New opossum, born without eyes, finds a home at nature center

SHELBY TOWNSHIP — The Burgess-Shadbush Nature Center has a new rescued opossum, and he is already popular with the community.

In a contest held during the beginning of June, the community voted to name the new opossum “Murray.” The name Murray prevailed with 53.87% of the vote — 1,162 of 2,157 total voters — in a three-way contest that also included the names “Milo” and “Oliver.”

Like the center’s previous opossum, Lily, Murray is blind. Lily, who recently passed away, had nonfunctioning eyes, while Murray was born without eyes. Shelby Township explained in a press release that the name Murray is a nod to Marvel superhero Daredevil, alias Matt Murdock, who is blind and whose other senses are superhuman.

Elizabeth “Lizzy” Schultz, nature center coordinator, said that Lily had become a community favorite while living at the center. Last summer, the nature center debuted an elaborate enclosed habitat for Lily featuring a tree, plants and rocks that was the result of a collaboration between Dbaker Designs and Eagle Scout candidate Drew Belisle.

“Lily left behind big paw prints to fill as she was beloved by our community and had fans from all over the state. She also left a large hole in our hearts, so we began the search for another non-releasable opossum,” Schultz said in the press release.

Schultz learned that Motor City Possum Rescue in Ferndale had such an opossum. She said that since his introduction and the voting, Murray has been building his fan base.

“Murray is growing fast and quickly becoming a community favorite. Children love watching Murray running around his beautiful habitat and will sometimes even get on the floor and pretend to be opossums themselves,” she told the Shelby-Utica News.

Cindy Martel, Shelby Township’s assistant director of Parks, Recreation, Maintenance, Nature Center and Senior Center, said Murray has a multifaceted role at the nature center.

“Our new opossum ambassador, Murray, is more than just a cute face; he’s a living lesson in resilience, adaptation and the beauty of our local wildlife. By meeting Murray up close, we hope children will forge a deeper connection with nature, fostering curiosity and empathy for all creatures great and small,” she said.

Schultz had taken care to make sure that Murray would be OK with life in the spotlight since getting Murray from Cyndi Russ, licensed wildlife rehabilitator and Motor City Possum Rescue founder.

“He was so small and understandably scared of everything. I had to make sure he would enjoy life in a busy nature center. We kept him in a quiet place where we could introduce new sounds, smells and people slowly. In just a few days, he became this ball of energy looking for adventure! He loves to run and explore. He has these big ears that are constantly moving and seems to have a heightened sense of hearing, as he can detect even the slightest movements from his caretakers. He’s going to make a great ambassador for his species,” Schultz said in the release.

The Burgess-Shadbush Nature Center is located at 4101 River Bends Drive and is open 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Wednesdays-Saturdays and noon-5 p.m. Sundays.