June 18, she was ready. The opossum was officially cleared for release back to the wild.
The following day, Dr. Olivia and I decided to release her ourselves and made the trek to the release site. I won't say it was the perfect release site, but it was pretty darn close. There were plenty of trees around, logs, bushes, and most importantly – no dogs! Before releasing the opossum, Dr. Olivia scattered pieces of food around the area, her last gift to Virginia Opossum #24-1019.
When we opened the crate, the opossum slowly (and I mean slowly) took her steps out of the crate, looking back at us as if to say, “What now?”. But then she slowly wandered off, rustling the leaves as she went until Olivia and I could just make out her tail in the distance. She was back home. Back where she belonged.
Months later, Olivia and I still talk about the opossum. And I still tell her story. Because that's our job. We tell the stories that our patients can't. And this year, my favorite story was the story of Virginia Opossum #24-1019.
– Connor Gillespie, Director of Outreach
P.S. If you are hiking near Crozet and see an opossum with a slight, almost imperceptible limp, tell her Connor and Dr. Olivia say hello.