One of the Spousal Unit’s coworkers sent this around, and the tag line I used in the title convinced me y’all needed to see it, too:
Not long before sunset Monday [June 13], from our bedroom window in Cambridgeport, I saw our neighbor Dana and her daughter Etta looking at and discussing something in the tree in the lot between ours and theirs.
Me: “Couldn’t help but overhear, is there an animal in the tree?”
Dana: “Yeah, but we’re not sure what. might just be a big cat.”
Etta: “It’s a coati, mom. i’m positive!”
I hustled down and sure enough, it was a good sized adult coatimundi. (Raccoon relative but diurnal, they live in Mexico and points south, also the southwest US.) We agreed it must be somebody’s escaped pet and that Dana would call Animal Control in the morning.
In the event i guess Etta posted it on the web right away (because that’s what you do if you’re not old and out of it) and this is what alerted Animal Control.
Tuesday morning Maja (at home) informs me (at work) there is a coati SWAT team at the house. All very amusing. At top is a pic she took from our bedroom window.
So i get home at 5.15 and the first thing I see is a knot of Mass Environmental Police on the sidewalk.
Me: “Did you get him?”
They: Sheepish looks and a muttered “nah”.
There was also Pat the Cheery Cambridge Animal Control Lady — who was packing watermelon bait and said the whole thing was under (regular) police investigation so she could say no more — plus two guys in aloha shirts.
Mr. C, who I guess appropriated a crows’ nest and ate their eggs (angry cawing from the crows was a constant and not entirely pleasant accompaniment to all of this), had apparently come down to get the eggs and watermelon the team laid out but scooted right back up again. Subsequently the fire department stopped by and tried to destroy the nest (without Mr. C in it of course) but failed (although they left pieces of the tree all over our walkway).
An older guy with a tranq dart gun everyone called “Doc” (again, not making this up) was waiting to get a clear shot. One of the EP officers was a retired first gulf war/Afghanistan/Iraq vet with a goat farm… When he asked for my ladder to go up the tree (which abuts the fence on the other side) and shake the nest, I said “Sure, when some jerk who’s illegally transporting animals loses one I’m happy to help” and one of the aloha guys cheerfully said “I’m the jerk”.
He was not offended by my remark — “It’s legal in West Virginia, just not here.”
I’m 100% positive he was on his way to New Hampshire, motto “Live Free With Whatever Exotic Pet You Want Or Die”. We got on well over the next couple hours (yes, this was our main evening activity).
There was little real action and much schmoozing, until Maja and I suggested that Doc go up to our bedroom where he would have a better shot. A multi-EP effort managed to scare Mr. C down a little, and Doc fired a dart that just missed but scared him down even more (in case you don’t know, these things have tiny explosive charges to make sure the needle sinks in).
I suggested they throw tennis balls at him to drive him down further and gave them our cockapoo Lucy’s reserve supply of four. Another EP admitted to having a good arm. His first throw was pretty accurate and Mr. C came down a little further. Doc just barely missed on another shot (I think the dart is still sticking in a tree limb) and that brought him down more.
Then the final three tennis balls drove him to ground level. Everyone quickly moved to seal off all exit routes (including the tree), and after some tense minutes Mr. Aloha Jerk got the net on him.
A party atmosphere prevailed. The Brookfield haying vet was effusive in his thanks for all our help, and while Lucy spent some time growling at the empty container (“damn coatis!”) we eventually got all our tennis balls back :).
I am just hoping for a commendation from the mayor for my brilliant idea.
E.
That poor animal.
Old School
I would not have been able to identify that animal as a coati.
JPL
@E.: seconded
They should only be recognized in the crosswords for their vowels.
sab
I feel bad for the crows.
CaseyL
I like crows, but they can be obnoxious, not to mention cruel to other animals. So I can’t fault the coati for eating their eggs.
I do wonder how the poor thing got there. The weather is fine now, but once fall and winter set in, the coati would learn the hard way why his (her?) people live more southerly. If s/he’s an escaped pet, the owner better have an exotic pet license handy.
