ARMAND BAYOU NATURE CENTER: HOW DID THAT KINKAJOU FIND A HOME IN OUR SHOP?

During the past two weeks, the staff and volunteers at ABNC haven’t been so excited since five or six years ago when an alligator snapped up a photographer’s gadget bag containing over a thousand dollars worth of lenses and other camera accessories.

About two weeks ago we discovered a strange looking critter in the rafters of our maintenance shop. The critter, which looked something like a monkey, was identified from pictures taken by the staff as a Kinkajou, a mammal native to the jungles of Central and South America.

The Kinkajou, also known as a ‘honey bear’, is related to our raccoons. Our’s, I would guess, was about 16 inches long, not counting its tail of the same length, and probably weighed no more than five pounds. It was a cute critter with its reddish-brown fur coat.

The ABNC staff tried for a week to trap our Kinkajou but the little fella managed to outsmart everyone time and time again. He or she managed to remove grapes and other goodies from a trap without getting trapped and it even managed to peel a banana leaving the peeling behind in the trap.

Finally, for the animal’s own protection, it was darted yesterday with a tranquilizer and captured safe and sound, none the worse for wear. The Kinkajou was transported safely to a wildlife rescue organization in Houston.

Now the question is, how did that little fella ever find its way to ABNC? I believe it was somebody’s pet. It was probably a cute little ball of fur when it was purchased wherever, but the owner must have discovered that a grown wild animal does not a good pet make. So, instead of taking the Kinkajou to a wildlife rescue group, the asshole must have dumped the poor thing at the entrance to ABNC without any regard to its welfare.

Fortunately for our little friend, it managed to wander undetected quite a ways before it arrived at our shop where it found a place of refuge. And thanks to a caring ABNC staff, he or she survived its ordeal and will be taken by the rescue group to a zoo that will care for it.