Friday I joked about the phrases you don’t want to imagine might one day become a punchline in your obituary. “The zookeeper said she’d never seen otters behave that way before,” was one of the phrases I mentioned.
Little did I know, otters are on the rampage! I just saw this headline in the Miami-Herald: “2 more bitten by aggressive otter near Boca Raton.”
I feel bad for both the driver and the moose, but I’d be lying if I said my first thought when I saw the headline about a moose dropping out of the sky onto a car wasn’t relief because it wasn’t me.
The yearling bull nearly took a man with him after it fell from the Interstate 95 overpass onto Hinckley Road.
Shirley Bailey, assistant town clerk, got the frantic call shortly after 8 a.m. Tuesday. The caller was driving along the road when he saw the moose fall.
Bailey recalled his comments: “‘I was driving under the bridge on Hinckley Road and a moose fell from the sky.'”
The man was “a little shook up,” said Bailey, who quickly notified Police Chief Charles Runnels. “It was quite frightening, I guess.”
“It was quite frightening, I guess.” Has to be one of the most unintentionally hilarious sentences. Later in the article, someone named Reynold (who I suspect is a typo referring to Chief Runnels) also states, “Such accidents are not as uncommon as people might think.” Moose collisions, perhaps, but airborne moose collisions? Airborne moose collisions are not as uncommon as people might think?
Upon further reflection, I’ve never considered the possibility of an airborne moose collision or a plague of moose falling from the sky, so even one case would make this type of accident more common than I ever suspected. Chief Runnels/Reynolds, I stand corrected.
(you may make your own Bullwinkle jokes in the comments)
Michele B gifted us with such a stunning and delicious array of cookies that Husband and I – and we’ll neither confirm nor deny this – may have growled at each other like wolves over the little chocolate cookies. Also the gingerbread man. Also the dainty little pastries that were like tiny tasty creme brulee cousins.
We also got lovely surprises from JunglePete, as well as Dr. Birdcage and Phil, although none of these turned out to be edible.
On a completely unrelated and most assuredly not edible note, I’m very happy that Pete has been posting about coyote poop and has posted nice pictures. When coyote poop started showing up in my neighborhood I let a biologist take it and didn’t think to take pictures til it was gone.
“Boa Confiscated During DUI Stop.” The Washington Post reported:
Commonwealth Ave., 100 block. Police who had stopped a vehicle and arrested the motorist on charges of driving under the influence called animal control after they found a boa constrictor in the trunk of the car. An animal control officer took the three-foot-long snake to the animal shelter. It was later returned to its owner, who claimed the reptile was kept for protection.
Protection?
There was also story about a deer that was cornered in the stair well of an apartment building. How does that happen? Don’t deer prefer to take the elevator?
Documentary Film God Mark Lewis (he of Cane Toads, Animalicious, and Rat) has an airing of his new film, The Natural History of the Chicken on Wednesday night on many PBS affiliates. (check your local listings for details) It’s fabulous and you simply have to watch it. I command you to watch it, as a matter of fact.