Just to debunk any stereotypes, I can tell you that there is no way a mere possum would force my wife out of the shower, far less from her nice warm bed. We do a lot of camping and have had to deal with presumptious possums on a quite a few occassions.
In WA we camped at small spot where there was a sign on the tree saying "Smedley's Lair". Hmm, wonder who Smedley is? We found out at dinner time when he dropped in for a bite of our food. Hitting him hard enough to knock him off the table didn't discourage him. Pinning him to the table and wacking him about a bit before picking him up and throwing him as far as possible didn't work. In fact he hit the ground facing the table and already running!! Eventually we completed dinner, put all the food in the car and he disappeared.
On another occassion we were in a camp ground whene we heard a fuss from the next site. I went over to discover a group of German tourists (men and women mind you) who had been scared off their dinner by a possum. 'Is it dangerous?' they asked. I demonstrated the correct removal technique (pick up and fling in one action so they don't get a chance to scratch) and they were OK after that.
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