So, our back and side yards are well enclosed and we let our boys roam them mostly at will. Their murderous tendencies, if any, are thus restrained.
Last night, I was trying to coax Wheezer to come in the house so we could go to bed. In the course of that "negotiation," I looked down to the far end of the side yard and saw something moving. Turned out to be an opossum that beat a hasty retreat under the fence. Wheezer ran toward it, but stopped about halfway.
And at that point, Wheezer did not want to come in, so I let him play for a bit.
After about 15 minutes, I went back out and Wheezer was acting like he had caught something, usually a bug, that he had pinned with his paws and he was looking down at it.
As I got closer, I saw some dark fur, and I was like oh shit and it was a fairly big patch of fur so I thought it was a pretty hefty rat. Then I saw the tail and realized it was a young opossum that seemed to be, well, playing possum.
I didn't see any injuries or blood so I distracted Wheezer and was kind of chasing him a few steps here and there and I looked back and the young opossum had stood up and I guess was preparing to flee. I managed to herd Wheezer into the house and hopefully saved the young marsupial.
It seems that playing possum was the perfect move because Wheezer is young enough that hunting and playing are the same thing (as if they ever really grow out of it) and by not reacting to his actions, Wheeze was just kind of looking at it instead of swatting and biting.
Seems maybe the first opossum I saw might have been Mama chasing after a youngun that Wheezer subsequently found.