HONOLULU (KHON2) -- An office worker in downtown got an unexpected surprise Wednesday morning when they saw an opossum on a window ledge outside the building.
Officers with HPD arrived and were able to capture it using a broomstick and a plastic bin.
Inspectors with the Department of Agriculture took custody of the opossum.
The animal measured two feet in length from head to tail and, according to DOA, appeared to be an adult or older juvenile.
Officials are not sure how the opossum got to Honolulu but they stated that they have been known to stow away in shipping containers.
This is not the first time an opossum has been captured in Hawaii, according to the DOA.
- June 2016 - an opossum was captured by workers offloading a cargo ship at Honolulu Harbor.
- July 2015 - an opossum was captured in Kaka‘ako near the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Office on Ala Moana Blvd, an area surrounded by arriving cargo.
- July 2012 - an opossum was caught in a cat trap at a Sand Island warehouse.
- August 2011 - one was found in a shipping container as it was being unloaded in the Ward Center area.
- In 2005, two opossums were found – one was captured inside a military cargo plane at Hickam Air Force Base and the other was found in the mail receiving area of the U.S. Postal Service facility at Honolulu International Airport.
The DOA said they are testing the opossum for rabies as a precaution.