And, in other news about exotic pets, it seems that Jerry Hall – Mick Jagger’s ex, who married Rupert Murdoch a couple of years ago, because no man who has billions and billions of dollars can be considered old, ugly, or evil – is now divorcing Murdoch. It’ll be interesting to see what, if anything, comes out in public about that.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
Ah, the glory of federalism!
Baud
I for one welcome our new coati overlords.
SiubhanDuinne
I knew someone (back in the old Ayn Rand ‘60s) who kept a coatimundi as a pet.
It died, and the woman I knew was never quite the same afterwards.
sab
Coatis look cool, like a cross between a raccoon and a possum. Where are they intellectually on the raccoon v possum IQ scale?
dm
Sic transit gloria coatimundi
HeleninEire
I was today years old when I learned there is an animal called a coati.
Baud
@HeleninEire:
Me too.
Eunicecycle
@HeleninEire: me three.
TheOtherHank
Well I’ve never seen a coati in the wild,but I saw a few ring-tailed cats when I was camping next to the river in the Grand Canyon.
Baud
I feel like the Internet introduces me to a new animal every week. It’s amazing.
JPL
@Baud: Everything I know is from the NYTimes crossword.
dm
There’s a lot of this going around:
https://www.cambridgeday.com/2022/06/17/south-american-coatis-illegal-in-massachusetts-rescued-from-cages-in-u-haul-with-other-animals/
I wonder if my Aloha Shirt Jerk is involved with this.
Link has coati video
germy shoemangler
Isn’t this how we ended up with the coronavirus? Messing with small mammals that are best left alone?
Why is this guy transporting this critter?
prostratedragon
Funny story, thanks Betty C.
And Happy Birthday to blog sponsor John!
Roger Moore
I noticed the other day that the ferret people are trying once again to amend California law to legalize their favorite pet. California apparently has unusually strict laws about what counts as a domestic animal and specifically singles out members of the weasel family as not permitted as domestic animals. Ferret owners have been trying on and off for decades to get this changed.
Rusty
This was a fun story, we need more crazy pet/weird animal stories to distract us from the MAGA crowd, the supreme court (but I repeat myself) and other horrors. Yes, I only learned of these from the NYT crossword. After years of wasting time on them, I am a fan of Thursday to Sunday. You know you have wasted your life when you just look at 10 empty spaces and know if a solution fits without any counting.
germy shoemangler
@Roger Moore:
Cmorenc
As our own Betty Cracker is no doubt well-aware, Florida has huge problems with non-native exotic animals that pet owners have dumped when they became unmanageable (or escaped),-especially snakes, especially pythons. They wreak havoc on native species, and Florida has periodic python hunts.
Cameron
This story reminded me that I’d like to go to the lemur preserve here sometime this summer (if they’re allowing visitors, of course)
raven
I caught this guitar fish a couple of years back.
The Moar You Know
@Roger Moore: All our wildlife in this state is threatened if not downright endangered (save for crows and coyotes). The last thing we need is Nature’s Ultimate Killing Machine here.
raven
@The Moar You Know: Kudzu needs water.
Gin & Tonic
@Roger Moore: Any reference to weasels automatically makes me think of the Frank Zappa album.
Anne Laurie
Big surprise — when I typed coatimundi into Google, it prompted ‘for sale’. It was a much longer list than I expected, but then, they’re fairly small, and certainly less dangerous than a ‘pet’ tiger…
From Wikipedia and a quick browse, coatis would seem to be approximately as ‘intelligent’ as their distant raccoon relatives. Seems like plenty of people are breeding them, so at least the wild population isn’t being put in danger… and, lucky for us, a farm-bred sixth-generation animal is unlikely to be carrying the kind of wild viruses that start pandemics. It still wouldn’t be my first choice for a pet, but then I’m old and lazy and don’t want to risk either my other pets or my household goods!
(One thing I’d misremembered — coatis do *not* have prehensile tails, like kinkajous or possums. I’d assumed the little dude in the top pic was hanging from his tail, but nooo.)
