Possums hadn't been in Southwestern Ontario for long when I received a phone call from my dad. One had taken up lodging under their pump house and he didn't know anything about them and wondered what they ate, like did they have to worry about letting the cat outside? It was pretty funny to get a long distance phone call asking me to look it up on the internet for him. Anyway, I assured him the cat was safe. I have seen photos of them pretty fearlessly eating out of cats' bowls while the cats look on. They sure are ugly. LOL
It was thought they came to Southwestern Ontario by walking across the ice on the St. Clair river from Michigan one mild winter.
I was holding my cane out towards its nose and it moved towards it to sniff it. It had no fear of me whatsoever unless a made a very loud bang. I could have probably fed it food out of my hand. I know they are very laid back & sluggish creatures, but a lot of them have rabies. I don't want to take any chances. I had to continuously tap it on its back and push it forward to get it to move towards the exit.
I would have jumped out of my skin if I discovered it near my feet. We're told to be careful of wild animals that are friendly because they could have rabies but I didn't know it was common in possums.
I just Googled it and you are correct. It is very rare for possums to have rabies. It is because they have a slightly lower body temperature where the rabies virus can't thrive.
It was quite scary and it looked like a skunk too as I jumped back a bit and it waddled the other way.
LOL I'm definitely not correct because I had no idea one way or the other. It's fascinating what we learn.