Poncho the opossum had little hope for survival after his mother was killed by a car, but he found an unlikely adoptive parent: Hantu, a white German shepherd. With expert veterinarian care and the patient companionship of Hantu, Poncho not only survived but thrived.
The opossum is the only marsupial to live in North America, according to the Opossum Society of the United States. After birth, the tiny baby opossums live and grow inside their mother’s pouch. As juveniles, they crawl out of the pouch and cling to their mother’s back for several weeks, until they are old enough to live on their own. Poncho was too young to survive on his own when his mother died, so it was critical that he be paired with another “mother” to help him grow into a healthy adult.
Just as a mother opossum would do, Hantu carries Poncho on her back. The video below shows the two as they roam the woods together where they live at the Rare Species Fund (RSF), a grassroots wildlife organization in Myrtle Beach, S.C. The organization provides funding and training to “enhance wild species populations through the support of grassroots wildlife conservation projects, the maintenance of genetically representative viable populations of captive wildlife and the education of the public about conservation issues through the use of animal ambassadors.”
They couldn’t have picked two more endearing ambassadors than Poncho and Hantu.
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