Meet Bobby, an adorable baby ringtail possum found alone and underweight in the back garden of a Wentworth Falls couple's home on January 16, it's mother nowhere to be seen.
Bobby - now three months old and weighing a healthy 70 grams - is in the safe and caring hands of Wildlife Information Rescue and Education Service (WIRES) volunteer Lilli Mader from Leura.
"At this stage of life a possum would still be in the pouch, so Bobby loves being wrapped up," Ms Mader said.
"He is a determined little possum and is doing very well.
"When I feed him milk formula through a syringe he is very co-operative and takes it all in each time.
"I'm also starting to feed him eucalyptus leaves and tips of native flowers I've collected."
Because he is an orphan, Bobby will need another five months of care before he can be released back into the wild and Ms Mader said ideally he will be introduced to other adult possums in care in order to be "buddied up.
"Ringtails always do better when they are in a group," she said.
Ms Mader, who works in property management, has been a Blue Mountains WIRES volunteer for two very busy but rewarding years.
Since early 2013 she has looked after and released back into the wild dozens of ringtail, brushtail and pygmy possums, but also the odd sugar glider, bandicoot, antechinus, wombat and one particularly free-spirited echidna.
"The echidna was found crossing Leura Mall and was dragging his leg a bit, so he ended up with me until a vet gave him the all clear.
"We try to release animals into bushland near where they were found, so I marked one of his quills with white paint and put him at the back of Peter Carroll Field.
"He must have liked the city life because he turned up later in the middle of Katoomba, so I got to look after him for one more night."
Ms Mader is also currently looking after a bandicoot that was attacked by a cat and an adult female ringtail possum with two babies that were collected by a passer-by when spotted motionless on the side of a road in Hazelbrook with a cat in close proximity.
She said joining WIRES was a natural choice, given her strong interest in native animals since childhood.
"I've always been involved in looking after possums, so joining WIRES was a very good way for me to learn more about them and other native animals in a very hands-on way, which I really enjoy.
"This branch has a group structure, runs courses, has monthly meetings and members do their best to help each other out.
"I've been lucky to have lots of people I can call on who have different specialist areas of knowledge and many years of volunteering experience."
n WIRES is a registered charity and relies almost entirely on donations.
If you find a sick, injured or displaced native animal, call WIRES on 1300 094 737 or the Blue Mountains branch on 4754 2946.
To find out more, visit www.wires.org.au.
