The pet dog was recorded allowing the animals to cling to her back and treating them as if they were her own kids. However, owner Talita Peixoto has been cautioned about the perils of the odd connection. After being saved from a forest fire and left orphaned, a kind canine adopted seven newborn opossums.
Talita Peixoto, a biology student, was given a litter of young marsupials to care for before they were released back into the wild. She said that the joeys were rescued by her friend Samuel Maria about a month ago during forest fires in the municipality of Monte Alto in the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo.
The adorable film shows Talita’s dog, Jojo, getting along with the opossum joeys, even clinging to her back as if she were their mother.
Jojo also cleans them by gently wrapping them around her and licking them. She stated: “My dog, Jojo Toddynho, sat down in front of me as I was feeding the tiny opossums one day, looking sad and depressed since they were missing their mother.
“One of the opossums approached her and clung to her. When I saw the scenario, I thought to myself, ‘I’ll pile the others on top of her since they must be missing their mother.’
“It was fantastic because they latched onto her and she absolutely embraced them when I placed them on her. It was breathtaking to witness.” She claimed she then attempted to place the opossums on her pet’s back, and that the small joeys would approach Jojo on their own.
Despite Jojo’s mother’s relationship with the newborn opossums, experts have cautioned that dog assaults pose the greatest thre.at to the marsupials in urban settings, and Talita has subsequently ceased pairing the joeys with her dog. “I halted their contact with my dog since they must be terrified of people, dogs, and other animals,” she stated. “If they don’t, they could end up like their moms, sla.ugh.tered by dogs.”
The joeys have now been released back into the wild after reaching the required size and weight and learning to find water, shelter, and food on their own.
