Houston Commuter Stops On Busy Freeway To Save Opossum

Her heart was in the right place, but was it the right thing to do?

You’re driving along and you see an animal that’s been hit by a car on the side of the road. What do you do? According to KHOU based out of Houston on their report earlier today (July 22, 2015,) Page Jones, a Texas commuter,  spied an opossum fighting for dear life after being hit on a Houston highway. For more than ten minutes according to witnesses and traffic cameras, she desperately tried to keep the injured animal alive and well while authorities came to the rescue.The toll road authority finally did show up and provided Jones with a bag in which to transport the injured animal to a local animal shelter. Unfortunately, the animal did not make it and according to Jones, she indeed would pull over again if she spied another injured beast.

Faith in humanity restored? Maybe. It’s an admirable act for any human being to feel compassion towards another living entity, but there are some rules of the road to consider when weighing the options whether to pull over or not to save creatures life. An admirable act for sure, but are the risks worth the rewards to save what some consider to be a neighborhood pest. It depends on the situation.

Let’s say Page Jones came across this injured opossum on the same stretch of road at 3 A.M. with no cars around in any direction. Given the circumstances, sure it would be ok to stop and pull over, although not advised. Or if she encountered an injured opossum on her city streets off the highway? Yes, if Ms. Jones wanted to, it would be ok to stop and help the poor animal.

It would behoove any commuter on a busy highway not to pull over on the side of a busy freeway except under emergency circumstances as car passing by at high rates of speeds multiple times poses a risk to other motorists including yourself. Sitting exposed for ten minutes next to a busy freeway, in AOG’s opinion, isn’t worth the risk. We would’ve waited until we exited the freeway to park safely, call the appropriate authorities and let them handle the situation from there. Ms. Jones heart was in the right place, but she should be considerate of her own safety as well as the safety of other local motorists the next time she goes to save another one of God’s creations.