Staff at an animal shelter in South Carolina got quite a surprise when a very strange-looking "dog" showed up unannounced.
Opossums are useful little critters well-adapted to living alongside people. However, it should be noted that their purported proclivity for eating ticks by the thousand is, unfortunately, a myth.
However, it's harmful for wild animals to become overly accustomed to humans. If they lose their fear of people and see them as a source of food, conflict inevitably ensues.
Opossums pose absolutely no danger to people, but an emboldened opossum can be considered a nuisance when it invades a yard seeking food.
They are natural seed dispersers, but homeowners tend to view opossums less favorably because they have to pick up after them.