Strange Bedfellows

Continuing with today’s emerging “weird news about escaped animals” theme, a Florida woman was startled recently when her home was invaded by a kinkajou. The exotic animal, related to the raccoon and coati, was kept as a pet when it wandered off and curled up with a 99-year-old woman asleep in bed. And that’s whenΒ the story got weird:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-m8igAa1eqc&rel=0

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40 thoughts on “Strange Bedfellows

  1. Beemoused January 27, 2016 / 2:49 pm

    I just saw this on the news and was going to send you a link. Apparently the owner is coming to pick it up, but if that little darling had ended up at my place, it would be finders-keepers!!

  2. Julie January 27, 2016 / 2:57 pm

    I would have had a heart attack if I woke up to that. I’m surprised the 99 yr old is okay. ‘Course if she’s 99 yrs then she’s a lot tougher than me, so…

  3. Faye January 27, 2016 / 3:01 pm

    Good reason to get everything off your chest before you go to sleep.

    • Mikeyfur January 27, 2016 / 3:12 pm

      I’m searching frantically for a like button for Faye’s comment!

    • Kar January 27, 2016 / 7:58 pm

      Honestly though, we’ve all been there, haven’t we? Woken up by angry screams while you’re just curled up and napping on some strange 99-yr stranger’s chest?

      • Faye January 27, 2016 / 11:06 pm

        Once or twice during college, not so much lately. Hmmm…

  4. hilz January 27, 2016 / 3:26 pm

    Haha! “Oh, this old lady looks like a nice place to sleep, don’t mind if I do”

  5. Amy January 27, 2016 / 3:27 pm

    It seems like the kinkajou maybe sleeps on his people at his forever home, if it was willing to curl up on the old lady. I would have just assumed it was one of my cats…

    • Kar January 28, 2016 / 3:38 am

      In the immortal words of “Uncle Buck,” BUT WE DON’T HAVE A CAT! Which is probably a good thing as a cat scent may have driven her off

      Apparently Banana was a rescue and it sounds like she got out while being transported to her uncle’s temporarily. I guess kinkajou’s have opposing thumbs.

  6. The Commenter Formerly Known as Ricky's Mom January 27, 2016 / 3:52 pm

    You had me at kinkajou. It would have been nice if the news team had reported on the well-being of the lady, too. I’m not too happy about anyone keeping “exotic pets,” but I’m glad the pet parent and pet are being reunited. The kinkajou itself is kinkacute.

    • 6rabbits January 28, 2016 / 12:39 am

      I despise the exotic pet trade–wild animals should be left in the wild.
      However, I am glad the kinkajou will be reunited with his owner for its sake.
      It’s especially weird this situation happened, because kinkajous are not “roamers.” According to my quick research, they stay close to their humans and have no “run away” instinct.

  7. D B January 27, 2016 / 4:09 pm

    O Florida, what will you come up with next?
    One day it’s crocs in pools the next it’s kink.a.jous.

    (with apologies to Canada, Canadians, and hockey fans everywhere.)

    • Gigi_the cat lady January 27, 2016 / 5:24 pm

      It’s funny so you’re forgiven πŸ™‚

  8. Smartypants January 27, 2016 / 4:09 pm

    “I know I shouldn’t have taken that Laudanum in nineteen-ought-six – I’d swear there’s a cat-monkey in my bed!”

    • Laura January 27, 2016 / 8:53 pm

      Seriously, she must have thought she’d finally gone over the edge into lalaland! Of all the crazy things (and the comments on this thread are almost as good as the kinkajou story!)!

  9. Alice Shortcake January 27, 2016 / 6:03 pm

    “Helped rescue a kinkajou”…one day I’d like that headline to appear under my face on TV. Should no kinkajous be in need of rescue I’d settle for a quokka.

  10. Kar January 27, 2016 / 6:35 pm

    And people wonder why I left Florida.

    We had neighborhood peacocks who were alternately aggressive with people and overly affectionate with blue buicks.

