PHOTO by DANIEL DE BOOM

If you’re going to panhandle, it doesn’t hurt to have a gimmick. And if you’re trying to raise enough funds for a new outboard motor to get yourself out of the harbor, well, you’re probably going to want to take things to a higher level.

That’s what this guy–a true original who says he’s from Santa Barbara–has been doing. He doesn’t just hold out an empty cup or gas can–no, he trained his own animal menagerie of a rat, a cat and a dog to help his efforts, hoping to pick up enough cash to get his beached boat back in working order.

But he’s not just relying on the “Gosh! Aren’t they cute!” factor of his four-legged companions. Our gentleman from Santa Barbara has trained his rat to ride on the back of his cat and has similarly taught his cat to ride on the back of his dog, all done, somehow, without giving into their natural instinct to eat one another. Well, except the rat that is. Everyone knows he only always gets the cheese.

While it’s unknown if this gentleman and his traveling animal act were able to raise the needed funds, business seemed to be good from what I witnessed along Pine Avenue. There, people were dropping cash into his outstretched baseball cap and clicking photos with their cell phones, texting the shots to friends along with the title “SEE? Why can’t we ALL get along?”

Tags: animals, daniel de boom, Long Beach, panhandling, Photos