A Victorian possum that made it past Western Australia's hard borders in the back of a delivery truck is now in quarantine and — like many Australians over the past couple of years — looking for a flight home.
The eastern brushtail and her joey need to get back to Victoria because they pose a biosecurity risk in WA — and definitely do not have a valid G2G pass.
WA animal rescue workers were baffled when they got a call in mid-January from a logistics company to say that a possum had hitched a ride in a delivery truck and made it all the way into WA, having gone without food or water for at least three days.
Now they're calling on the major airlines to fly the possum and joey back to Victoria.
WA Wildlife Hospital manager Karen Clarkson got the call to go and catch the runaway possum.
"It was a very hot day, around the 40-degree mark so we were obviously concerned about the possum's condition because it wasn't a refrigerated truck," she said.
"We went straight down there to the truck depot in our rescue van and obviously for quarantine reasons it was very important that this possum didn't escape.
But catching the possum was another feat entirely.
"I had to keep checking under the pallets and we had to get the forklift driver in to take each pallet out one at a time," she said.
"Possums bite hard, so with wild possums you've got to be very careful because you end up hurt but I managed to grab and pull her out without getting a scratch on me."
She said when they got the possum back to the WA Wildlife Hospital it was all hands on deck.
Ms Clarkson said the eastern brushtail looked "a bit scrawny and terrified".
"We got her back and she had the biggest drink," she said.
"Then the vet examined her and that's when we found a little joey in her pouch.
"She's a very beautiful possum, very photogenic."
Eastern stowaways a rare occurrence
WA Wildlife's director of operations Dean Huxley said it was quite rare for a marsupial to come all the way from the east coast into WA.
"We've been doing this for 20 years at Native Arc and now WA Wildlife; we've never seen this before," he said.
"We get a lot of reptiles from up north, sort of from around Karratha, Port Hedland, Broome that hitch a ride on the back of utes and trucks — that's fairly common."
Strict quarantine protocols
Mr Huxley said quarantine protocols were so rigorous in WA that vets and carers who worked with the Victorian possum had to wear full protective equipment.
"We've had to have her quarantined for the entire time, so she's been in a standalone building where everything's self-contained," he said.
"All of the newspapers and towels that we put in the cage get incinerated after use. There's all sorts of biosecurity issues.
"If she can't be released back there [in Victoria] and she wouldn't be accepted on a zoo license, the outcome would unfortunately have to be euthanasia."
WA Wildlife has managed to organise for the possum to be released in Victoria but the next challenge lies in organising a flight home for the adventurous pair.
Booking a flight home
Mr Huxley said they were currently speaking with major airlines about transporting the precious cargo.
"We've been dealing with the WA Parks and Wildlife Authority, in terms of getting permission to export her back," he said.
"We're currently now trying to find an airline company that could fly her back, that can be quite expensive normally, so we are calling around to see if there are any companies that will be actually willing to do it for free."