S Cerevisiae
I saw lots of coatis down in Costa Rica, they would scrounge around the outdoor tables.
mrmoshpotato
@Roger Moore:
Must be something in the water out in California…
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@raven:
Nice catch!
James E Powell
@HeleninEire:
Apparently, you don’t do crosswords.
Anne Laurie
@prostratedragon: I’m *not* Betty C, but you’re welcome!
Baud
@Anne Laurie:
Betty C is the animals in the wild front pager.
If you had posted art, people would have called you Tom.
raven
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): I had no idea what it was till I asked my resident wildlife biologist. Did you know the Fances Fleet in Narragansett offers burial at sea?
realbtl
@raven: Cool a reverse Gibson Flying V. Those are semi-rare.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Roger Moore:
I learned the other day that people call ferrets “furry noodles”
@The Moar You Know:
Are ferrets really that dangerous towards wildlife?
Anne Laurie
Looks like some breeders include personal transport as part of the cost of their coatis. So ‘Aloha Shirt Jerk’ may have been delivering a pet from his home in WV to a buyer… well, hopefully not in MA, since he knew they are not legal to own here!
On the other hand, he might’ve been the owner, commuting between his winter place in WV and his summer place in (let’s guess) New Hampshire… AFAICT, he’d need a permit, but coatis don’t seem to be specifically forbidden. (Although their distant relatives, raccoon dogs, are. I suspect that prohibition has a story behind it.)
Alison Rose
Couple awesome moves by the Biden admin regarding Native Americans:
Native American Tribes to Co-Manage National Monument for the First Time
Marilynn Malerba Could Soon Be the First Native American to Serve as US Treasurer
Gin & Tonic
@raven: Rhode Island may be small, but it has everything you need.
lowtechcyclist
@Baud:
Unfortunately, far too many of them are featherless bipeds.
@dm:
You win the thread.
Baud
@lowtechcyclist:
I love penguins!
sab
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Do people let ferrets run lose like cats? Seems like you’d never see it again after its first outing.
Wapiti
We had good numbers of coatimundis in Panama on the military bases where they weren’t hunted. You could see groups of 7 or 8 at a time in the housing areas, foraging. I think they were trash pandas if garbage wasn’t secured.
Rob
An amusing post-dinner story for me. I’m glad everything went well.
trollhattan
@HeleninEire:
How the fur trade wouldn’t be all over something named coati is a thing to ponder.
HeleninEire
@raven: And….once again. I was today years old when I found out there is a fish called a guitar fish. But I knew FISH!!! Points to me.
Anne Laurie
Not if you keep them indoors, where they belong (at this point, they’re almost as ‘domestic’ as cats, or lab rats). But they are weasels, ergo predators. And vulnerable native wildlife all over the globe are under threat from escaped ‘pets’ & other human-cohabitant species (feral cats, rats escaped from ships, goats & pigs left behind by former colonizers).
I have known, in the past, many sensible ferret owners in places where ferrets were forbidden. They took the regulations as a way for local authorities to confiscate ferrets from careless / dangerous owners, and to block breeding establishments where the risk of accidental escapes / contamination was much higher than from one or two pets in someone’s apartment. I do not necessarily endorse this attitude, mind you!
JPL
@James E Powell: ha I told Baud that everything I know is from the NYTimes crosswords.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@raven:
That’s a wonderful way to honor a loved one who loved the sea, especially someone who had a career in the Navy or was fisherman
SuzieC
Cute story. Coatimundis are adorable. I saw them in the San Diego Zoo, the best zoo in the world.
JPL
@raven: OT I know you are familiar with the charter schools ruling in GA. Now that the supremes said religious schools have to be included, do you think public education is dead in the state. I think wealthy districts keep it, but poorer districts go back to a segregated education.
Van Buren
It’s legal in West Virginia, just not here.
Rotating tag, or Mass. licence plate motto?
Alison Rose
@Van Buren: On a sign in Cole’s front yard?
sab
@Anne Laurie: Don’t worry. I have five cats and a pitbull. I am sure a coati would fit in my household, but they don’t make coatimundi chow, and figuring out a balanced diet for a critter that eats raw eggs and watermelon sounds complicated.
