(VitalNews.org) – A good Samaritan who came to the aid of an injured creature by the roadside in San Antonio, Texas, soon found herself in need of rescue when the animal began to wreak havoc inside her vehicle.
The unnamed woman, referred to as “Miss U” by San Antonio Animal Care Services, saw what she thought was a lemur by the side of the road while she was traveling on the 30th of May. She pulled over, picked the animal up with a towel, and took it back to her car. Once inside, however, the animal became agitated and began to cause chaos.
At this point, “Miss U” got out of the car and called 3-1-1 in order to request professional help. Officer Centeno, of San Antonio Animal Care Services, was able to extract the creature from its rescuer’s vehicle and take it to an emergency veterinarian for treatment. It was later identified not as a lemur, but as a ringtail – a nocturnal, cat-sized omnivore native to Texas.
The agency explained that despite the ringtail’s resemblance to a lemur, cat, or fox, it in fact belongs to the same animal family as the coatimundi or raccoon. It is an excellent climber that enjoys a varied diet, including rodents, insects, and berries and does not often leave its den unless it is to find food. It has a distinctive, bushy, black-and-white ringed tail that lends it its resemblance to a lemur.
They are highly elusive creatures, rarely spotted in the wild, and as such the agency called it a “rare treat” to see one. The agency made sure to add that anybody who spots one in need of help should avoid handling the situation themselves and should instead call 3-1-1 to request an animal rescue. The ringtail was taken to Wildlife Rescue & Rehabilitation, Inc. following its trip to the emergency veterinarian, and will be released back into the wild when it has fully recovered.
Copyright 2023, VitalNews.org
