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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Lifestyle
Phoebe Loomes

When a sick possum showed up in my garden my heart overtook my head. Is it ever OK to feed urban wildlife?

A common brushtail possum on top of a tree at night in the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney
A brushtail possum in Sydney. Photograph: Manuel Romaris/Getty Images

Chopping vegetables in my kitchen on a winter afternoon, I was startled by the sound of rustling branches and loud coughing coming from my back yard.

I walked outside tentatively, prepared to face a fence-hopping intruder. Instead, after a few minutes of listening to evenly timed wheezes, I spotted it – a small brushtail possum, tucked behind lilly-pilly branches bowing over my fence.

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