Dead Opossum Mistakenly Identified As Baby In Pasco

NEW PORT RICHEY - Personnel from a New Port Richey doctor's office smelled something terrible, and when they looked in a bag outside, they saw what they believed to be a dead baby, Pasco County Sheriff's Office spokesman Kevin Doll said.

Pasco Fire Rescue was called out to the scene this evening, and when they looked in the bag, they, too, thought they saw a dead baby, Doll said.

Deputies arrived at the doctor's office after receiving a call at 6:47 p.m. Considering the area a crime scene, about 15 deputies did careful, cautious work, he said.

Only, when deputies looked inside the bag, they didn't see a baby.

"It was an opossum," Doll said. "A dead opossum."

Doll said Pasco Fire Rescue personnel did the right thing when they looked inside the bag at 11910 Little Road.

"They backed away because we don't want them to contaminate the crime scene," he said. "They didn't get a good look at it. It was decomposing, and they backed away."