Opossums

Thank you for bringing the killing of opossums (April 10) to our attention. And thank you, Dr. Anita Henness and friends, for trying to help the opossums. My family and I have been wondering what had become of our quiet, peaceful little neighbors. They are brutally being murdered! A few of them might be carrying a dangerous disease? Well, who on this planet doesn't? When are we going to learn to share our space with animals. Humans, when are we going to act humane? ILSE SULTANIAN Costa Mesa

A man arrested in connection with the wounding of a mother opossum will not face animal cruelty charges, authorities said. Lorenzo Oliver, 54, was arrested last week for allegedly being an accessory to animal cruelty after a witness told police he saw Oliver's 12-year-old son beat the opossum with a shovel, police said. "There was insufficient evidence to charge him with any criminal offense," prosecutor Mark Logan said Thursday. The boy also was detained by police and then released to his mother, but the Orange County district attorney's office would not release details on any charges because he is a minor.

It was most interesting reading "Drought Drives Wildlife to the City" by staff writer Steve Padilla. I must take issue with Mr. Padilla's statements that although an "opossum may not be dumber than a box of rocks, they are not a whole lot smarter." The reason these "opossums just stared ahead before slowly padding away" is that they are nocturnal animals and are practically blind in the daytime. I've caught them in my shed in the daytime, usually inside a drawer or a dark corner and they reacted exactly as mentioned in the article when released.

The alleged bludgeoning of an opossum that triggered an animal cruelty investigation did not happen, according to a neighbor of the Anaheim father and son under investigation. Sonia Gallardo said Wednesday that she was there Monday evening when Lorenzo Oliver's 12-year-old son pushed onto a sidewalk an overturned bin holding an opossum that the Oliver family dogs had cornered in the backyard.

As the first step in a new program to get along with the lowly opossum, Orange County authorities have decided to stop killing them . . . something the animals, had they been asked, might have suggested a long time ago. Orange County's opossums, which have been put to death at the rate of more than 3,000 a year because they can carry a possibly life-threatening disease known as murine typhus, have a brighter future now.

The fate of Orange County's opossums, which county workers have been killing because the animals can carry a potentially fatal virus, may be decided today at a meeting of several agencies. The killing of more than 3,600 opossums in 1986 and several hundred more during the first three months of this year, with only an occasional one being tested for the disease known as Murine typhus, angered the Opossum Society of California, based in the city of Orange, and veterinarian Anita Henness.

Re: "Playing Possums: They're Not Serious" (Jan. 2): I chuckled last year as momma opossum strolled along our block wall fence, laden with her burden of seven babies on her back, (and I) called the grandchildren to hurry, come and see the opossums. How cute. We even named the little critters, and they became a topic at social occasions. Winston and Winchell and the rest of the gang were growing as they visited most every night to see if there were any good morsels in the trash. Then I moved down the street a few houses into a larger place with hardwood floors and a crawl space under the house.

A meeting Wednesday of county health and animal control officials about what should be done with opossums, considered a source of a potentially fatal disease, ended with no decisions except to study results of a recent 90-day test period and call another meeting, probably in about 10 days. The basic question, said Leonard M.

Charles Roble says he just wanted to snare some pesky opossums, but he snared a neighborhood feud instead. Roble, who lives in the city's north end, says the omnivorous critters feasted in his garden, gnawed his apple tree and left a mess under his van each morning. So he set some box traps and nabbed a few. However, neighbor Jerry Pryor claims Roble captured more than opossums. Pryor is missing two cats.

They prefer penthouse-like living. They prowl at night. They travel far in search of new dining experiences, be it Mexican, Cajun or vegetarian. They sport spiked hairdos. They cart their kids around in designer pouches. They exercise their tails off. They moved here from somewhere else. And when urban living gets to be too much, they suffer panic attacks.

