By Matthew Sims
Young wild possums in Pakenham Upper have received a new place to shack up, thanks to volunteers from the Akoonah Park Men’s Shed.
The Men’s Shed donated seven new habitat boxes for ringtail possums and four habitat boxes for brushtail possums at the Locky’s Legacy wildlife shelter in Pakenham Upper.
Locky’s Legacy owner Lyndel Charmers runs Locky’s Legacy from her 18-acre property in Upper Pakenham, where she rescues and rehabilitates wombats, kangaroos, echidnas, galahs and cockatoos to name a few.
She said the boxes acted as a safe place for the possums to transition out of their aviary.
“When we release the possums, it’s a big and wide world out there,” Ms Chalmers said.
“I move the whole box with the possums in it.
“They’ve got their familiar smells but they’ve got the whole world to explore.”
She said she had received possum boxes from the Akoonah Park Men’s Shed previously and was happy to contact them again for another batch of boxes.
“They’re just so handy and well-made,” Ms Chalmers said.
“Thank you very much to the Akoonah Park Men’s Shed volunteers.”
She said with the shelter accepting about 40 possums each year, there was always a need for more habitat, with a ringtail possum box housing two or three possums and a brushtail possum box only housing one possum at a time.
“It allows them to go back into the wild,” Ms Chalmers said.
Men’s Shed volunteer Maury Hall said the boxes were made using plywood donated by the Burwood Men’s Shed.
“We don’t have much waste,” he said.
“We’re always very happy to do stuff for the community.”
Anyone interested in donating old sheets, towels or blankets, or pouches or possum boxes to Locky’s Legacy, phone Lyndel on 0431 635 858.
