That's a Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana)

It moved fairly slow for "its age" because opossums move fairly slow at any age.
It was not a particularly old individual from what it appears. Just a normal looking but somewhat wet Virginia Opossum.

The "Giant Rat of Sumatra" (see Sherlock Holmes).
You are unaccustomed to seeing these creatures since they have only recently moved into Canada. They have been moving in that direction for many years, and as things get warmer, you will probably see more of them. In the northern parts of their range you will often see them with frost bitten ears and tail. Nice photo.

We have "possums" in our area. Usually out at night. They are ugly! They hiss. If you try to kill it they "play dead" so while you might think you've solved the problem, it's only because it's a good actor. They can have up to 2 litters a year with 5-10 (or more) in a litter; consequently I'd be trying to get rid of it with a trap or poison.

Anac, 'possums do not make great pets! Not only is it illegal (Federal Law) but cruel to the animal.

Anac, 'possums do not make great pets! Not only is it illegal (Federal Law) but cruel to the animal.

No, they shouldn't become pets but they sure try! I have a pet door so the dogs can get to their lot & at least once or twice a year a possum uses it. They like the dog food. Most get turned around in the house & have to be escorted out, but "Simon" uses the door accurately. Several years ago one made himself at home by curling up in a basket & sleeping there. Other critters that have come in thru the pet door were wood rat, raccoons-lots of them- a mole, and a ring necked snake. None caused any problems. Oh, one raccoon did-he began opening cabinets to get food & I had to live trap him & release him on the other side of the property. No harm done as I saw him later ( he had a wonky ear that made him easily identifiable.)
Susan

I would ask that people not kill them. We need opossums because they do eat dead things. If we kill all the animals that eat the carrion, we will regret it.

That's a opossum. I see them all the time where I live.

See them here every night, too. Love the little guys. It's unfortunate they have such short lives (about 3 years), because they sure are easy to get attached to.

They're quite successful in living in cities...I saw the largest one I've EVER seen only a few weeks ago...in the no-mans weed strip between houses on parallel streets.

I onced raised a possum when her mother was struck by a car. I had never experienced them before that. 'Laura' was a sweet and clever girl. It is amazing how someone's view on a particular animal can change after firsthand experience. I never saw ugliness in her. same thing happened with raising a starling, which most folks regard as nuisance birds. 'Bobbity' was a dear friend and I think of that wonderful time now whenever I see starlings.

Opossums are dangerous to horses. They carry a parasite that affects the central nervous system of a horse. The parasite is
spread from the feces. Horses can ingest the protozoa from contaminated feed, hay, water or pasture. Many farmers shoot them on sight!

Debra - it's now known that several carnivore species CAN carry the parasite, even barn cats and sea otters. Shooting every possum you see will not protect your horses unless you also shoot every carnivore you see. If you do that, your barn will be overrun with rodents.

Horses have been diagnosed with it in areas where there are no possums, and although high numbers of horses test positive for it in areas where it is present, very few of them develop symptoms.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equine_protozoal_myeloencephalitis

http://horsehints.org/EquineProtozoalMyeloencephalitisEPM.htm

Interesting. I had never heard of this disease, but then again, I have no particular interest in horses. Interesting that apparently, opossums have never been shown to actually act as an intermediate host for the disease!

Not the first time that farmers have been guilty of indiscriminately killing the wrong animals based on old wive's tales (e.g. milksnakes, prairie dogs, etc.).

Possum used to get my dogs all riled up. When I had three dogs and a neighbor with lots of places in the yard that a critter could use as a den, I hated and feared them. They would get up on my fence and my dogs would go wild barking at them. Once I had all three dogs, not two, they could triangulate on critters and they killed their share of squirrels.

Then there was the Night of the Possum. DH was yelling for me from the back door, "Help, they've got a 'possum!" (He may be a city boy and afraid of critters of all kinds, but he knows enough to put that little ' mark in front of "possum" because it is a contraction for opossum!) So off I went to get the dogs inside so they did not continue to disturb the neighborhood with all their barking. I got Megan to go inside. She was the most obedient of the three. But that meant that there were two dogs and me surrounding Brer Possum at that point, and who do you think he went for with two hounds snapping at him with teeth at his face level? Yeah, me. So Casey, who loved me wildly, went for that critter's neck and killed him with a hard chomp and a shake. I was able to get both Casey and Toby away from the critter and into the house, where DH was still there, holding the door. I went around to the garage and got a shovel, since I had to get the body out of the back yard so the dogs would not eat it or get possum vermin or whatever. But as I rounded the back of the garage and looked for the possum, there he was, climbing the fence!

At our next house, Toby once brought what looked like one of his favorite stuffed animals to the patio door one evening. Thing was, we knew that stuffed animal had never gone outside. Again, DH hollered for me - "Toby's got a possum and he's trying to bring it in the house!" His tail was wagging so hard his whole body was wagging. I went and got a winter glove out of the closet. Toby was so happy with his find! It was a baby, maybe a third of adult size - exactly like his stuffed animal. I got it out of his mouth, picked it up with the gloved hand and threw it over the fence, just in case it lived.

It did live. Toby brought it back a few days later!

That's when I looked up possum on the internet and learned how beneficial they are. They eat what vermin eat. That means fewer mice around your house. They don't really den up. They just wander around. The Opossum Society of the United States says, "Opossums are beneficial: eating the harmful, unwanted pests around
your home such as snails, slugs, spiders, cockroaches, rats, mice and
snakes. Think of the opossum as your free gardener. The opossum is known
as “Nature’s Little Sanitation Engineer” for a good reason!"

I'm old, and I remember when some folks used to get possum, and eat them. You have to cook the fat off them, because they sometimes eat nasty smelling stuff that stays with them.
I don't eat possum.

Possums are a part of nature and should be respected as such. When I was first married my DH told me he was going to kill the possum that was getting into our garbage can. I asked him to put the lid on the can. He insisted he was going to kill it. So I told him he could but to expect divorce papers the next day. He changed his mind and put the lid on the can. Saw the possum a few times after that so DH was good to his word on leaving it alone. Through the years DH has come to respect all wildlife more and actually seems to enjoy spotting critters now. He hates the groundhogs in our yard, but they have remained unharmed.

Opossums are scavengers and should be appreciated for the work that they do. Can you imagine if there were nothing around to clean up the dead things? Ever notice how you rarely see any dead wildlife considering how much wildlife is out there? Every animal has a job to do and a right to life.