Hawaii Department of Agriculture plant quarantine inspectors trapped an opossum on Tuesday night at a big-box store in Iwilei, according to a news release.

This is the third opossum captured in Honolulu this year. 

Last Thursday, the HDOA Plant Quarantine Branch received a report of an opossum from a passerby, who saw the marsupial in the area the night before. Inspectors checked the area and set traps. On Sunday, inspectors returned to the area and found opossum droppings in a storage container at the store. The inspectors set traps with bananas, apples and cantaloupe as bait. On Wednesday morning, inspectors found the opossum in one of the traps in the storage container. 

When asked what store the opossum was discovered in, HDOA said they do not usually disclose the name of the store unless staff feel it is necessary for health or safety reasons. 

"We want to encourage people to report these types of incidences and not worry about possible adverse publicity," said HDOA Public Information Officer Janelle Saneishi. 

(Photo courtesy of the Hawaii Department of Agriculture)

HDOA said it is not known where the opossum came from and the store employees said they did not see it come out of another shipping container, but did see it roaming the area at night. The storage container where the opossum was eventually trapped was not used for shipping. 

The state agency will euthanize the nine-pound male opossum in order to test it for rabies, since its origins are unknown. 

Opossums are native to North America and are omnivorous, with diets that range from insects, bird eggs and rodents, to fruits and vegetables. Although opossums are less likely to carry rabies than other mammals, they are carriers of parasites and other diseases. 

Over the years, several opossums have made their way to Hawaii, most as stowaways on cargo vessels. 

• August 2024: An opossum was captured at a Kalihi freight company after workers saw it run into a shipping container.
• July 2024: Honolulu police captured an opossum crawling around a downtown office building. 
• June 2016: An opossum was captured by workers unloading a cargo ship at Honolulu Harbor.
• July 2015: An opossum was captured in Kaka‘ako near the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Office on Ala Moana Blvd, an area surrounded by arriving cargo.
• July 2012: An opossum was caught in a cat trap at a Sand Island warehouse.
• August 2011 - an opossum was found in a shipping container as it was being unloaded in the Ward Center area.
• 2005 - an opossum was captured inside a military cargo plane at Hickam Air Force Base and another opossum was found in the mail receiving area of the U.S. Postal Service facility at Honolulu International Airport.