Snarling porch sitter thought to be a binturong

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ^ | Monday, April 22, 2002 | Jeffrey Cohan

[Willie Green]

She has scissor-sharp teeth, bear-like claws, thick black fur, seal-worthy whiskers, a long tail and a mean streak.

Which just leaves one question: What the heck is she?

This snarling stranger showed up yesterday morning on the front doorstep of an Economy couple.

[Jean S]

I wouldn't want to find one of these on my porch.

[pubmom]

When I saw the video of this little lovely last night on KDKA, I wondered why anyone would want to keep it as a pet.

[wingnuts'nbolts]

Not a wolverine? "A rapacious and cunning carnivore of northern forests with stout body and limbs and bushy tail".

[piasa]

"She's just outright mean," Sickelsmith said.

Uh. no. She's not mean. She was just sleeping there, and then she got wind of your intentions, and decided not to put up with being pestered. Then you stuck a noose around her neck. Try doing that to a person and see how mean they'd get.

Bribing animals into cages for removal is much more effective than roping them.

Triangle employees transferred her to a 5-foot- long cage, then taunted her a tad by brushing a work glove against the side of it. She bared her fangs and let out a scratchy snarl.

This guy should try this with his mother in law if he wants to hear a real hiss.

[DETAILER]

Something that ugly, on my porch and growling at me, would get instant 12 gauge relief.

[buffyt]

Make sure it isn't "endangered species" or be prepared to haul it off where no one will ever find it if you do. We have a home in Lake Jackson, Texas, south of Houston. We have nutria and ALLIGATORS running loose in our town/area. There was an 11 1/2 foot long alligator chasing my neighbor and his dog in his backyard a year or so ago. My neighbor grabbed his gun and shot the 'gator, thus saving his life and his dog's life. It wasn't alligator season! He got into a lot of legal trouble for protecting his life from an attacking alligator. So, just be ready to get rid of any carcus after your kill it! The environazis and endangered speciesNazis are everwhere!

[Born to Conserve]

For a varmit, 12ga is appropriate, but for something intersting like this? Give it food and learn about it.

[Registered]

I'd shoot it, then send it off to the taxidermist.

[wingnuts'nbolts]

Just returned from Google and it seem these creatures are nocturnal, quiet dispositioned and make good pets.

[twigs]

I just saw two of these animals at a zoo in Florida. Any wild animal can potentially be dangerous. And you are right. They are nocturnal. The zookeeper had a hard time waking them up to eat. One of the two refused to do so. They also emit an odor that smells exactly like buttered popcorn.

[Procyon]

Binturong are animals of peace!

[maxwell]

What the HECK is a binturong? I never heard of that before...

[eddie willers]

I'd shoot it, then send it off to the taxidermist.

Then there was the veterinarian who was also a taxidermist.
His sign read:

"Either way you get your dog back"

[afraidfortherepublic]

OK, animal experts. Identify this animal for me: It's as big as a small cat and looks like a groundhog, except that it has a skinny tail like a snake. I saw one the other day in the grass by a mailbox in a nearby neighborhood when I was distributing campaign literature. I thought it might be a rat, but it was VERY big and had a blunt nose, not a pointy nose. I once saw something like it swimming in the river in a neighboring town. I live in Wisconsin.

What is it?

[Willie Green]

It's apparently a Malaysian bearcat of some sort.

[afraidfortherepublic]

They also emit an odor that smells exactly like buttered popcorn.

You got that close???

[twigs]

It's a very strong odor. We were right at the cage, but we continued to smell it as we continued to walk through the zoo. We were amazed!

[Born to Conserve]

"I wouldn't want to find one of these on my porch."

How about this?:

[dagny taggert]

So you are admitting to being a species-ist? :-)

[afraidfortherepublic]

It could have been a muskrat, I guess.

[DETAILER]

Make sure it isn't "endangered species" or be prepared to haul it off where no one will ever find it if you do. We have a home in Lake Jackson, Texas, south of Houston. We have nutria and ALLIGATORS running loose in our town/area. There was an 11 1/2 foot long alligator chasing my neighbor and his dog in his backyard a year or so ago. My neighbor grabbed his gun and shot the 'gator, thus saving his life and his dog's life. It wasn't alligator season! He got into a lot of legal trouble for protecting his life from an attacking alligator. So, just be ready to get rid of any carcus after your kill it! The environazis and endangered speciesNazis are everwhere!

Well, hello neighbor- I'm in Louisiana. We've got plenty of nutria and gators here. Nutria are considered pests and are fair game year round. But, like you, we don't dare shoot a gator. And they're literally everywhere around here- any puddle, pond, bog, you name it, that's big enough to support a gator, is likely to have one in it.

