Interesting…
BUGA, Colombia — A chicken in Colombia was born with the webbed feet of a duck.
Read the story and see the photo.
View this post at Utter Oddness » Brian
Animals & Insects
Via Reuters…
TORONTO (Reuters) – An animal rights group called Tuesday for a North American theme park operator to cancel a competition in which people will try to break the world cockroach-eating record.
Theme park operator Six Flags Inc, based in New York, is staging the contest as part of a promotion leading up to Halloween in which it is also offering customers free entry or line-jumping advantages if they eat a live Madagascar hissing cockroach.
The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) said it had been flooded with calls from children, adults and even anonymous employees of Six Flags opposing the record-breaking contest and the overall promotion.
“Insects do not deserve to be eaten alive especially for a gratuitous marketing gimmick,” PETA spokeswoman Jackie Vergerio told Reuters.
The competition to beat the world cockroach eating record is being held Friday at a Six Flags park in Gurnee, Illinois. Anyone who beats the record will win a season pass for four people for 2007 with VIP queue-jumping status.
Competitors will try to break the current world record, which is held by Ken Edwards of Derbyshire, England, who devoured 36 Madagascar hissing cockroaches in one minute in 2001.
However Six Flags spokesman James Taylor said the only complaints the company had received were from people who did not have the opportunity to sign up and eat a cockroach because only 12 of its 30 parks in the United States, Canada, and Mexico were participating in the promotion.
Taylor dismissed any health concerns, saying the cockroaches were raised in a sterile environment and were as safe to eat as shrimp or lobster with high nutritional value.
Madagascar hissing cockroaches are large, wingless cockroaches that can grow to between 1.5 to 3 inches.
Taylor said no one who had indulged in this rare delicacy had complained.
“It’s something that’s supposed to be scary, it’s icky, it’s gross, it’s Halloween fun and it’s just one small part of the haunted houses and thrilling rides going on.”
View this post at Utter Oddness » Brian
Via the Indianapolis Star…
Animal control and law enforcement officials were on the hunt today for two alligators spotted in the White River near downtown.
Two fishermen reported seeing the alligators, one estimated at 10-12 feet and another about two feet long, south of the bridge over West Washington Street.
The Indianapolis Zoo has no report of any missing creatures.
Late this afternoon Adam Garrett, public information officer for Animal Care and Control said officers from the Department of Natural Resources, Indianapolis Police Department and Capitol Police were monitoring the larger alligator on an island in the middle of the river. But they later realized what they were monitoring was just a log.
The gators, at last report, were still at large.
View this post at Utter Oddness » Brian
More than 3,700 customers lost power for half an hour this afternoon in the northwest part of Carmel when a squirrel snuck into a substation.
“There was no damage at the substation. The squirrel just made contact with the equipment, which caused the outage.”
Power was lost at 2:37 p.m. and was restored at 3:09 p.m.
In addition to homes losing power, several stoplights shut down and police officers had to direct traffic.
View this post at Utter Oddness » Brian
A pig withstood taser shots from police officers and eluded authorities for more than an hour after wandering onto Green Bay’s major highway. The 150-pound pig was spotted by a passing driver on U.S. 41 at 6 p.m. Wednesday night, Green Bay Police Lt. Todd LePine said.
The animal reportedly went into traffic several times, creating a hazard, he said.
Officers located the pig about 7 p.m. and made two attempts to subdue it with a stun gun, he said, but it fled both times after pulling out the Taser probes.
A passerby who described himself as a former pig farmer tried to wrestle the animal, but the animal pulled away from him as well, LePine said.
Three tranquilizer darts were finally used to bring the pig under control, and it was placed in blanket and lifted into an animal control van, LePine said.
The animal was taken to the Bay Area Humane Shelter that evening. Police said a local attorney planned to claim the pig Thursday. The name of the pig’s owner was not disclosed.
[from SFGate by way of the AP]
View this post at Utter Oddness » Brian
Something is eating cats in Carmel.
