Recently we had some tiny visitors to the studio – six little possums being cared for by Johanna, a volunteer from the Kanyana Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre. The first two images show Zarae, who was found in Gooseberry Hill sitting on a verandah. At the time she weighed only 172 grams. Now she is a healthy 300 grams and growing by the day!
Photo two is titled “An animal photographer’s occupational hazard”. Zarae (who might have been my favourite if I was allowed favourites!) took great delight in chewing on my thumb. Luckily it didn’t hurt much – it was more like teething bites. She even sat in my lap chewing on my thumb while I photographed the other baby possums. She seemed comforted by it. On the other hand, I was occassionally pained by it but didn’t want to upset her.
Also featuring in the pictures below is Millie, who was found in a backyard in Walliston, and Bessie, the largest of the six possums’ who was rescued by tree lopper after her mother was killed when he cut down the tree they lived in.
One of the additional highlights for me was bottle feeding the smallest possum, Banjo, weighing just 108 grams. Banjo was found abandoned in the grounds of Perth Zoo. Such a privilege to feed such a tiny creature!
Many thanks to Suzie for her amazing animal wrangling and to Johanna for entrusting us with her babies. The images will be used by the Kanyana Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre to create possum awareness and to promote their wildlife rehabilitation work.
