NYC Wildlife – Badger? Gopher? Ferret? Raccoon? Rat?

A hedgehog? A rat? No, the creature on the ledge at East 35th Street was
an opossum, not such a rarity in New York.

What was that furry creature parked yesterday
on a ledge at 135 East 35th Street? A big rat? A cat? A small bear? For
nearly eight hours, a quiet corner in Murray Hill was transformed into
a kind of temporary zoo, as passers-by stopped to gawk and guess the
identity of the long-snouted cat-size animal that paced along a narrow
stone ledge about nine feet over a brownstone garden, sniffing, shaking
and yawning.

"I was thinking it was a badger, in honor of Operation Badger," said
Jennifer Gould, who may have been the first to spot it, at 7:30 a.m. (see
following story)

"I thought someone had put a giant statue of a rat in front of the
building," said
Lynn Peraza, owner of the topless club Flashdancers, who wore a multicolored
fur coat. The animal was, in fact, an opossum – and not entirely an alien
in Manhattan.."

from the New York Times