Second opossum in over one month captured in Honolulu
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - A live opossum was captured in Honolulu on Monday afternoon, according to Department of Agriculture officials.
This comes a little over a month after officers captured a different opossum at a Honolulu office building.
Officials say freight workers in Kalihi were unloading construction material from a 40-foot shipping container and spotted an animal that looked like a very large rat run and hide inside the container.
The workers reported it to the Plant Quarantine Branch of the Hawaii Department of Agriculture, who sent over inspectors that were able to capture the animal.
Officials said the opossum measured about 1.5 to two feet in length from head to tail and appears to be a male adult or older juvenile.
Officials say the opossum likely hitchhiked in the container loaded in California and is being tested for rabies as a precaution.
Two traps were set inside the container overnight, and a check by inspectors this morning found no other animals.
The origin of the live opossum captured on a window ledge of an office building in Downtown Honolulu earlier this summer was never determined.
That opossum tested negative for rabies.
Over the years, several opossums have been captured in Hawai’i:
June 2016 –an opossum was captured by workers offloading a cargo ship at Honolulu Harbor.
July 2015 –an opossum was captured in Kaka’ako near the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Office on Ala Moana Blvd, an area surrounded by arriving cargo.
July 2012 –an opossum was caught in a cat trap at a Sand Island warehouse.
August 2011 – one was found in a shipping container as it was being unloaded in the Ward Center area.
In 2005, two opossums were found – one was captured inside a military cargo plane at Hickam Air Force Base and the other was found in the mail receiving area of the U.S. Postal Service facility at Honolulu International Airport.
Opossums are native to North America and are omnivorous, with diets that range from insects, bird eggs and rodents, to fruits and vegetables.
Although opossums are less likely to carry rabies than other mammals, they are carriers of parasites and other diseases.
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