ST. Augustine, Florida (AP) – Animal lovers now have a place to spend time with the “IT” animals of the moment – large fur rodents.
At the rear of a real estate office building in what is known as the oldest American city, Capybaras is crawling in the towers of visitors, snacking corn on the torchage and hunts humans at Capybara Cafe in St. Augustine, in Florida.
“You give them a lot of stripes and love,” said Stephanie Angel, who opened Capybara Cafe at the end of last year. “Often, they will climb on your knees because they are very used to people, and if you are really gifted to give stripes, they will actually fall. It is always our goal of putting them so at ease that they fall.”
Since the opening of its doors in October in downtown St. Augustine, near the Flagler College campus, hundreds of animal lovers have visited the site to give the heads of Capybaras. Reservations are reserved for several months in advance by customers like Leah Macri, who recently visited the place in northeast of Florida in Orlando with his daughter.
“Their fur looks a bit like straw,” said Macri.
After entering a reception area with sofas and an open chick pen, visitors are escorted in a small room in groups of half a dozen people. Covers are placed on their towers and three Capybaras are brought into the room. Other animals such as a moufette, Wallaby and Armadillo are also introduced into the room, and they crawl among humans and their towers. The cost is $ 49 per person for a half-hour meeting and $ 99 for an hour meeting that involves other animals.
Even if she had come for the Capybaras, Macri liked to hold the tatou the most.
“He was the hug, like the best. He was just the sweetest,” she said. “He was just very nice.”
Capybara-a semi-aquatic South American parent of the guinea pig-is the last of a long line of “IT” animals to obtain the star treatment in the United States. During the holiday shopping season of last year, buyers could find Capybara slippers, handbags, dresses and bath bombs. Axolotls, owls, hedgehogs, foxes and lazy have also had recent turns under the spotlight.
Capybaras on foot can reach more than 4 feet (1.2 meters) long and weigh well north of 100 pounds (45 kilograms).
Several zoos and wildlife parks in the United States offer meetings with Capybaras, but Angel said that none of them provided intimacy with the animals that visitors obtain at Capybara Cafe.
Angel said she was planning to open another Capybara cafe through the state in Saint Petersburg, Florida, soon. The site of Saint-Augustin does not sell coffee or hot food, such as a coffee involved in his name, but it sells T-shirts on the theme of Capybara, coffee cups and animals in stuffed animals.
The coffee was created to financially support Hastings' non -profit refuge, non -profit from Florida, Noah, an animal refuge, said Angel.
Chris Cooper, who visited Capybara Cafe with his wife, was surprised to see how rough and rude's hair was.
“And I did not expect how affectionate they were,” said Cooper, who traveled 157 miles (253 kilometers) of Weki Wachee to see the creatures. “They appreciated practical friction.”
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