Colorado store staff discover rare ringtail cat living in shoe department for 3 weeks

The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department in Colorado made an unprecedented arrest on Monday. 

Living in the shoe department of a Kohl’s for three weeks, a rare ringtail cat was finally caught by law enforcement officials. 

The intruder was “hiding out in the shoe department in a Kohl’s store for 3 weeks. Eating ceiling tiles & shoe boxes, he would sneak in and out of our cat traps to get the food w/o tripping the mechanism,” the department tweeted. 

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The tweet continues, “The secretive creature was carefully collected and released into the nearby woods. Ringtail cats are not cats but are related to raccoons. The nocturnal ringtail, although native to Colorado, is a rare sight to see – but don’t touch; they are wild. Take a photo instead.”

The Colorado Parks and Wildlife Department says ringtails are excellent climbers, possessing rotatable ankles which permits headfirst downward climbing. Their tail, comprising half of their two-foot length, aids in balancing. 

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Ringtails traditionally hunt in pairs and, possessing efficient kidneys, might not need to drink, instead gaining hydration through the moisture in their prey. Ringtails are mammals of the Desert Southwest and mostly occur in southern Colorado. 

Typical habitat are canyon and mesa biomes, and most sightings are near water. In fact, the first reports of ringtails in an area often are of animals caught in traps set for mink.

Kohl’s did not respond for immediate comment.