A kinkajou wakes a woman at her Florida home, and the story grabs headlines. A 99-year-old woman was surprised when she woke up and found a 2-feet long kinkajou named Banana staring at her and it even tried to caress her face.
A kinkajou wakes a woman and attempts to touch her face, and the story goes viral. Monday night, an unnamed woman, who is 99 years old, went to sleep in her Florida home only to be brutally awakened by a strange furry creature.
The animal in question was a kinkajou, which is a South American rainforest mammal of the Procyonidae family related to coatis, raccoons, the ringtail, and cacomistle – but most people would confuse a kinkajou with a monkey.
The kinkajou was staring straight into the woman’s face and when the animal attempted to caress it – she screamed, and it rapidly fled to the attic. The noise prompted Cathy Moghari, a family friend and her son-in-law, Carlos Aguaras, to run to help her.
After a quick Google search, Moghari understood what kind of animal she was dealing with and played kinkajou noises with speakers on the ceiling to lure it out, then used cherries to capture it. On Tuesday morning, they brought the 2-foot-long kinkajou to the South Dade Avian and Exotic Animal Medical Center where it was tranquilized for an examination. “Turned out to be in excellent health,” according to the center.
Ray Fernandez, the kinkajou’s owner, saw his pet on the news and contacted the vet to retrieve her. Fernandez said he lost his exotic pet named Banana when it escaped from his brother’s home last week. Fernandez, who obtained a special permit five years ago to get Banana, said:
“I got my baby back. I can’t believe it. I thought she was lost forever. I was tenting my house and I had to move her to my brother’s house in a temporary cage, and she figured out a way to get out. I can’t believe it. I thought she was lost forever. I put a trap out”.
He added:
“Someone who was bitten by an animal like this that didn’t get proper medical care could lose a limb.”
Fernandez and his little kinkajou plan to visit the elderly woman next week for a proper introduction – the duo will go during the day, of course.
What are your thoughts on the Florida kinkajou named Banana?
Florida woman wakes up to find an exotic animal, a 2-foot-long kinkajou, touching her face. https://t.co/J77PX3DFYn pic.twitter.com/ZkUgR1HmMY
— CNN (@CNN) January 27, 2016
Missing kinkajou reunites with owner after startling 99-year-old Miami woman https://t.co/wUE3RJXHNk pic.twitter.com/B3fAxNbeTJ
— WSVN 7 News (@wsvn) January 28, 2016
My thoughts on this subject? First off Banana belongs in either a rainforest not in a cage living at some idiots brothers house. Second, if you love something like a baby, do you really leave it in a cage somewhere else? I think it is extremely wrong to own exotic animals! They should live in their natural habitats!