The furry mammal with the prehensile tail that lives in the tropical forest of Central and South America might have been looking for more watermelon.

LAKE WORTH BEACH — Gillian Hicks and her boyfriend, Mike Litersky, were unwinding after work on her Lake Worth Beach apartment porch last month when they spotted what they thought was a cat or a raccoon.

But after a closer look and an online search, the couple discovered that the furry animal hanging out by their fence was a kinkajou and that it liked fruit. So, Litersky, 37, decorated Hicks’ fence with chunks of watermelon.

The next morning, Hicks awoke to Litersky screaming.

She found the kinkajou clinging to her boyfriend’s ankle and slashing his calf. She ran back into her bedroom.

"It was not a nice kinkajou, it was super aggressive," Hicks said.

Litersky grabbed a frying pan and "played ping-pong," chasing the creature into her bathroom where it stayed trapped for the next five hours.

Hicks called 911. First deputies showed up. Then Palm Beach County Animal Care and Control and finally Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers.

As new parties arrived, "they would crack open the door a little" and watch the kinkajou hang from the shower rod.

"We could hear the toilet bowl lid open and shut," Hicks said. "It was so crazy.

"Everybody wanted to get a look, everybody wanted to see him," she said.

"It seemed pretty friendly," Hicks said of the tree-dwelling mammal with the prehensile tail that normally lives in the tropical forest of Central and South America —thousands of miles from Lake Worth Beach — and is related to olingos, raccoons and ringtails.

"Mike’s super into the outdoors, and I thought he just maybe knew it would be OK to feed it and that would be that," Hicks said.

It didn’t work out that way.

When Litersky crawled out of bed at 5:30 the next morning, the mammal was waiting for him outside the second-floor apartment, possibly looking for more watermelon.

"It made a beeline for the door," Hicks said. "It guess it just hung out there all night long."

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Kinkajous have sharp teeth and a 5-inch tongue that help them obtain fruit and nectar. They can be aggressive when agitated and can claw and bite, said Tyson Matthews, a spokesman for Florida Fish and Wildlife.

Matthews wasn’t aware of any kinkajou attacks in recent years, but said the behavior is typical of animals.

"When food is placed out, animals don’t act normally," Matthews said.

FWC is investigating how the the mammal got into the neighborhood. It likely escaped from a nearby home, officials said.

FWC officers brought the kinkajou to their facility and monitored it for 10 days for signs of rabies.

They point out that there are no licensed kinkajou owners in the area.

Kinkajous are popular pets regardless of their $2,500 to $3,000 price tag, said Alexandra Ashe, CEO and founder of Kinkatopia.

"They’re extremely adorable, but it’s not an animal that should be in everyday households," she said. "We advise people not to get them as pets."

Ashe opened Kinkatopia in west Boca Raton in 2015, where she helps owners, zoos and others around the world.

In Florida, they’re readily available from breeders and those looking to re-home their pets, Ashe said. Even more, licenses are free.

Ashe said it should be harder to get a license. The mammals are "extremely smart and mischievous." Seven live at Ashe’s house turned sanctuary, and she is constantly renovating to keep up with the furry creatures.

"Just when we think we’ve figured out something for these guys, they’re one step ahead of us," she laments.

"Mine know know how to unplug my security camera. They know how to open my doorknobs. They’ve taken apart my air conditioner."

Ashe said kinkajous require an expensive diet of vegetables, fruit and protein. They also require a lot of space.

And when they’re aggressive "they pack a very, very tough bite."

Litersky found that out the hard way.

Hicks said she brought her boyfriend to Urgent Care, where they cleaned the wounds and gave him antibiotics. The encounter was amusing, but a lesson in dealing with animals.

"I don’t think I will ever give an unknown animal fruit again in my life," Hicks said with a chuckle.

Litersky is still dealing with the encounter.

"He says he gets scared now whenever he’s walking at night and there’s a cat or something in the bushes."

blefever@pbpost.com

@blefever10