Opossum With Rare Disease Was Saved From Cold Harsh Wilderness And Put Into Nice Warm Sweaters

“Playing possum” is an expression that’s used when someone fakes death. This possum wouldn’t be playing if it hadn’t been for one concerned Samaritan that dropped her off at South Plains Wildlife Rehabilitation Center (SPWRC). An opossum named Peach has a rare hair-loss condition called alopecia, which causes her to shed all of her body hair. And since fur is key at regulating body temperature, she wouldn’t have survived the cold of the looming winter.

The stranger found the 3-4-month-old opossum in SW Lubbock. Gail Barnes, executive director of SPWRC, watched on camera as the man dropped off a box in front of the center's intake building. She was warned beforehand that it was going to be a possum, but she didn't think that at first. When she brought the box inside, a hairless arm came out of the box, and she thought "Oh my gosh, he dropped off a hairless cat." The opossum was instantly put in an incubator for rehabilitation. Peach has an auto-immune condition called alopecia, which causes hair loss.