Maximiliano Pinochet, a rescued opossum, and his caregiver, María Ofelia Pérez Milán, visit schools to raise awareness among children about wildlife care.
Maximiliano is barely 10 months old and came into María Ofelia’s care when she found him lying in the street one afternoon.
According to her story, someone had probably abandoned him, and her love for animals led her to pick him up, call her cats’ veterinarian, and ask what she could do for the marsupial.
The vet performed a checkup and informed her that he was dehydrated, anemic, and extremely thin. Upon receiving the diagnosis, she asked him, “What do we do? Will you help me?”
With no knowledge of opossum care, she decided to follow the specialist’s instructions. This changed Maximiliano’s life, and, along with him, Ofelia’s.
Maxi’s “mom,” as she affectionately calls him, mentioned that an important fact is that if a possum’s ears are white, it still needs its mother. On the other hand, if they are black, it is already independent.
María Ofelia is part of a group that helps animals, and after Maxi’s recovery, they decided to launch an awareness campaign for their species. As part of this initiative, they sought support through a report, and a friend suggested creating a Facebook profile for Maxi.
According to Ofelia, the page has the same goal as the campaign: to encourage people to respect these animals. They also created profiles for him on Instagram and TikTok.
Ofelia Pérez emphasized that the main message is to leave them alone. “It’s not about adopting them, because that’s complicated. We’re not asking for adoption, but for respect,” she said.
As a suggestion, she mentioned that if anyone finds an injured opossum, they can take it to the vet and help it recover, before releasing it later. However, in Maximiliano’s case, once he had recovered, the vet told him he couldn’t be released because having been raised by a human, he would seek contact with other people, which could endanger his life.
TYT Newsroom
