diff --git a/datalad_fuse/fuse_.py b/datalad_fuse/fuse_.py
index 8c7a590..42b4d07 100644
--- a/datalad_fuse/fuse_.py
+++ b/datalad_fuse/fuse_.py
@@ -163,7 +163,10 @@ def getattr(self, path, fh=None):
                         fsspec_file, timestamp=self._adapter.get_commit_datetime(path)
                     )
                 if to_close:
-                    fsspec_file.close()
+                    try:
+                        fsspec_file.close()
+                    except KeyError as e:
+                        lgr.debug("KeyError encountered while closing file: %s", e)
             else:
                 # TODO: although seems to be logical -- seems to cause logging etc
                 # lgr.error("ENOENTing %s %s", path, fh)
@@ -259,7 +262,10 @@ def release(self, path, fh):
             #  files, so we need to provide some proper use of lru_cache
             #  to have not recently used closed
             if f is not None and not f.closed:
-                f.close()
+                try:
+                    f.close()
+                except KeyError as e:
+                    lgr.debug("KeyError encountered while closing file: %s", e)
         return 0
 
     def readlink(self, path):