By Gayne C. Young
I don’t think anyone had, “I bet the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation starts a major online argument with a resident of Fredericksburg, Texas in September” on their 2025 Bingo Card. Yet it happened. And it was huge.
Our story began in March 2025 when Rich O’Toole moved to Fredericksburg. Rich, a country singer-songwriter with several top 10 records and over 50 million streams on Spotify and Apple Music, moved to the Texas Hill Country to be closer to his favorite studio, Stone Creek Sound in Helotes, and to entertain the idea of getting involved in the Texas wine business. Rich moved into a home in town with a large backyard and was immediately taken by the abundance of wildlife that visited his home each night. To extend his viewing time, he began feeding the animals. “I started with a little corn here and there but soon got up to feeding them a bag a week,” Rich explained.
That corn soon began attracting other animals into Rich’s backyard menagerie. “I’ve got at least one possum, two skunks, two foxes, and lots of deer.” Rich soon began feeding food other than corn. “I’ve got a big flat rock in my backyard. I started putting leftovers out there on it. Animals loved it. That possum really liked Flamin’ Hot Doritos.”
Author’s Note: I have a problem with anyone who doesn’t like Flamin’ Hot Doritos. And that includes possums.
Oklahoma DWC Enters the Chat
One late September night after fixing too much fettuccini Alfredo (“That fresh pasta from HEB. Not that hard stuff,” Rich assured me. “Come on man. I can cook.”), Rich tossed some leftover noodles on his rock. Around 2:30 that night he saw his possum chowing down on the rich, cheese sauce-laden noodles. Rich snapped a picture and posted it to social media along with the caption, “I just feed a opossum a plate of fettuccine Alfredo on my back porch and this has to be the greatest day of his life.”
Given that Rich has over 200,000 followers across social media, that picture was seen by a lot of people. One of those people was someone in charge of social media for the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation. This person didn’t like what they saw and two days after Rich’s posting replied, “wild animals survived just fine before you showed up with leftover fettucine – and we’d like to keep it that way. Feeding them makes them dependent on humans (and your bad cooking)”
wild animals survived just fine before you showed up with leftover fettuccine — and we'd like to keep it that way. Feeding them just makes them dependent on humans (and your bad cooking) https://t.co/7qelBecrkE
— Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation (@OKWildlifeDept) September 24, 2025
Author’s Note #2: That is the actual quote. The Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation greatly needs a refresher course in basic grammar and punctuation.
Author’s Note #3: Rich knows how to cook. See above.
The ODWC’s post (grammatically challenged as it was) only drew more attention to Rich and his Italian food loving marsupial backyard buddy, and soon the two entities were going at it on social media. On September 27, Rich posted a picture of a possum atop a mound of fettuccine Alfredo, along with the Texas mantra of “Come and Take It.” Later that day he posted a picture of a lighter someone made him which featured the same logo. On September 28, Rich began selling can coolers and t-shirts with the possum and his boast. “They did really well,” Rich said. “Think we sold more than 45 shirts and about 30 can coolers.”
Escalating the Possum Pasta War
On September 29, Rich announced to social media that, “I have officially named my Opossum Ricky aka Slick Rick.” The possum received the new name of “Frankie Fettucine” later that day following fan feedback. News and taunts about Frankie continued into early October. The ODWC jokingly made fun of the situation on October 5 in a job posting that read, “Ever wanted to argue with strangers on the internet professionally? Good news – we’re hiring a social media intern.”
Author’s Note #4: Congrats ODWC! Your grammar improved significantly.
Rich shared the job posting that day along with the suggestion that he might apply for the job. On October 12, Rich posted a fake ad of a possum promoting Olive Garden’s Never Ending Pasta Bowl. And then on October 23, Rich posted a photo of a gift he had received from the ODWC. The agency sent him a crocheted alligator gar, some stickers, and a note saying, “Thanks for the fun banter!”
.@RichOToole 🥹🥲 beautiful pic.twitter.com/DE3nz3SKDm
— Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation (@OKWildlifeDept) October 6, 2025
Rich said that back and forth did a lot to boast his social media presence, might have earned him some new fans, and came just as he was promoting the upcoming release of his new album, “God is a Gentleman.” Rich also said he understands the ODWC’s mission and agrees with their thoughts on feeding wild animals. “They’re right. Animals can get dependent on people who feed them. I get that. I need to scale back.”
Author’s Note #5: Don’t scale back just yet, Rich. Frankie’s counting on you for those Flamin’ Hot Doritos.
Visit Rich O’Toole and get possum merchandise at richotoole.com. “God is a Gentleman” is available for Preorder on iTunes. The album drops on November 21.
