JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo. (KDVR) — The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office tweeted Monday about a strange discovery it made in a Kohl’s shoe department.
After three weeks of living in the department store, a rare ringtail cat was finally caught.
According to the tweet, the sneaky critter was, “eating ceiling tiles & shoe boxes, he would sneak in and out of our cat traps to get the food without tripping the mechanism.”
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.”
CPW’s species profile of the ringtail cat describes them as residing in the Desert Southwest, mainly southern Colorado, but are also known to be seen on the Front Range and Western Slope.
Ringtail cats hunt at night, feeding on mice, birds and insects. The profile states that ringtails have efficient kidneys meaning they may not need to drink, “thriving instead on the moisture in their prey.”