Possum climbs on ewe mistaken for mother

A young possum hitches a ride on the back of a ewe on a Taieri farm. Photo / Supplied

Possums generally end up flat out when they try to catch a ride amid heavy traffic.
Now, it seems they are attempting to hitchhike using more docile forms of transport.

Taieri lifestyle farmer George Davis went to check on his small flock of sheep yesterday morning and was gobsmacked when he discovered a possum piggy-backing on one of his ewes.

Davis believed the possum was "a bit of a freeloader".

"It stayed there for 20 minutes or so.

"The ewe just stood there and the possum just sat there.

"And then a wee while later, the possum climbed up on to the head of the ewe.

"She didn't like that so much, so she shook her head and the possum fell off.

"She started sniffing it, and it just climbed back on."

That happened a couple of times, Davis said.

Now that he had seen it with his own eyes, he believed nothing was impossumible.

"Words fail me.

"It's all very weird.

"Clearly, there's something not quite right with the possum," he said.

"He's quite confused at the moment."

He said it was a young one, and they were known to ride on their mother's back at that age.

"It obviously mistook the ewe for its mother for some reason."