Peekaboo!

A small raccoon-like mammal known as a “kinkajou” was rescued earlier this week after being found climbing a dusty Washington road pole. The nocturnal critters are indigenous to the rainforest and were once made popular as an exotic pet by Paris Hilton.

The rescued kinkajou was seen peeking around a wooden sign pole at a rest area in East Selah, Yakima County, according to a photo posted to X Monday by the Washington State Department of Transportation.

The agency says it wasn’t sure if the kinkajou, also known as a honey bear, was dropped off there or escaped, but it has since been brought to the Association of Zoos and Aquariums for a comprehensive wellness exam at its animal hospital.

KINKAJOU BARGES INTO FLORIDA WOMAN’S APARTMENT, ATTACKS HER BOYFRIEND, OFFICIALS SAY

“We are awaiting the results of diagnostic testing, including comprehensive blood work, to get a complete assessment of his health,” the zoo posted to Facebook along with a short video of the examination. 

Head Veterinarian Dr. Karen said the young kinkajou is in fair health overall but is very thin, weighing only 2½ pounds. He has a good appetite, and staff is feeding him a full and healthy diet, the zoo said in the post.

“This young kinkajou’s survival is a testament to the collaborative efforts of state wildlife law enforcement and the Zoo, highlighting the dangers of the illegal pet trade,” the post added. 

The zoo said that while kinkajous are not endangered, they are hunted for fur, meat and the exotic pet trade, which threatens their wild population. Its skin is often used to make wallets and horse saddles. 

PARIS HILTON BITTEN BY PET KINKAJOU

A small tree-hugging “kinkajou” was rescued this week after being found climbing a dusty Washington road pole. (Washington State Department of Transportation I Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium, right.)

Kinkajous live in tropical rainforests from southern Mexico through Brazil. They are small carnivores with prehensile tails, often mistakenly called primates, the zoo said. 

The kinkajou has sandy yellow fur, a round head, large black eyes and a short, pointed snout as well as short limbs. Mature kinkajous can weigh up to about 10 pounds and stretch to 52 inches in length. They feed on fruits, roots, shoots, nuts and seeds.

“Despite their cuteness, kinkajous do not make good pets,” the zoo said, although that hasn’t stopped socialite Hilton from owning one. 

The influencer and activist has been pictured in the past holding a kinkajou she called “Baby Luv.” 

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Kinkajou Harley is held by San Francisco Zoo Education Specialist Amy Goodwin during an event at the San Francisco Zoo & Gardens at the Willie Woo Woo Wong Chinese playground Feb. 17, 2016, in San Francisco. (Leah Millis/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)

Baby Luv bit Hilton in the arm in 2006, prompting her to go to a hospital, where the wound was treated and given a tetanus shot. 

The National Institutes of Health says kinkajou bites require the usual tetanus prophylaxis, rabies vaccine and wound cleaning. In most cases, antibiotics are prescribed to prevent the development of cellulitis or osteomyelitis.

Paris Hilton attends the 2023 LACMA Art+Film Gala at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art Nov. 4, 2023, in Los Angeles. (Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for LACMA)

The zoo said the kinkajou is recuperating at the zoo while officials look to find it a permanent home.

New York:

The prestigious Washington Post is in crisis, with pressure on from owner Jeff Bezos to change its money-losing ways.

The Post’s managing editor abruptly resigned; a chosen successor withdrew under fire, and a boss has been targeted in the newspaper’s columns.

At the heart of the storm is “WaPo”‘s new CEO, Briton William Lewis, who was given a mission by Amazon founder Bezos when he appointed him last autumn.

Lewis was asked to turn around a newspaper that continues to pile up Pulitzer Prizes half a century after the Watergate scandal it instigated, but which has lost $77 million in 2023 despite job cuts and the disappearance of its Sunday supplement.

However, the former journalist, who made history in the late 2000s with a scoop on the expenses of British MPs when he was editor of the Daily Telegraph, is finding his position increasingly vulnerable.

For weeks now, revelations have multiplied about his role, when he was working for the Murdoch family’s conservative media group about 12 years ago, in a scandal of illegal phone tapping by the tabloid The News of the World.

On Friday, Lewis was at the center of an investigation by his own journalists.

According to the Washington Post, he gave the go-ahead in 2011 for the destruction of thousands of emails, fueling suspicions that he was destroying evidence, which he denies.

“Trump Bump”

As the US presidential election approaches, the affair is poisoning the atmosphere at a long-vaunted newspaper that is “not doing well economically,” Northeastern University journalism professor Dan Kennedy tells AFP.

The Post was among trusted news outlets that benefited from the upheaval that marked Trump’s four years in the White House which ended with his loss to President Joe Biden.

The Post “was seen as a place that offered really tough, truth-telling coverage” of Trump, according to the professor.

Trump’s departure from the White House meant fewer attention-grabbing stories to keep readers engaged.

“When Donald Trump left the White House, the Trump bump that helped a lot of newspapers disappeared,” Kennedy said.

“And the Post was hit especially hard.”

By the end of 2022, the Post would have 2.5 million subscribers compared with 3 million subscribers when Biden took office in early 2021, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Meanwhile, rival New York Times has grown to more than 10 million subscribers, the fruit of a strategy to diversify into fun topics such as games, food, and lifestyle while still serving up hard news.

US media quoted Lewis as telling editorial staff in early June that he “can’t sugarcoat it anymore” — the paper has lost a lot of money and people’s interest in its articles.

Third News Team

The day before that editorial meeting, Post journalists learned of the resignation of editor-in-chief Sally Buzbee.

Buzbee is said to have disagreed with Lewis’s strategy to split the editorial department into three divisions: news, opinion, and a new third unit devoted to social media and service journalism.

The contours of this “third newsroom” remain unclear, but it seems aimed at reviving readership in a leap into the unknown for the newspaper.

Within the Murdoch family group, Lewis was the boss of the Wall Street Journal (2014-2020), another flagship of the US press.

However, articles in the New York Times and the Post pointed to questionable methods employed under his watch and that of former colleague Robert Winnett, whom Lewis chose to replace Buzbee.

Published allegations include paying informants, using data from hacked phones, or intermediaries using phony identification to get information.

Winnett withdrew from consideration for the post following those revelations.

Professor Kennedy believes Lewis has no choice but to leave the Post because he has lost the confidence of the team there.

“The body is rejecting the transfusion,” Post veteran David Maraniss wrote on his Facebook page, adding he didn’t know anyone who thinks the situation can stand as it is.

“If he can’t inspire the staff (…) the Post will sail without direction and its best people will leave,” Kennedy said of Lewis.

For many observers, the outcome of the crisis lies in the hands of billionaire Bezos, who bought the Post for $250 million in 2013.

So far, Bezos has backed his CEO.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)