Tuesday, 5:32 a.m. (CDT).
Morning rounds. Intruder found and cornered by the fence. Alarm raised. Very loud alarm. Wake-up-the-whole-neighborhood-alarm.
Back-up called and situation escalated to Administration. Supervisor investigated and determined that intruder was a terrified opossum which should be left alone to climb out of the back yard. Personnel retreated to the house until intruder could safely exit the scene.
5:38 a.m. (CDT). Emergency call terminated.
Jack the Scottie 
You are to be commended on your natural instincts, Arya! Better to err on the side of caution and see what the Supervisor determines needs to be done. The 6-minutes time it took for the opossum to hightail it out of there makes us think he won’t be back!
McDuff & Mom
I gave the varmint a wide berth. I thought it was a strange cat, but my supervisor let me know it was not. I think, perhaps, it has been living under our deck. Have you every seen one of those varmints?
– Arya
we have a good number of ‘possums around our neighborhood… I am always having to wait for them to cross the street (and they don’t use the cross walk) I admit they do look sneeky and suspicious and a bit like a monstor rat but I am trying to practice what I’ve learned in church about not stereotyping folks… and to see them as a beloved of God… baby ‘possums are very cute. I’ve seen some photos on line, they look innocent and lovable… they just seem to grow up in the wrong neighborhoods and begin to adopt their parents ways… 🙂
It’s true – baby ‘possums ARE cute. I observed one quite a bit at an animal shelter where I fostered kittens/cats for many years. They weren’t supposed to shelter wildlife (licensing thing) but the occasional song bird, squirrel, ‘possum baby came along…orphaned…and what’s a kind-hearted group to do? The ‘possum was called Opie. His/her photo collage is still there. Was eventually trained to forage and was released in a safe place. I did same for a baby squirrel – Roxanne; hand-fed her in my back yard ’til she bit me. I knew she was getting her wildness back so the food then went near her. Big sassy squirrel enticed her to go partying. She would come back now and then. Sweet. The critter Arya encountered was probably best dealt with just as Arya did. Not one to invite to family picnic.
Good job on security without escalation.
Thank you. We pride ourselves in our security and we try to be kind to all creatures. Except bugs. I can’t help playing with bugs.
– Arya
Ah Arya, you make me happy!
I think my security team needs training. Does Arya do seminars? My team got a bit overzealous the other night and killed the intruder. They claimed it was a “stand your ground” thing and I carefully explained that is NOT the law at this house.
No outside authorities were needed, though I would have liked some help removing the dead opossum.
Between the super nose that Arya’s kith and kin have and THOSE EARS, nothing is going to escape her. Safe homefront, indeed. Maybe a silent alarm system…a wait-and-see method…for 5 am might be worked out. Still, intruders are intruders. She has well established her place on the team. So cute, too!
Good job! Bet the intruder is telling all his friends to stay clear of your yard.