Meerkat: Kansas City Zoo's the Place For This Critter

"Stolen Meerkat Dropped Off at Overland Park Pet Store"
fox4KC.com (November 15, 2010)

"A meerkat stolen from the Kansas City Zoo is back home, 11 days after he was taken by someone the zoo director can only describe as an 'idiot.'

"The zoo never reported him stolen because they assumed a hawk might have scooped him up, not a person. They never expected the meerkat to show back up in front of an Overland Park pet store.

" 'We didn't think anybody was stupid enough to steal a zoo animal,' Zoo Director Randy Wisthoff said. 'Meerkats are wild little animals, too and they've got sharp teeth and they can bite like the dickens.'

"Wisthoff says someone must have jumped over the glass partition to get the meerkat.

" 'I think whoever had him, probably had their hands full,' Eric Thompson with Animal Control said.

"Thompson says on Friday, the thief apparently realized meerkats don't make great pets and dropped him off in an aquarium in front of an Overland Park Petco.

" 'Isolated they can start to panic, become hysterical, bite, defecate, urinate,' Thompson said...."

Yes, the Lemming thinks that sort of thing might take the edge off one's enthusiasm for having a pet meerkat. And a stolen one at that.

"Idiot" may be a bit harsh an evaluation of the meerkat thief, though. After all: Timon was a charming, if eccentric, character; and the meerkats on Meerkat Manor, like Flower and Zaphod - - - well, maybe "clueless" would be more accurate.

Bottom line? The Lemming is glad that the meerkat in question is back at the Zoo.