By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) -- An exotic animal with a long snout, bear-like claws and a tail like a raccoon scared the heck out of some narcotics investigators searching a home for drugs.
Riverside County sheriff’s investigators said the ''strange looking,’' ''sloth-like’’ animal emerged from its hiding place in the Lakeland Village home on Saturday.
It was eventually identified as a coatimundi, usually found in the forests of Central and South America.
Possessing a coatimundi is illegal in California without a license, and Fish and game official Kyle Chang said the animal’s owner, 29-year-old Norman James Vollan, will have to give it up to a zoo or to someone with an exotic animal license. In the meantime, the animal was taken to an undisclosed animal sanctuary.
Vollan was arrested after deputies discovered methamphetamine in his home, sheriff’s investigators said.
He ''was pretty much crying in jail’’ when he learned he would lose his coatimundi, Chang said. He said Vollan bought the animal for about $1,000 three years ago and had it imported from Texas to Nevada, where he was working at the time.