Many of us overindulge during the holidays. Members of the animal kingdom are apparently no different.
According to the owner of a Florida liquor store, an opossum broke into a package shop the day after Thanksgiving and crushed an entire bottle of bourbon. Owner Cash Moore (reportedly his real name) told the Northwest Florida Daily News that an employee discovered the opossum hanging out on one of the shelves next to a broken, empty bottle of bourbon. The publicly intoxicated opossum was subsequently taken to the Emerald Coast Wildlife Refuge for detox.
The opossum’s blood alcohol concentration wasn’t immediately clear, but the animal was showing symptoms of intoxication. “Assuming the opossum drank it all, he brought her to us, and we looked over her and she definitely wasn’t fully acting normal,” Michelle Pettis, a wildlife technician, told the Northwest Florida Daily News. The opossum “appeared disoriented, was excessively salivating and appeared to be pale,” Pettis said.
The opossum was subsequently pumped full of fluids to clear any remaining alcohol from her system and monitored as she sobered up. The animal made a full recovery and was released a few days later. Pettis told the Northwest Florida Daily News that this was her first encounter with an intoxicated opossum.
It isn’t, however, the first instance of creatures thirsty for a stiff drink. A cat binged on some Riesling in a German town in 2015, and it’s safe to imagine many fraternity dogs have lapped up spilled beers in our nation’s proud collegiate history.
Moore determined that the opossum likely broke into the liquor store through the rafters, and knocked the bottle of bourbon off of a shelf. It didn’t appear to have a hangover and, according to the report, Moore had no reason to believe the opossum was underage.
