Rose Sheakley, a former school bus driver in Pennsylvania, says she lost her job after briefly stopping to pull eight baby opossums out of danger — an incident that later set off debate online.
Erie News Now reported that Sheakley, who drove in Millcreek, had five students on her bus on Cherry Street when something in the road caught her eye: what appeared to be a dead opossum, along with movement nearby.
What happened?
When she turned around and went back for a closer look, Sheakley said, she found that the mother opossum had died and that eight babies had survived.
After noticing one of the babies was at risk, Sheakley recalled thinking, "I can't keep going. That baby is gonna crawl off and get hit." She said she then stopped traffic, gathered the baby opossums in a blanket, moved them out of the roadway, and completed the rest of her route.
Sheakley said she was the one who informed her supervisors after the route ended.
"If I didn't tell on myself, nobody would have known," she said.
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A few days later, Sheakley said she received a termination letter citing leaving students unattended on the bus.
First Student said in a statement that its "number one priority is the safety of our students, employees, and the communities we serve," adding that the company terminated the driver after reviewing the incident.
Why does it matter?
Sheakley was trying to protect animals from being hit on a busy road, but she was also responsible for the children on her bus.
Tamarack Wildlife Center is now caring for the eight rescued joeys.
According to Erie News Now, the center said people should put their own safety and the safety of others first and, whenever possible, get injured or orphaned wildlife to a licensed rehabilitator within 24 to 48 hours.
Opossums also play an important role in local ecosystems as scavengers.
What are people saying?
Sheakley said, according to Erie News Now, that she is not criticizing her former employer. Still, she has made clear that she does not regret helping the animals.
"I couldn't not get them, but I knew that I wasn't supposed to," she said.
Sheakley also said the firing comes at a time when school districts are already under strain. "We're really short on bus drivers," she said. "It affects the kids that get home an hour later."
And if it happened again, she said, "Honestly, in the same situation, I probably would have done the same thing again."
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