00:00He was riding along when he saw something tiny shaking on the side of the road.
00:07I didn't know much about possums. I did my best to try and pick it up, get it out of
00:11the street
00:11because it was sitting there next to another dead runover possum. After I threw the possum into the
00:16bush, he was shaking and looking at me and I realized he's just a little baby. And I was like,
00:23all right, Rodrigo, you're coming with me. And that was just how I named him. I don't know why,
00:27that just came out of my mouth. So he brought the little guy with him and immediately started
00:34researching what he was supposed to do. I reached out to my buddy. He's very familiar with wildlife.
00:41His wildlife vet friends were all like kind of collaborated in on this and they informed me
00:47that with his condition, he would most likely be euthanized and it broke my heart. At the end,
00:55Cole decided to do what he felt was best and keep caring for this tiny possum who desperately
01:01needed a second chance. I was like, well, you know what? I'm going to do what I can to help
01:05him.
01:06I never left him alone.
01:11He adjusted Rod's diet, cleaned his wounds and fed him every few hours.
01:19Good morning, you little rascal.
01:21For weeks, Rod went absolutely everywhere with him and he even had his own little sleeping spot
01:27inside of a pocket in Cole's bag. I did this for like six weeks, seven weeks until he just got
01:34really strong. He was moving around, his tremor stopped. I was taking him everywhere with me to
01:38the gyms and whatnot. Then one day while they were both outside, I got a crazy phone call from one
01:46of my buddy's mom's. Something traumatic happened to her son. And while I'm doing that, my attention
01:51wasn't on Rodrigo in the bag. And like possums do, he quietly and quickly hopped out of the bag
02:02and took off and disappeared into the bushes. Watching to decide, okay, you know what? I think
02:09I've got it from here. As hard as that moment was for Cole, I think that he knew that this
02:14day would
02:15eventually come. It broke my heart and it also like kind of like warmed it at the same time. It
02:21broke my heart, but it opened it at the same time, right? And I had a lot of space to
02:26take in another
02:27critter if I could and just take care of him and hopefully release him. After people started following
02:32Roth's story online, they actually started contacting Cole whenever another possum needed help.
02:38Even though Rod eventually went his own way, he left Cole with a very important mission. He became
02:46deeply involved in wildlife rescue, volunteering, and even rehabilitation work. And he now uses his
02:53platform to advocate for possums and their wellbeing. I think that's literally the coolest thing ever.
03:02Amen.
03:02I think that's why I'll be able to do that.
03:04I think that's just the best way to get people involved.
03:05I think that's the best way to get people involved.
03:06I think that's what I could do.
03:06I'm a very high school.
03:06I went through and I think that's the best way for them and that's the best way to do that.
03:10I think that's why I'm already doing it.
03:10So now you're really using them.
Comments