An invasion of opossums may drive a Gwinnett County family from their home, Channel 2 Action News reported.
Lakisha Dominick said the animals have been running wild for years in her family’s home in the Highland Lakes apartment complex in the Norcross area. Nine opossums have been pulled out of her kitchen, the fireplace and even a toilet, she said.
Dominick told Channel 2 that her 8-year-old daughter "went to use the bathroom and sits on the toilet and something splashes on her. She turned around and looked and said, ‘Aah! Mom, there's possums in the toilet!'"
The woman said she and her husband have had enough and are ready to move.
“The possums can have the whole apartment. We're going to lock it up and give it to them," she said.
Apartment management has not helped, offering only to let the family out of their lease, Dominick said.
Later Monday, Highland Lakes management offered to waive the family's rent for this month and move them to another apartment for free.
That opossums are around people doesn’t surprise Don McGowan, senior wildlife biologist in the Social Circle office of the state Department of Natural Resources.
“They’re pretty comfortable, I think, being around people,” McGowan told the AJC in a phone interview. “It’s not unusual for them to find their way into living quarters ... but coming up through the toilet? I’ve never heard of that happening before with a opossum.”
Opossums might be scary to look at, he said, but, “you shoo them away, and they go on their way.”
McGowan said that it’s his experience animals like opossums and raccoons are attracted to people’s homes because of “unnatural attractants, like pet food or garbage – something that gives them a food source, as well as shelter.”
“I’ve heard of raccoons coming through pet doors to get to a dog or cat’s food bowl,” McGowan said. “I haven’t heard of opossums coming through pet doors, but it wouldn’t surprise me.”
About the Author
