The Case of the Missing Meerkitten
December 4, 2018 1:03 PM   Subscribe

Was it a bird of prey? Was it a plane? The day before it was to be introduced to the public, a baby meerkat vanished from its enclosure. Perth Zoo appealed to the public.

Police soon recovered the meerkit, stressed and hungry but unharmed.

"It was love" claimed Jesse Ray Hooker, who was charged with smuggling the tiny creature away in a cooler bag.

Fears that the infant meerkat would be rejected by its family proved unfounded, though the extended meerkat clan remains shaken by the ordeal.

The meerkitten was valued at $21,000 which shocked Hooker as "he had only been to the zoo once and he did not know how much a meerkat was worth."
posted by Hypatia (15 comments total) 5 users marked this as a favorite
 
I hate that guy. Basically everything that's wrong with people, he embodies. He saw something he wanted, so he took it. Zero thought, zero consideration, zero awareness that you can't just TAKE anything you want.

If that poor meerkitten had been rejected by his clan, I might have had to send a strongly worded letter to that asshat. I mean, I would have rather flown to Australia and kicked him where it counts, but I'm not made of money.
posted by cooker girl at 1:08 PM on December 4, 2018 [44 favorites]


What a shit. Who does that?

In other news, very happy that the meerkat seems relatively unscathed and is back where it belongs.
posted by slkinsey at 1:08 PM on December 4, 2018 [4 favorites]


Christ, what an asshole.
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 1:14 PM on December 4, 2018 [9 favorites]


The article refers to him with first, middle, and last names. So that's the standard for serial killers, assassins, and... meerkat thieves?

Yeah, I'm ok with that. What an asshole.
posted by BeeDo at 1:21 PM on December 4, 2018 [22 favorites]


$21,000? I know a guy who can get you a meerkitten for a cool $19,500, no questions asked.
posted by ejs at 1:49 PM on December 4, 2018 [6 favorites]


You want a meerkitten? I can get you a meerkitten, believe me. There are ways, Dude. You don't wanna know about it, believe me.
posted by Naberius at 2:26 PM on December 4, 2018 [8 favorites]




Hooker pleaded guilty and was fined 4,000 Australian dollars ($2,800).

Next month, he will have to face Meerkat justice.
posted by GenjiandProust at 3:49 PM on December 4, 2018 [2 favorites]


I suspect it's all three names because the first and last aren't distinctive enough. Kind of like the Screen Actors Guild rules mandating Samuel L. Jackson, Michael J. Fox, etc.
posted by aurelian at 3:59 PM on December 4, 2018 [1 favorite]


Jeez, has the Aussie dollar dropped that far? I can remember when it was higher than the US dollar.
posted by aurelian at 4:02 PM on December 4, 2018


I mean, I would have rather flown to Australia and kicked him where it counts, but I'm not made of money.
I’d kickstart that.
posted by bleep at 5:54 PM on December 4, 2018 [9 favorites]


Pun not intended, but undeniable.
posted by bleep at 5:54 PM on December 4, 2018 [1 favorite]


Please open your heart and forgive.*

After all, who among us hast not lusted after a meerkat kit?

*or not
posted by BlueHorse at 8:56 PM on December 4, 2018 [1 favorite]


Swoon. Meerkats.

I get the guy’s impulse, but I’ve somehow resisted my urges to pop one in my cooler bag for over twenty years of visiting them.

FYI: Perth Zoo has an adoption scheme and I’ve adopted a meerkat (and other creatures) for really nice friends’ birthdays.
posted by honey-barbara at 4:48 PM on December 5, 2018


Jeez, has the Aussie dollar dropped that far? I can remember when it was higher than the US dollar.
posted by aurelian at 11:02 AM on December 5


And our central bank is always stressing out about trying to get it to drop further to improve terms of trade. If you only have on lever to pull (interest rates) but house prices are going up like crazy yet your currency is too strong, you can't move it in either direction. In the end they managed to create 10% drop in house prices by getting the government to put in severe lending restrictions (but keeping interest rates the same). Currency is also dropping, but mostly due to the long term lows in resource prices.

Funny when you have a central bank who wants your nations currency value to fall, who wants your inflation rate to go up, and your house prices to level off but I guess that's the steady hand on the keel of the ship.
posted by xdvesper at 10:19 PM on December 5, 2018


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