False post: No, opossums will not eliminate Lyme disease

Opossums won't help us in our battle against Lyme disease, even if they eat ticks, a veterinarian says.

A false post spread on Facebook in the name of Chamblee Hospital falsely asserted that opossums “specialize in eliminating ticks” and thus have become “allies.”[s] The size of our pets.

“He does eat ticks, because he can't tolerate having ticks on his skin, but it's not actually going to help us fight Lyme disease, it's not resistant either, it just 'doesn't help Lyme disease,'” veterinarian Claudia Gilbert said in an interview on the show. “It gets rid of ticks quickly.” The outcome.

This small marsupial was found in Quebec several years ago. It comes more from southern Quebec and the United States, but with climate change, we see it returning again to the province, and it is now settled mainly on the south shore of Montreal and in Montérégie.

“It is a marsupial, we can compare it to a koala or a kangaroo, it is a caged animal, it does not hibernate and still needs a certain climate suitable for it, which is why slowly, with climate change, we are seeing more, and more of them,” the vet explained.

M warned^I Gilbert.

“It is an animal that is still shy and harmless, and on the other hand it is a wild animal, we do not want to try to catch it and try to tame it to keep it in our house. Social media does that a lot and it is very harmful to wild animals,” she continued.

She warned that the opossum still has 50 teeth, eight more than a dog, and can bite if attacked.

Although not considered a pest, this animal is opportunistic and can find itself running through your trash. Because he is afraid, he often pretends to be dead, sometimes for six hours.

It is also very weak. “It's clumsy and you could get hit by a car, so you have to be careful,” M warned^I Gilbert.