Just a clarification: you shouldn't be out hunting possums for funsies but they really are *not* that efficient at killing ticks. They only kill the ones they find on their body. And that isn't a ton. There's that *one* study that suggests they're massive destroyers of ticks but

that isn't really born out in reality. For the study they exposed a whole bunch of animals to close quarters with ticks. Possums were the best at *grooming them* off of themselves, not hunting them down.

People get really upset when you trap or kill them. If you live somewhere

that's legal to trap and release (and aren't rural) then by all means do so. But if you have poultry, and a possum gets in, your losing a lot of birds at once.

It's sad anytime you need to kill pest animals. But possums can harm (via disease) equine and absolutely wreck bird

flocks or tear open numerous sacks of feed. Your responsibility is to harden these and make it difficult for a pest to get in so you don't have to kill an animal just trying to survive. But there is a threshold where that happens. And possums keeping themselves groomed of ticks

(which guess what, chickens actively hunt for ticks) is not saving grace enough to spare them once they start harming livestock.

Anyway, don't be an ass and hunt pest animals for fun. And don't be an ass and refuse to understand why it has to happen sometimes.