Thread: Mouse-eating opossums run amok in Brooklyn

This may help with the problem:

Stuffed Roast Opossum

Ingredients:

• 1 opossum
• 1 cup salt

Opossum Stuffing

• 1 large onion, chopped fine
• 1 tablespoon fat
• opossum liver
• 1 cup breadcrumbs
• chopped red pepper
• 1 dash Worcestershire sauce
• 1 hard-boiled egg, chopped fine
• salt, to taste
• Directions:

Prep Time: 3 hrs
Total Time: 4 1/2 hrs

1. 1 Roast Opossum:.
2. 2 The opossum is a very fat animal with a peculiarly flavored meat.
3. 3 It is dressed much as one would dress a suckling pig, removing the entrails, and if desired, the head and tail.
4. 4 After it is dressed, wash thoroughly inside and out with hot water.
5. 5 Cover with cold water to which has been added 1 cup of salt.
6. 6 Allow to stand overnight. In morning, drain off the salted water and rinse well with clear water.
7. 7 Stuff opossum with opossum stuffing (stuffing recipes next); sew opening or fasten with skewers.
8. 8 Place in roaster, add 2 tablespoons water and roast in moderate oven (350°F) until tender and richly browned, about one and one half hours.
9. 9 Baste every 15 minutes with drippings.
10. 10 Remove skewers or stitches, and place on heated platter.
11. 11 Skim fat from gravy remaining in pan.
12. 12 Opossum Stuffing:.
13. 13 Brown onion in fat.
14. 14 Add finely chopped opossum liver and cook until liver is tender.
15. 15 Add crumbs, a little red pepper, Worcestershire sauce, egg, salt and water to moisten.

"I served this to my ex mother-in-law for her birthday dinner and she loved it! The only suggestion I would make would be to cook it in a pressure cooker because it was a little tough every place there were tire marks..."

They are native to the NE US, but why anyone thought they would be any sort of match for rattus norvegicus is a mystery. Releasing a lot of (also indigenous) black snakes, and convincing people to leave them alone (yeah, sure) would have been a much better idea.

Possums have a good winter pelt, so maybe someone will start trapping them.

they are the biggest pest in New Zealand

Possum - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Australian brush tailed possum was introduced into New Zealand in 1837 to establish a fur trade.
In 2009, it was announced that conservation measures (such as by the DOC) had met some significant success, and had reduced the possum numbers to less than half of the 1980s levels, a drop from around 70 million to around 30 million animals. Almost half (13.3 million hectares) of New Zealand's vegetated land is under some form of possum control, either for conservation reasons, or to reduce the spread of bovine tuberculosis

and in the news today
School criticised over possum throwing
10:44 AM Thursday Sep 23, 2010

A rural Manawatu school which held a possum throwing contest has drawn SPCA criticism and upset many in the community.
Children at Colyton School last week held possum carcasses by the tail in a contest to see who could throw them the furthest, the Manawatu Standard reported.
Palmerston North SPCA centre manager Danny Auger said the school was not breaking any laws, but that did not mean children should be encouraged to mistreat dead possums.
"It's morally wrong to throw a dead animal around. It's about time that people wake up and smell 2010 and realise that these sorts of things shouldn't be happening."
Mr Augers was worried that children were not being taught to respect dead animals.
He would visit Colydon School to ask them to stop holding such events.
The school refused to comment.

where rhetorical hell did they get the idea possums eat rats ?
It's not april 1st is it?
This is hilarious .
Even if possums did eat rats (just the thought makes me chuckle ) their habitats are so different their paths would rarely cross.
I'd love to know what city slicker came up with this pearler.
I'd particularly liked to have been at the meeting where the idea was proposed.
Possums eating rats. Too funny.