In the past month, the discoveries of pets’ remains on the eastern edge of the city have prompted one family to post warnings in their neighborhood.
Police investigating the deaths say residents should take heed.“If I was a pet owner, I certainly would not have my pet running at large,” said Carmel Police Assistant Chief Tim Green.
Since late August, Green said, at least four cats and a dachsund have been killed and their bodies found partially eaten and skinned. All of the vicims lived in an area west of Hazel Dell Road between 116th and 131st streets.
“We do know that there are coyotes in these areas of town, and we do know that a cat is game for a coyote.”
Police suspect there may have been even more attacks on pets of homeowners who realized what had happened and didn’t bother to report it.
Some of those who did notify police, such as Susan and Tim Eldon of the Brookfield subdivision, had wondered if the grisly assault on their pet was the twisted work of pranksters.
“I didn’t know if some demented kids were doing this or animals,” said Susan Eldon, whose 15-year-old feline, Bob, became a target last weekend.
Eldon and Green said investigations by police and a veterinarian revealed signs of an animal attack. Authorities are now consulting with Department of Natural Resources authorities to try and trap or destroy the culprit responsible.
View this post at Utter Oddness » Brian
KOKOMO, Ind. — A wayward squirrel invaded a power substation and left more than 5,000 homes and businesses without electricity.
Duke Energy restored the service from the South Main Street substation near Wildcat Creek after about an hour Sunday night.
“We lost the squirrel and 5,039 customers for the space of an hour,” Duke spokesman Rob Norris said.
The outage included much of the city’s central neighborhoods west of U.S. 31.
View this post at Utter Oddness » Brian
OSSIAN, Ind. — A swarm of up to 100,000 angry honey bees sent 10 people to the hospital including the driver of an SUV that hit a hollow tree in northeast Indiana, disturbing a hive.
…
By the time rescuers arrived, a black cloud of buzzing insects had engulfed the car, forcing firefighters to wear full safety gear — complete with oxygen tanks and face masks — with temperatures in the 90s.
Safety workers doused the bees with water and foam while they tried to extricate Cossairt, who was taken by helicopter to a nearby hospital with broken legs and multiple bee stings. She was remained at Lutheran Hospital Thursday morning.
…
“You can’t really train for that. You don’t really know. You look for downed power lines. You don’t look for a million bees.”
[read the full story on The Indianapolis Star web site]
View this post at Utter Oddness » Brian
In an effort to keep monkeys out of the Indian capital’s subways, authorities have called in one of the few animals known to scare the creatures — a fierce-looking primate called the langur.
The decision to hire a langurwallah — a man who trains and controls the langurs — came after a monkey got into a metro car in June.
The langur handler is being paid a retainer of India rupees 6,900 (US$160) a month, and “he will be called whenever there is a monkey problem,” Anuj Dayal, the spokesman for the Delhi Metro Rail Corp., was quoted as saying.
On June 9, a monkey reportedly crawled through some pipes and ended up aboard a train, scowling at passengers and jumping around a car.
Passengers had to be moved to another car while staff chased the dexterous creature, causing delays.
The langur handler was being employed to prevent such problems from happening again.
“There are too many monkeys,” Dayal was quoted as saying.
[via CNN]
View this post at Utter Oddness » Brian
A man accused of biting the head off his pet rooster was arrested Friday and faces up to a year in prison if convicted, an animal protection spokesman said.
A neighbor had complained about a dead rooster near his Manhattan apartment and agents found the body of the beheaded rooster on a fire escape, said Joe Pentangelo, spokesman for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The rooster’s head was not located.
Humberto Rodriguez, 52, told agents that he bit the rooster’s head off because he blamed it for injuring a pet pigeon that he also kept in the apartment, Pentangelo said.
Rodriguez is charged with animal cruelty and could face up to a year in prison if convicted. It is also illegal to possess a live rooster in New York City, Pentangelo said.
View this post at Utter Oddness » Brian