    • Faye January 27, 2016 / 6:40 pm

      Hahaha. Describes many retirees as well.

    • Smartypants January 27, 2016 / 6:47 pm

      Bwa ha ha – I can totally picture it! Here in New England, we get mobbed by wild turkeys instead πŸ˜€

      • Saffron January 28, 2016 / 9:40 am

        As long as it is not a fisher cat…

  11. Muppet2171 January 27, 2016 / 6:44 pm

    My sister had this exact thing (almost) happen to her. She woke up with a cat on her chest. She doesn’t have a cat…oh, and she’s allergic. There was apparently lots of screaming that night.

    • Kar January 28, 2016 / 3:53 am

      Ok, so who’s cat was it?

      • Muppet2171 January 28, 2016 / 8:28 am

        No clue.

  12. Kar January 27, 2016 / 6:53 pm

    Not sure if this will work but I’m guessing that yeah, Banana sleeps on this guy’s chest:

  13. amyliz January 27, 2016 / 6:55 pm

    I am glad both the elderly woman and the kinkajou are OK! BTW, I would like to know that woman’s lifestyle secrets; she sounds pretty amazing! ?

  14. fkaWaldenPond January 27, 2016 / 9:07 pm

    Hey All, I am torn on this one as much as it is actually really funny, (thank-you Faye, Kar & Smartypants for extra funny) but the poor thing looked so scared and shaky in the carry case. It’s up there with scared protesting sloths in which I laugh but then my damn, annoying maternal/kind instinct kicks in and I am just an empathetic puddle. So, what, a *bittersweet* tag or something?

    • Not That Mike The Other Mike January 27, 2016 / 9:11 pm

      There is a happy ending at least, since the kinkajou was reunited with its owner (who, we all hope, will better protect it from escaping in the future). But yeah, bittersweet. Maybe I should lay off the “weird news” stories for a bit.

      • fkaWaldenPond January 28, 2016 / 9:32 am

        Nah, I was being a bit of a baby; I just needed a good night’s sleep. *sorry*

        • Smartypants January 28, 2016 / 11:08 am

          Walden, I don’t think you were being a baby – the downside of compassion is there’s no “off” switch, so you find yourself worrying about people & animals a thousand miles away. Glad a good night’s sleep helped!

          Oh, and NTMTOM’s responsiveness is just one more reason I’m joining the queue of people asking “Will you marry me?” πŸ˜€

          • fkaWaldenPond January 28, 2016 / 10:51 pm

            Yes, I realize that and thank-you WisePants; I just needed to put my ‘hard-ass’ face on for work and all. My facade gets chipped away at all things needing help and understanding; toddlers washing up on beaches; Bananas needing a safe chest to sleep on… Hey, humour and laughing at all our mirrored frailitys (word?) keeps me inwardly humble, kind and sane. πŸ™‚

            • Faye January 29, 2016 / 12:21 am

              Seeing the toddler on the beach and similar horrors is why we all run to NTMTOM’s refuge of cute and suchness.

  15. Saffron January 28, 2016 / 9:44 am

    Much better than waking up and realizing yo rolled over into cat barf….

    I want to spend time with the meemaw. Maybe she got up and made k-jou a nice cuppa cocoa and a warm cookie?

  16. AJ January 28, 2016 / 12:07 pm

    Ok, so glad to hear Banana was reunited with her daddy but did anyone catch this sentence in the new article:

    “They have the ability to turn their feet backwards to run easily in either direction, along branches or up tree trunks.”

    I mean they’re very cute but wow, can switch their feet around???? How bizarre is that, I see that happening and I’d be like too freaky.

    • Amy January 28, 2016 / 12:21 pm

      That just means ye olde evolutionary pathways gave them owl necks for ankles!

      • Faye January 28, 2016 / 12:24 pm

        That’s it, exactly!!

    • Faye January 28, 2016 / 12:23 pm

      I’ve seen video. Yup, it’s more like a full twist and grabby maneuver.

      Maybe someone can link to a kinkajou video.

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