An exotic animal ended up waking an elderly woman in South Florida over the weekend. South Dade Animal Hospital veterinarian Dr. Don Harris said the elderly woman felt something on her chest, which woke her up. The kinkajou was startled when the 99-year-old woman woke up while it was sleeping on her chest.
"This 99-year-old woman is sound asleep, she feels something, she wakes up and this kinkajou - this furry, big animal - is curled up asleep on her chest," Harris said, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "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, (and) the kinkajou went into her attic."
Found in Central and South America, a kinkajou resembles a ferret or a monkey and has a face similar to a tarsier but they are more related to raccoons.
The kinkajou then hid in the old lady's attic.
Cathy Moghari, a family friend, helped the family bring the kinkajou out of the house. "I start thinking, 'How are we going to get this animal out?' So I googled kinkajou sounds and found a video," Moghari said, according to Local 10 ABC. "And I was holding it up to the ceiling, and we hear a rumbling. And, sure enough, it came out to the opening that we had in the ceiling."
The kinkajou, whose name is Banana, was reunited with its owner Raymond Fernandez, ten days after it disappeared. Fernandez has been taking care of Banana for five years.
NEW @ NOON: Lost kinkajou that scared living daylights out of 99yo woman in her sleep is reunited w/owner #Local10 pic.twitter.com/SKrbLUBPI9
— Erica Rakow (@EricaRakow) January 27, 2016
"I got my baby back. I can't believe it. I thought she was gone forever," Fernandez said, according to WSVN.com. "I had to move her to my brother's house in a temporary cage, and she figured out a way to get out and open it up. She's got really good hands."
Fernandez said he tried to look for Banana but she had already found her way into the elderly lady's house.