ETA My cats are already doing major damage to household goods, what with testing gravity, and claws. I don’t need another participant.
Baud
sab
Bought my husband two big heavy rainbow adirondack chairs for the front yard for his birthday. Success. He loves them.
ETA Almost didn’t get them. I had been eying them for six months as I drove by on the highway. Finally decided today was the day, so I drove over to look at them and they were gone! Store had sold out most, and the last two were back with the clearance stuff. So got them.Yay!
Jay
@Anne Laurie:
according to Ferret World, the only place where feral ferrets are a problem, is New Zealand, where they hybridized with European Polecats.
because they have been domesticated for over 2500 years, and their small size, ( prey for many others in rural/wilderness areas, too small to be urban trash bandits), they don’t last long outdoors, with out a human to feed them.
I like ferrets, got a few love bites, over the years, but unlike many cats or dogs, they are incredibly bonded to “their humans”, and seem to relate to guests in the home as new furniture to climb on.
Ohio Mom
@JPL: Yes, crosswords and other word puzzles is how I know the word “coati.” But I had no idea what they looked like, always imagined they were antelope-like. Which says something about the limitations of vocabulary-building through puzzles.
I am reminded of the jury I once almost sat on (I was on the back of the line as an alternate and they were able to fill the jury without me).
A young couple had bought a wallaby from a pet store and only had it home for a short time when it got sick and died — I know, Monty Python and the dead parrot.
The dispute here was that they had taken a loan out from the pet store to buy the wallaby — evidently, as I did not know until then, pet stores operate like car dealerships, with convenient loan departments — and since the wallaby was obviously defective, they did not think they needed to pay the store back.
The store was insisting they provided a perfectly healthy wallaby and wanted their loan paid back.
I don’t know how this ended, I was released for the day and I left.
Old Dan and Little Ann
@trollhattan: I taught the beaver trade for many years to 4th graders. It was cringe before cringe was a thing.
debbie
Am I the last to know Shay Moss has her own gofundme?
zhena gogolia
@Baud: you obviously don’t do nyt crossword puzzles
JPL
@Ohio Mom: Oh no. So sad for the wallaby.
ha Eland is another favorite and it does have horns.
sab
@debbie: Yes you are.
ETA No you aren’t. We have been following her mom’s all day.
Hopefully she and mom and grandmother all get safe houses paid for and some money aside for granddaughter’s education, and money to do useful stuff. They seem like the kind of people who would do useful stuff with extra money.
zhena gogolia
@James E Powell: always read the thread first!
Dorothy A. Winsor
The things I learn on Balloon Juice
Jay
@HeleninEire:
technically, not a fish. A member of Shark/Ray family. No bones.
lifeinthebonusround
I love living in Cambridge. Coatis forever.
CaseyL
@Ohio Mom:
You may be thinking of the okapi?
Baud
@CaseyL:
Another new animal!
Major Major Major Major
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): I had a couple ferrets as a kid. We would put them in harnesses and take them on walks down a trail by a creek sometimes and all the prey animals got the fuck out of the way as soon as they noticed us. If we got anywhere near prairie dogs it was endless alarm screeching.
prostratedragon
@Anne Laurie: Wow, talk about eyes playing tricks!
Jay
@Jay:
my mistake, apparently they are in the “fish” category.
raven
@JPL: No to one yes to two.
phdesmond
sic transit coatimundi.
sab
Thought we had a good day, but now the pitbull is nursing on the bed quilt. She treats it like a giant pacifier. I’m okay since this seems to work for her, but sorry to see her so anxious.
Jay
@Major Major Major Major:
pretty much everything recognizes the body shape of the weasel families as superb niche predators, even though ferrets aren’t and have to be trained as ratters or rabbit warren hunters.
We had Black Footed Ferrets up in Kamloops, they hunt mice, voles, Douglas Squirrels, Chipmunks and bird eggs. Sitting out on the steps one day, having my am coffee, I noticed a handful of Black Footed Ferret babies, clustered under the compost container. They spent half their time Meercatting and chirping at me, and wrestling with eachother.
