DEAR JOAN: Recently, we had an unusual sighting in our backyard — a mother opossum carrying her babies. Is there anything that we can or should do to help protect the mother and her babies? Jennifer W ...

Q: We watched an opossum sniffing around our back yard in the afternoon! Is that just uncommon or is it sick, like with rabies? I thought they were night-time animals and never ventured out in ...

Sporting opossums on her shirt, Dawn Summerlin holds up one of the critters in her care. The Buellton woman rehabilitates opossums in connection with the Santa Barbara Wiildlife Care Network. (Janene ...