Ok, I'm not one to sad or depressed online but something happened last night that made me angry and sick at the same time. Where I live, we have a really cute "Pet" ring-tailed Possum we call Jnr. (Truth be tolled, we just live in "His" territory) Jnr and my pet cat called Nemo usually play tag in the back yard whenever he comes to visit. Although Jnr is wild, he is happy enough with us to take fruit from our hands and eat just a few steps away instead of running up a tree & hiding.

Well last night while feeding Jnr some scrap fruit, I was horrified to see what had happened to him since the last 24hrs of seeing him. On his left shoulder a large chunk of flesh had been torn away from his shoulder blade to the back of his left ear. Then on his lower back – again on the left- was another large tear. This kind of wound would have only come from a dog as cats cannot take so much flesh at one time. Now remember, he is wild, it’s not a matter of picking him up, putting him in the car and taking a trip to the vet. But if I cannot find a way to get him treated soon, the wound will become infected and Jnr will die.

Now I’m no Hippy(Though I like to dress up as one) and I’m no environmentalist fanatic(although I do my part in this drought stricken land) but this is not right!! People need to remember that although pets are cute and part of the family, if unchecked, they can cause a lot of damage to our wildlife. Many of Australia’s smaller animals are under protections because of development, drought, introduced animals and roadside fatalities. This is the same all around the world. Will we look after what we have now or simply read our future children bedtime stories of animals that once were? So I put this simple request out to you all. Please, PLEASE, lock your pets up at night. Like children, we need to keep them in check to make sure they do not cause significant damage to our wildlife.