One day, on the Chehalis, I had to LMFAO. I had a 15lb Coho landed on the bank, cleaned, ready to take home, and a Mink came out of the logjam I was sitting on, and dragged the salmon, (easily 6 times it weight), and dragged it back into the logjam.
sab
@sab: Dobby her little cat friend is streched out cold on the bed sound asleep. He normally is a light sleeper, but he is clonked out now.
Almost Retired
@JPL: I, too, know of the coati from the NYT crossword puzzle. In that spirit, it would be awesome if Esai Morales owned one.
Ohio Mom
@CaseyL: I think you are right. I know what okapis look like, they have zebra stripes on their rears only.
Jay
@sab:
have you tried a compression vest?
https://vcacanada.com/know-your-pet/anxiety-vests-for-dogs
Ida Slapter
I’m an old, so I saw my first coatimundi when Mr. Green Jeans brought over over to visit Captain Kangaroo! I remember the name because I wondered at the time if there was also a coatituesday, coatiwednesday, etc.
Mr. GJ also brought on a kinkajou, whose name I also remember. Another raccoon relative but with a long prehensile tail.
Coatis are tailless.
I hope this one gets to a good home in a better climate where it’s properly cared for.
And sic transit coatimundi!
Steeplejack
@Almost Retired:
Or Uma Thurman.
sab
@Ida Slapter: Wow. That is useful to know. Been around a while. Also too I loved that show.
I remember years ago taking my mom to see Buffy Ste. Marie in concert because Mom loved her so much on Captain Kangaroo. Mom was kind of surprised but not really shocked by the concert.
CaseyL
@Baud: I’ve been an animal freak all my life, volunteered at a zoo and at an aquarium. There aren’t too many animals I haven’t at least heard of.
(Guitar fishes are new to me, though.)
zhena gogolia
@Almost Retired: or Brian Eno
sab
@Jay: Thinking about it. I just never know what sets her off. Today hot but calm weather. Nothing much in the neighborhood. Why is she stresed? Misses her last owners? Wants to be outside to challenge neighbor dogs? I have no idea.
zhena gogolia
@sab: let her do her thing. It’s okay
JDM
@Jay: Maybe don’t take pet sites as gospel. A quick search showed both the Channel Islands and Ireland are having problems with feral ferrets, and why wouldn’t they. Cats that run loose are environmental hazards too, and ferrets are at least as wild.
As for coatis as pets, that seems borderline cruel, since they’re very social (similar thing with most parrots as pets), and they’re not unlike raccoons in that they have long sharp teeth and strong hands, which can make for problems.
zhena gogolia
@sab: “until it’s time for you to go” is one of the greatest songs ever
NutmegAgain
Since this is a Open thread, and a Wild Animal Rescue thread, I wonder who else is watching the Westminster Dog Circus and Parade tonight? I hope that some channel will screen Best in Show after it’s all done and dusted. Me, I always root for the Newfy, of course. Meanwhile my ancient and sick Gt Pyr x Black Lab girl is providing audio in the form of doggie snores, one of life’s sweetest sounds.
Anne Laurie
… Although the ferret owners I used to know in NYC said they were useful for indoor rodent control — urban rats preferred to avoid apartments, and even apartment buildings, where ferrets were leaving their mark.
Anecdotal, but plausible. Mayor Rudy Giuliani was notoriously, frothing-at-the-mouth anti-ferret, and it was sometimes averred that he believed ferret owners only wanted them as rat control.
Anne Laurie
Nope, they have long tails, just not prehensile ones.
(Wikipedia says they use them for signalling each other.)
Jim, Foolish Literalist
It’s like you can’t even believe in romance anymore
Here’s to a bitter fight and hoping she gets a lawyer who finds a loophole in the NDA
sab
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Can’t say I wish her well. She knew what he was when she married him. Jeeezus god he was so old already. She actually thought she could grab some fortune?
