TINY ADDITION NATURE CENTER CONTINUES TRADITION.Byline: Sharon Cotal Staff Writer NEWHALL - Taking care of a new baby is a lot of work, especially when the little one is just four inches long, weighs a few ounces and has to be fed with a eye dropper drop·per n. A device that produces drops, especially a small tube with a suction bulb at one end for drawing in a liquid and releasing it in drops. Also called instillator. dropper 1. or syringe syringe /sy·ringe/ (si-rinj´) (sir´inj) an instrument for injecting liquids into or withdrawing them from any vessel or cavity. . But Tina Raleigh and Jim Johnson of the Placerita Canyon Nature Center have taken on the challenge of raising an orphaned opossum opossum (əpŏs`əm, pŏs`–), name for several marsupials, or pouched mammals, of the family Didelphidae, native to Central and South America, with one species extending N to the United States. that was found in a local back yard shortly after being weaned wean tr.v. weaned, wean·ing, weans 1. To accustom (the young of a mammal) to take nourishment other than by suckling. 2. . After living in the mother's pouch pouch (pouch) a pocket or sac. abdominovesical pouch one formed by reflection of the peritoneum from the abdominal wall to the anterior surface of the bladder. for three months, baby opossums ride on their mother's backs, and Raleigh suspects that ``Gini,'' the center's newest addition, probably fell off and was accidentally abandoned. ``If you've got several babies on your back and one falls off, you might not notice,'' she said. Gini was named after Virginia Shadwick, a longtime volunteer and employee at the nature center who became known as the ``Opossum Lady'' because she rescued and nursed to health the marsupials when they were abandoned or found injured in·jure tr.v. in·jured, in·jur·ing, in·jures 1. To cause physical harm to; hurt. 2. To cause damage to; impair. 3. . ``Virginia did a lot of things here at the center, but that was kind of her niche,'' Raleigh said of Shadwick, who died last month after a long battle with breast cancer. ``That was her favorite thing to do.'' Gini is thriving and is now being groomed to take her place as one of the stars of the nature center's animal programs. Raleigh has taken Gini out for display a couple of times, but says she's still a little young to be introduced to the public. ``She has a very sweet temperament, which is important since she will be coming in contact with hundreds of people through our programs,'' Raleigh said. The center has been without a opossum since August when Blossom the Opossum died at age 3 1/2. CAPTION(S): 2 photos Photo: (1 -- 2 -- color) Recreational Service Leader Tina Raleigh holds ``Gini,'' a 3-month-old opossum at the Placerita Nature Center. Shaun Dyer/Special to the Daily News |
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