I'd still have blasted that Binturong thing though - shouldn't have got on my porch and growled. Self-defense.

[Willie Green]

Just returned from Google and it seem these creatures are nocturnal, quiet dispositioned and make good pets.

You have a rather odd judgement of what makes a "good" pet.

The Google search I performed turned up a Binturong owner's site that had this to say:

Binturongs in captivity can be interesting animals. They are not suitable as house companions due to their size, poor toilet habits and odor. Binturongs secrete a musk that is reminiscent of popcorn or warm cornbread. Unless you want someone to think you live in a tortilla factory, you should reconsider having one in your home. The musk will permeate everything with which they come in contact. The odor is not repulsive but it is overwhelming in a closed environment. We feed ours bananas as a staple, with other seasonal fruits, a sprinkling of vitamins, chicken twice a week and an occasional hard- boiled egg. Cooked carrots, sweet potatoes and similar items may be added. We keep our dry dog food free-choice. We furnish a complete diet and care instructions with all of our animals.

They need a place to nest and a place to climb. They like shelves and wooden boxes. These animals are very strong and animals kept as companions should be neutered and declawed. They can become very moody during breeding season and can begin to bite or threaten. Some animals never do, but the possibility is there.

[Born to Conserve]

"Identify this." Muskrat? They look a lot like beavers, but they have rat tails.

[Catspaw]

Sounds like a muskrat. Near any bodies of water or swamps?

[dagny taggert]

Does anyone know which of the two pictures is more "typical" of the species, or is the thin one immature?

[pabianice]

>>She has scissor-sharp teeth, bear-like claws, thick black fur, seal-worthy whiskers, a long tail and a mean streak. Which just leaves one question: What the heck is she?

Barbara Boxer?

[Dedbone]

They are not suitable as house companions due to their size, poor toilet habits and odor

Same same my brother-in-law.

[Born to Conserve]

I read that they are very variable in appearance. You can tell the parents, siblings and children buy thier faces.

http://www15.brinkster.com/efexotics/binturongtext.html

[maxwell]

Possum?

[headbegger]

tastes like chicken

[Willie Green]

It's a gentle creature and smells like Frito's.

I always associated the Frito smell with dirty socks.

[lowbridge]

Something that ugly, on my porch and growling at me, would get instant 12 gauge relief.

So thats what happened to my mother-in-law.

[dagny taggert]

Thanks. Their picture gallery doesn't seem to be functional. I'll check it later. Thanks for the link.

[Tony in Hawaii]

Don't believe the government coverup! This beast is none other than El Chupacabra!

[Mr. Bird]

ALL YOUR BINTURONG ARE BELONG TO US

[Brewer]

She has scissor-sharp teeth, bear-like claws, thick black fur, seal-worthy whiskers, a long tail and a mean streak.

Hmmmmm, sounds like my mother in law...

[SR71A]

What the HECK is a binturong? I never heard of that before...

Well, there are days when I've been right, but other days when I've binturong.

[SwatTeam]

Was he ramblin'?

[ruoflaw]

That sounds like something a Ohioian would say! :o)

[varon]

She has scissor-sharp teeth, bear-like claws, thick black fur, seal-worthy whiskers, a long tail and a mean streak.

Which just leaves one question: What the heck is she?

They found my ex-mother in-law ;-)

[varon]

Binturong are animals of peace!

ISLAM is peace ergo Binturongs are Muslims ;-)

[Tribune7]

Sounds like a possum.

[wingnuts'nbolts]

Sorry, Willie, Not my determination on suitability for pethood. I took it off infomation in Google. Evidently one man's pet is another man's terrorist.

[Francohio]

This animal must be smarter than Barbara Boxer. The hair-do is rather Olympia-Snow like, though.

[afraidfortherepublic]

Sounds like a possum.

I know possums, and this was no possum. I think it was probably a muskrat, although the snake-like tail didn't look "vertically" flattened in any way, as described in the reference materials. However, I didn't get that close. It really did look just like a groundhog, except for the tail.

[afraidfortherepublic]

Was he ramblin'?

Absolutely! Ramblin' all round the base of the mailbox where I was trying to stuff my campaign flyer.

[afraidfortherepublic]

Near any bodies of water or swamps?

Well, it was in a subdivision. It's possible that there were swampy places nearby. However, I was just aiming for the paper boxes attached to the mailbox post for my flyer, and I wasn't looking at the scenery. There are lakes and swamps within our city, but I really don't remember what is near this subdivision. It was wet and rainy yesterday morning, so he/she would have been comfortable wandering around. I'm just glad that it is not a rat (which was my first thought).

[afraidfortherepublic]

They look a lot like beavers, but they have rat tails.

That's what it looked like, but much smaller than a beaver. Perhaps it was a youngin'.