THE TEXICAN
The zoo has a kinkajou. So. what the heck is a kinkajou?
Set inside the Houston Zoo’s Natural Encounters exhibit, where his nearest neighbors are the zoo’s two sloths, hangs Kirby, the zoo’s resident, lone kinkajou.
His little habitat, bathed in red light, went largely unnoticed during the zoo’s recent Feast With the Beasts evening bash. Curly the sloth was getting all the attention for his modeling on a beam.
But Kirby is pretty cool in his own right.
Kirby’s paws are like a human baby’s hands, just a little furrier. And he can turn his feet backwards for better climbing ability. He also comes equipped with a prehensile tail perfect for helping him grasp and climb things. Known sometimes as honey bears for their cartoonish appearance (those eyes will melt hearts at a short distance), kinkajou temperaments are hard to gauge in captivity. There is a community of kinkajou owners on Instagram that posts photos and videos of their prized animals with names like Mango, Lola, Winnie and Lexi. And they are treated much like cats or dogs, frequently seen wearing sweaters and enjoying snacks like other furry members of the family.
And while kinkajous are native to Central and South American rainforest, they also can be found in Houston. Kirby was brought into Houston’s BARC Animal Shelter
THE STRAY KINKAJOU WAS FOUND OFF KIRBY DRIVE NEAR NRG STADIUM.
after being caught along Kirby Drive near NRG Stadium at the end of 2017. He was later donated to the Houston Zoo so they could tend to his medical needs.
Sydney Fitzpatrick, senior zookeeper at the Natural Encounters area of the zoo, said that Kirby immediately went into quarantine at the zoo’s animal hospital.
“He was very skinny, had some mange and fur loss, parasites, and his teeth were in bad condition,” Fitzpatrick said. “We later had to remove some of those teeth because they were so rotted.”
In the city of Houston, kinkajous are not allowed to be kept in a person’s home. Additionally, the Harris County Public Health Department has rules for keeping dangerous wild animals as pets, and its definition includes kinkajous.
These animals must be registered with the county, and their young must be registered at least after birth. There are also rules for the enclosures that these animals are kept inside. In Harris County, wild animals must not be kept within 1,000 feet of a school or child care facility. They also cannot be kept within 1,000 feet of a residence in an unincorporated area of Harris County.
For such cute animals, they also have extremely long teeth and sharp claws. Perfect for living by their wits in the wild, but sometimes bad news for those living with them in a home. Back in 2011, a young girl in Chattanooga, Tenn., was treated at an area hospital for severe fever, urinating blood and painful headaches after being bitten by a family member’s pet kinkajou. Ultimately, she was hospitalized for six days. It had been discovered previously that kinkajous can carry a bacteria called Kingella potus. The girl was given a round of tetanus shots and antibiotics, and soon made a full recovery.
Kirby, according to one of his keepers, is incredibly mild-mannered and he seems to be warming up to people again.
“He’s still quite shy,” Fitzpatrick said. “He’s a finicky eater, but he has put on a lot of weight since he’s been here.”
Fitzpatrick said that some days honey or grapes are his favorite treat, while other days he won’t touch either of them.
Kirby is naturally nocturnal, so the small mammal’s schedule is being flipped so zoo patrons can get a look at him.
“We are switching his night cycle so he will be up during zoo hours,” Fitzpatrick said. “And then he can sleep at night with the rest of the animals.”
It’s not known how old Kirby is, but under the right circumstances, kinkajous can live to be 25 years old.
The hope, according to Fitzpatrick, is that he will be an ambassador for pets that were previously in the pet trade and shine a light on the fact that exotic pets aren’t meant to be kept in homes.
Jarrad Mears, BARC’s Animal Control Enforcement Manager, said this week that BARC urges people to think twice before adopting an exotic pet, even if they are technically legal to own.
“Exotic animals are not domesticated and require special expertise and financial resources to provide appropriate dietary and behavioral care,” Mears said. The desire to own exotics pets is often short-lived, as exotic animals purchased as infants can become unmanageable and aggressive as they age and grow.”