An Alaska woman has drawn praise after she expertly removed an opossum by the scruff of its neck from a crowded bar in Brooklyn.
The lost marsupial became scared of the crowd after it wandered into Temkin’s Bar in New York City’s Greenpoint neighbourhood and began running around looking for a way out.
Viral video of the incident then showed Sara Fulton, a native of The Last Frontier state, step forward, telling a friend, “Hold my phone. I’m from Alaska.”
She then picked up the animal with minimal fuss and escorted it outside to cheers from drinkers, before letting it go.
“I was outside hanging out with my friend outside the bar, the door was open, and then all of a sudden we see this critter run in, and we looked at each other, and we just were like, ‘Was that a dog? Is that a rat?’” she told NBC New York. “We both looked at each other and were like, ‘That was too big to be a rat! It has to be an opossum.’”
She said that her experience growing up in her home state served her well in the unusual big-city situation.
“I’m from Alaska and I used to go camping with black bears hanging out at my campsite,” she told NBC New York.
“I think it was just instinctual, I just like went up to him and I was like, ‘hey I know you’re afraid’ ... and I was like ‘alright, I think I’m just gonna scruff you and take you out because that would be the least painful for you.’”
And she added: “For me, it’s just a wild animal. But I have to realise I’m not in Alaska, and that’s not something you see every day.”
After completing the removal, Ms Fulton had a row of drinks lined up for her by other customers.
“I mean everybody just lost their minds, we couldn’t believe it was happening,” said bartender Rachel Bessemer.
“I grabbed my phone, didn’t know who to call, I was like, ‘this is not what people do.’ Everyone bought her so many rounds, it turned into a party afterward.”
