Dog becomes surrogate father to baby possum

A dog has acted as the surrogate father to a baby possum, letting it snuggle in his fur until it was reunited with it’s mother.

The one-year-old golden retriever, named Bowie, walked into the house with a tiny possum clinging to his back on Friday.

His owner Jessica Bird, 29, was watching television and heard a “scuffle outside” before Bowie trotted in with a “furry brown thing” on his neck.

“The next thing I know, Bowie came trotting into the house acting totally normal. He jumped up onto the couch with me and then I saw this thing on his neck,” Ms Bird said.

“I felt quite panicked and couldn’t understand how he was so calm. I mean his face looked a little confused, but he was totally fine and relaxed.

“When I had a closer look I realised it was this tiny baby possum that was latched onto Bowie. It was like it thought that he was his mum,” she said.

Ms Bird believes the marsupial dropped off its mother’s back from the roof and landed straight onto Bowie’s soft fur while he was playing outside.

“We always have possums on the roof, so we thought the mum might still be there. We went back outside in the dark, and were very still and really quiet.

“I put the possum back on the roof where we think it fell from. Then the mum came back pretty much straight away and collected it.

“It was a really happy ending. I think Bowie saved its life, as who knows what could have happened.

“The possum might not have made it. It was very lucky.”

The proud dog owner added that Bowie took to his ‘foster daddy’ role like a complete natural and seemed “sad and lost” after the possum was reunited with its mum.

“After the mum came and got the baby possum, Bowie just sat outside for a while staring up at the roof,” she said.

“I could see he was upset that he didn’t have the baby on him anymore.

“He really cared about the little possum. Bowie is such a loving dog and I couldn’t be prouder of him.”