'Crazy' sight on Aussie farm as native animals escape heat
The situation sparked concern for the small brushtail possum who would usually be in danger.
An "unusual" sight at a New South Wales property has stunned onlookers who were shocked to see a small brushtail possum befriend an unlikely candidate.
Inside a chicken coop at an animal refuge in Jervis Bay on the South Coast, owner Belinda Donovan spotted the marsupial escaping the heat on Wednesday where it somehow managed to find itself an unwanted roommate.
A photo shared on the Mudgeroo Emu Farm and Animal Refuge Facebook page shows the wide-eyed animal resting beside a giant diamond python, just centimetres apart. Although non-venomous and not dangerous to humans, the snake, like many others, feeds on possums and other smaller animals, so you don't often see them side by side unless it's feeding time.
Two animals often coexist on property
As strange as it might seem, it's a common occurrence at the animal refuge where wild snakes often roam. Donovan said the two animals regularly coexist on the 70-acre property. "It's pretty crazy," she told Yahoo News Australia.
"We have had possums live all around our chicken coops for the last ten years, and we've got lots of pythons that live there too," she added. "The possums shelter there during the day, and the pythons do as well. They just coexist and we let them be."
Sign the python has already eaten
While it's "normal for pythons to eat all sorts of animals" Donovan says her team wasn't concerned about the welfare of the possum in this instance. That's because "our pythons are pretty well fed already because they've got a good food source of rats" on their property and this particular snake "was very fat".
Looking at the photo, there's an obvious bulge around its belly which indicates it's likely already eaten a large meal.
"It could either be gravitate (pregnant) and it's about to give birth, or it could be full of last night's dinner of rats," Donovan said. Plus the "possum looks quite content".
Aussies respond to 'scary' sight
After sharing the image on Facebook with its followers, many were shocked to see the two animals effortlessly coexist — but some still feared for the safety of the possum.
"Run little guy, run! I don’t like the law of averages," said one, responding to the post. "That possum needs a lesson on stranger danger," said another. While some others said the situation looked "so scary".
Earlier this month, snake catchers from the Sunshine Coast were called to a property to rescue a carpet python that had swallowed a brushtail possum. At the time, Stuart told Yahoo News it was by far "the biggest food item" he's ever seen a snake inhale and at first thought it might have been a pet cat or small dog.
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