Monday, January 20, 2014

People pay last respects to Bob the opossum

Bob the opossum was found with a spinal injury in 2011 in Ocean Springs, Mississippi. That injury kept him from being able to be released back into the wild.



Since then Bob had been used to teach thousands of people about wildlife with Wild at Heart Rescue in Gulfport, Mississippi. Last year alone he took part in nearly 300 educational programmes.



Sadly Bob passed away a few months ago due to a neurological injury. Recently, a good Samaritan stepped up and donated funds so Bob could have a proper funeral and on Saturday a viewing was held at A Pet's Memory Funeral Home and Crematory in Gulfport.



Those who'd come in contact with Bob over the years paid their respects to the marsupial. Many say they fondly remember hand feeding him bananas.

There's a news video here.

4 comments:

Sandy said...

Aw, that's sweet.

I have a pet funeral home story! After my first cat died, the one who I got right after graduating and moving to a new city, and who lived with me for 17 years, I had her body cremated. The vet had sent the body to the pet crematorium, but I had to go to the pet funeral home to pick the ashes up.

It was surreal. The Pet Funeral Home is just like a human's funeral home, but in miniature, and with bone shaped grave markers. I went into the building, and the lady funeral director was very nice. She wore a conservative suit, spoke in a soft voice, and asked me to wait in a parlor, which was just like a viewing room in a traditional funeral home. I did notice that the paintings on the wall were of angels, but with kitty and dog faces. Instead of a traditional casket, there was a wooden cradle in the corner, with a satin lining. I stayed by the door, and the cradle was pretty deep, so I couldn't see inside it.

All of a sudden, that cradle started to rock, and Iremember sucking in my breath and holding onto the door jamb, because I was really hoping that thing wasn't haunted. To my surprise, a HUGE tabby cat jumped out of cradle, and waddled over to me. He was very sweet and had a loud purr, so I petted him for a bit.

While this was going on, a Mexican couple in their 50s came in to the main reception area, and they were going to make funeral arrangements for the lady's little dog. The man was dressed in western wear, with a cowboy hat and jeans and a big belt buckle and very fancy cowboy boots. The lady was a very pretty lady for her age, but she was obviously heartbroken. She was sobbing so hard that the funeral director stepped away to get some tissues and when she did, the big kitty started toward the couple.

He was so big and fat and waddled when he walked, that you couldn't help but laugh. The Mexican lady at least stopped sobbing and her husband just kept patting her shoulders trying to console her, when the cat flung himself on the man's cowboy boots and started to purr. He was wriggling around in ecstasy, and obviously begging the guy to pet him, and finally the poor sad lady started to laugh and I started to laugh and the man smiled because his beloved wife wasn't so sad any more.

I think all funeral homes should have comfort animals like that.

arbroath said...

Hahaha, how surreal!

What a great story. :)

Anonymous said...

I love that story, thanks for sharing!

Anonymous said...


Muchas gracias por compartir esta historia, Bob lindo zariguella que descanses en paz,que generosa y compasiva la persona que le dio a este animalito su funeral,la vida le devolvera con creces su gesto de amor por esta mascota. Saludos desde Santiago de Chile.

Thank you so much for sharing this story, Bob nice opposum, rest in peace,to the generous and compassionate person who gave him his funeral, life will return you more love. Greetings from Santiago de Chile.