A six-month-old possum that embarked on an interstate hitchhiking journey in a removalist van now faces a milk-run return journey after recovering in a Gold Coast wildlife hospital.
The common ringtail possum arrived at Currumbin Wildlife Hospital on Tuesday last week after being found in a removalist van that travelled from Queenscliff on Sydney's northern beaches.
The hospital's senior vet Michael Pyne said the stowaway, affectionately named Queenie, had arrived in surprisingly good condition.
"The big challenge now is getting her back home," Dr Pyne said.
"She's travelled quite a long way and it's never as easy getting them home."
Dr Pyne says a "milk run" of volunteer wildlife carers will be required to transport Queenie back to more familiar surroundings.
"One carer will drive for three or four hours and connect up with another one, who does another drive, and eventually the possum finds its way home.
"It's the biggest logistical nightmare."
Gold Coast, Byron, Coffs, Sydney
Jan Pilgrim from Tweed Valley Wildlife Carers picked Queenie up on Saturday and has been preparing the possum for the first leg of her journey towards home.
"She had a really good feed last night of leaves and a small amount of fruit and veggies," she said.
"I'm going down to the Byron Bay Wildlife Hospital and someone's coming up from Coffs Harbour to collect her.
"We call it the Pony Express because not one person can make such a long journey.
"So we just keep handing them over until they get to where they should be."
Hitchhiking wildlife common
In January, a family of northern quolls had to be repatriated to Queensland from Melbourne after they were accidentally shipped south in a box of pumpkins.
Dr Pyne says wildlife going on misadventures is more common than people may realise, and it is usually smaller animals that go unnoticed.
"We do get a lot of hitchhikers, but most commonly it tends to be frogs," he said.
"Little frogs find their way into vehicles and things and can travel quite some distance and you're never quite sure where they came on board.
"Something the size of a possum is not as common, but it certainly happens."
Dr Pyne said it was always surprising when an animal turned up in an unexpected place and Queenie's case was no exception.
"The story goes the people who did the move had quite a possum problem and it was one of their worst nightmares that a possum would follow them," he said.
"Then, in the process of unpacking, the possum was found in the truck.
"It sounds like they had possums galore down there, so perhaps she thought this removalist truck looked like a nice cosy spot to call her own, and has all of a sudden found herself on a drive."