Hoping for injuries, but they will all be on her side. I’m okay with that. Grifter v Oligarch. Plot seems short and boring. He wins.
Anne Laurie
She got six (more) years on the ultra-luxury circuit — it’s not easy for even the most ‘celebrity’ AARP-eligible professional Arm Candy ‘models’ to find new slots. Rupert got Mick Jagger’s ex, which is pretty good media-bait for a very old, notoriously unhip plutocrat. Fair trade on both sides, IMO.
Presumably one or both of them already have the next partner lined up, or there’d already be scandal!!! stories circulating.
frosty fred
@zhena gogolia: Buffy is one of the greatest song writers ever. (Back to the original reference: was she on Captain Kangaroo as well as Sesame Street? That’s where I remember her.)
BillinGlendaleCA
We have an order storage area out behind the garden section of our store for deliveries(I’m the deliveries closer) and other large orders that won’t fit in the store. I was told the legend of the possum that lives in the little shed out there and a few months ago, I saw the fabled creature. Late one night, I was walking into the store and it crossed the roadway in front of me. That’s when I knew that I was a “made man” OFA.
Jay
@JDM:
https://gsy.bailiwickexpress.com/gsy/news/ferrel-ferrets-becoming-local-pests/#.YrO8JyUTHv4
sab
@Anne Laurie: I dont hate supermodels. I think they are okay. Pretty women in a rough profession behaving well. Lots of them are intelligent .
Jeri Hall on the other hand is a notorious grifter. That is what she is. Any one who follows her can see that.
I hope she can scrape whatever from Murdoch, but on the other hand she probably does not deserve a dime or a shilling or whatever currency they fight this out with.
sab
Mentio s of Jeri Hall is absolutely ruining the fruitbat on internet. And I love fruitbats. So cute. So fruitbat.
Jay
@sab:
it’s hard to say. Pitties are really emotionally sensitive dogs.
Casey had separation anxiety, which I figured out by coming home to wet slippers, because she spent much of the day, with her nose in my slippers for the scent.
When we added Digger to the family, the dynamic changed. Instead of wet slippers, I would come home to two tired dogs, napping on the couch, on the wrong side of the room where it was supposed to be and upended tables.
Dan B
@S Cerevisiae: Same here. In Costa Rica around tourist spots in the mountains there were lots of Coati’s. They were not highly regarded, much like day shift Racoons. They had stripes like Racoons.
Ksmiami
@germy shoemangler: messing is ok- eating and torturing is another story… in most reservoir crossover viruses there’s usually a dramatic event that causes the crossover.
sab
@Jay: We have one pittie and five cats. Two of the cats are devoted, the other three think she is okay. That still leaves her lost.
We adopted her from my step-daughter who had a bad marriage and a tumultuous household.
Pittie is now in a stable but boring household where she is loved. We also acquired her cat, who loves her. Most of our cats also love her. She is a big friendly girl.
But she had a past. Tumultuous people always yelling and screaming and threatening violence.
Any normal dog would notice and would care. Those were her loved ones. She is afraid of life.
Gin & Tonic
Is there a Jan 6 Committee hearing tomorrow? I’ve heard they canceled next week’s, but I’m not sure about tomorrow.
prostratedragon
@Anne Laurie: Hence his aversion.
Anne Laurie
More weird animal info:
Last I remembered, fruit bats had been classified as ‘sister species to primates’. Hard to keep up on all the new genetic research, these days!
Ida Slapter
@Anne Laurie: I sit corrected! Guess I wasn’t paying as much attention to Mr Green Jeans as I thought!
Paul in KY
@sab: You see them all over the place in Southern Mexico. Very cute, IMO. I bet if you tried to pick one up, it would rip you up, though.
The ones I have seen are primarily a tan color.
Paul in KY
@sab: They are omnivores. Will eat alot of stuff.
Paul in KY
@CaseyL: Eland is the world’s largest antelope. Like a moose, only much stockier. A big one will go close to 3,000 lbs.
Paul in KY
@Ida Slapter: The coatis I saw all had long tails. Usually sticking straight up in the air.