THOUGH they may be, according to your article ["Opossums: Your Garden's Evening Clean-up Crew," June 28], "one of the gentlest animals out there," opossums are extremely frightening at 3:45 a.m. when they have sneaked into your house through a cat door and wake you up. This happened to me about two weeks ago. You may not approve of what happened next. I jumped out of bed, got a broom, chased the critter around my house under furniture for about 35 minutes before I cornered it.

LAURA SIMON, field director for the Humane Society's Urban Wildlife Program, does not mince words: "People are repulsed by their appearance." Can you blame them? Opossums, after all, do look like bloated rats -- the scruffy fur, the flinty eyes, the bizarre little feet and long, scaly tail. And that's their good side. Threaten one of them, and it will bare its teeth, hiss and drool. But as disgusting as the animals may appear, they actually do quite lovely work in the garden.

The families wandered into the park in old shirts, comfy jeans and worn sneakers. The kids were kids: darting around trees and over logs. The parents were parents: cautioning not to get too close to the creek, you'll fall in. At 7 p.m., the soft orange tint to the light filtering through the trees signaled that sunset was near. Rumps settled onto brown wooden benches.

Some ARE BORN TO GREATNESS. OTHERS HAVE greatness thrust upon them. Then there's Evelyn Gabai. An opossum was thrust upon her, and she's never looked back. Gabai, a curly-haired woman of 44, lives in Van Nuys and writes scripts for television animation. Apart from a fondness for critters that goes back to her New England youth, her life was proceeding in more or less normal fashion until 15 years ago.

Re "Fighting Virus Could Let Rats Roam," Sept. 5: Southern California has an effective, easy and, best of all, free method of rat control available at its disposal right now: the opossum. While some people consider the opossum just a big rat itself, nothing could be further from the truth. Rats do not thrive where there is a healthy opossum population. They compete for the same food (insects, spiders, garbage, carrion), and though the opossum is extremely docile and not a hunter by nature, it will eat infant rats in the nest when it comes upon them.

Re "Opossum Killings Test Limits of Cruelty Cases," July 29: As a high school English teacher, I never pass up the opportunity to teach my students the importance of respecting all living creatures. As a devoted animal lover, I was appalled and sickened by the heartbreaking photo accompanying the disturbing story on opossum killings. Anyone who has ever observed opossums knows that they are harmless, timid creatures. It is disappointing that Kirk Broomall was acquitted in an animal cruelty trial when it is obvious that the man gets enjoyment by seeing an innocent animal suffer a long, slow and painful death.

Some neighbors are outraged over the plan of their homeowners association board to trap and remove wild skunks and opossums. The trapping, set for Monday, is in the middle of the animals' birthing season and could leave a host of motherless young, opponents said this week. Unless the board agrees to postpone the trapping or release captured animals to relocation societies, homeowners say they will call in animal rights protest groups they have already contacted.

The drama began to unfold about 6:30 a.m. Tuesday in the center divider of northbound Interstate 5 near El Toro Road. There, as stalled motorists watched in fascination, an unidentified man got out of his 4-wheel-drive Bronco and tried to stand in front of an injured young opossum so that it wouldn't bolt into traffic. The man was soon joined by California Highway Patrol Officers Paul Golonsdki and Alex Varela. Together, the three tried to prod the opossum into a cardboard box.

I am sure The Times will receive many letters protesting the publication of the photograph of the grossly impaled opossum ("Opossum Killings Test Limits of Cruelty Cases," July 29). I applaud you for printing it, as it is a heinous reminder of the unconscionable acts humans commit and attempt to justify. Perhaps the viewing of that photograph will bring about changes in the law permitting the killing of "injurious" animals "in any manner." There should be no law ever that allows physical or emotional abuse of any animal, human or otherwise.

When a security guard in Tustin discovered an opossum on a wall one night, he beat it to death with his flashlight. When a Santa Fe Springs man spotted an opossum in his backyard, he shot it three times with a crossbow. The animal survived until the next morning, Easter Sunday, when the man finished it off with a shovel and a pipe. One man pleaded guilty to cruelty to animals. Last week, the other was acquitted of the same charge.