Possum in the house

A while back, Mark heard one of the cats growling at something, but it didn't sound quite right. He found Banshee by the TV stand, staring underneath and, he thought, growling at something. However, it didn't sound like Banshee. Suddenly he realized that the growling was coming from underneath the TV stand.

Mark had been working in the garage with the side door open earlier. The possum must have gone into the garage then when he wasn't looking, and come into the house with him without him noticing. (The cats sometimes manage going through that door without us noticing, so it's certainly possible.) Then, after Mark had gone upstairs, Banshee cornered the possum. We're glad it ran under a piece of furniture that the cats are too big to go under, as someone would certainly have gotten hurt otherwise.

We locked the cats away, two in the laundry room downstairs and two in an upstairs bathroom, and Mark used an old outdoor broom to coax the possum out from its hiding place. I managed to get one picture of it before my camera batteries died (shown below) while he was trying to chase it toward the back door. He got it a bit farther before it just hunkered in a corner.

Finally, we got a big cardboard box, coaxed it in, and carried the box outside, letting it leave in its own time. While Mark went to find a suitable box, I kept an eye on the critter to make sure it didn't go anywhere, and had some fun at its expense, holding the broom above it and watching it move its head around, mouth wide open (looking ridiculous), waiting for a chance to bite the broom.

We got it out with nothing more than some potential emotional scars for the possum. Everyone who was supposed to be in the house was completely unharmed, and the possum got back outside to relative safety. Banshee probably didn't really think much of it even when it was happening.