Tayra in the house!

I just returned from a trip to Los Angeles to visit my sister and Bradley and their two kids, Nolan and Murry...my adorable nephews! I will post pictures of them shortly...
First, though, I must report on our exciting incident of the morning! Around 9:00 a.m. there was a scratching sound at our door. Both of us first thought someone was trying to break in...the knob seemed to be turning...so we peered through the window to see what it was. It was not, in fact, a human. It was a tayra- a black furry animal that is a relative of the otter, although it looks something like a large ferret. I opened the door and the tayra charged into the house. She ran around and around the living room, up onto the dining room table, up onto the stove, the kitchen counter, knocking lots of things over as he went.
This particular tayra actually is being raised by our neighbor Benito, who lives down the hill from us. So at least we knew it wasn't carrying any strange animal diseases. We chased her around the house a bit. She was pretty friendly and so we were able to pet it. Her hair is soft and thick and very fluffy.
We fed her some rice and beans, which she ate enthusiastically. We also gave her a bell pepper which she promptly tore to shreds, but did not eat.
Here's a picture of her on the kitchen counter...sorry it's a bit fuzzy, she moves very fast...