People's definitions of pets have expanded beyond your average dog (well, maybe not this one) or cat. There's Madagascar cockroaches that you can have named after a loved one or pythons that you're just so desperate to have you'll steal them in your pants. Seeing these animals might be becoming less unusual, but what would you do if you woke up to find the creature above sitting on your chest?
That's exactly what happened to a sleeping 99-year-old woman in Florida on Tuesday. CBS Miami spoke to veterinarian Don Harris about the heart-stopping incident. Harris, the veterinarian that received the creature once it was taken to an animal hospital, gave CBS the play-by-play: "The lady is sound asleep and she feels something on her chest and she slowly wakes up, and realizes that there's an animal curled up sleeping on her chest. I don't know, I guess her first impression was it might be a cat, but when they both got a look at each other, they both freaked out. The lady screamed, the kinkajou went into her attic."
That's right, the crawly critter is a kinkajou, which CBS reports is native to Central and South American rainforests. The kinkajou was taken to the hospital after the woman's daughter got it out of the attic.
For those thinking the animal is something you'd see out of The X-Files, let Harris acquaint you: "They're not predators, they're very peaceful animals, they're arboreal, they live in the treetops, they live in the branches," said Harris. "They eat fruit and bugs and things like that, they're pretty docile creatures, unless cornered, and then their teeth are their defense mechanisms." However he warned if someone was bitten by it they could "lose a limb" if not attended to medically.
The kinkajou is said to have escaped from its South Florida home and was reunited with its owner on Wednesday.
