Archive for the ‘animals’ category

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Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride…

March 31, 2010

– – Anecdotal accounts have existed for thousands of years of animals foreseeing natural disasters such as earthquakes; birds, dogs, snakes, cows, and other creatures have been attributed with such abilities, while documentation could not be reliably made.

A pair of behavioral biologists, Rachel Grant and Tim Halliday, have recently documented proof in the current issue of the Journal of Zoology that large numbers of toads fled a breeding area five days before a magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck L’Aquila, Italy in April of 2009. With weather variables such as temperature, humidity, wind speed, and rainfall normal,  it is speculated that the toads may have picked up on environmental signals prior to the earthquake such as foreshocks or changes in naturally occurring magnetic fields that encouraged them to flee.

Scientists who are already studying amphibians in earthquake-prone areas such as Indonesia are being looked to in order to determine if the behavior occurs again...listen to the animals, humans, or ignore them at your peril!

Categories: animal occurrences, animal oddities, animals, science, unexplained
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Barf the Mawg…

March 28, 2010

– – It’s still hard for me to believe that John Candy is dead, taken way too young of a heart attack in 1994 at only 43 years of age.  John created many memorable characters, but as a furry I love him most for his creation of the half-man, half-dog (or Mawg, also seen as Mog) Barfolomew in the 1987 Mel Brooks movie Spaceballs, an obvious parody of Star Wars and Barf a cheaper version of Chewbacca. The film did modestly at the box office, being issued as it was ten years after the movie it parodied.   Brooks’ blend of slapstick and genre parody was getting old even in 1987, but the film remains funny and a cult classic.

Memorable quote: “It’s not that we’re afraid, far from it, it’s just that we’ve got this thing about death…It’s not us!”  Who better to be his own best friend than this marvelous John Candy creation?– –RIP, John, and thank you…

Categories: animals, anthropomorphic, Brilliant but twisted, furries, furry, furry heroes, movies
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“America’s Wolfman” on MonsterQuest

March 25, 2010

– – The America’s Wolfman episode of MonsterQuest promised much but delivered little.   It was, at any rate, not another feral dogs or killer bees episode. Described as being a husky 7-7-1/2 feet tall with a large head, dark hair, and pointed ears, the American Wolfman seen in the midwest walks on his hind legs, has a foul odor, and uses his forepaws like hands.

Also known as the Michigan Dogman (similar but not to be confused with the Wisconsin Dogman),  the creature was supposedly revealed on the Gable Film acquired in 2006 with the backstory of having been originally made in the 1970’s and acquired at an estate sale.   The Gable Film was later revealed to be a hoax staged by a family.  A sequel, Gable 2, followed in 2008 and detailed a police investigation of the first film.

In its usual dutiful manner, MonsterQuest in this episode sent its team to the Manistee Forest area in Michigan where sightings have occurred, and camera traps were set revealing footage of deer and other animals suitable as a food source for a wolf and coyote population. Footprints were also found which were judged to be a member of the dog family, specifically a wolf.   Some experts regard the creature to be a misidentified timber wolf, or just an unusually big wolf…right!

Eyewitness accounts related included a fall of 1979 hunting encounter when a hunter discerned a large creature who moved when he did.  In another incident in 1987 in Michigan, claw and puncture marks as well as blood and slobber were found on a cabin with canine footprints in the area.  Other accounts are numerous, and date back to Native American folklore.

Does the Michigan Dogman exist?- -As the episode concluded, “Who’s to say?  It doesn’t want to be seen.” We’ve heard this all repeatedly before…

…but I still like the big guy!

Categories: animal oddities, animals, anomalies, anthropomorphic, cryptozoology, furry, mysteries, rare animal, strange happenings, television, unexplained, unidentified
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Monkey Business…

March 24, 2010

– – In another safety drill at Tama Zoo in Tokyo, an employee dressed in an orangutan suit acted out the scenario of a primate escaping the perimeter fence in the orangutan enclosure.

A member of the staff was seized by the beast before he met his match in a keeper armed with a tranquilizer gun…

A Far Side cartoon is begging to be drawn with zoo visitors viewing obvious “animals” in fursuits, perhaps the result of budgetary cuts…and even the old Planet of the Apes series had far better orangutan costumes!

Categories: animals, furries, furry, strange happenings
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Japanese Zoo Captures Furry!

March 22, 2010

– – As if furries didn’t get enough disrespect, a Japanese zoo in February practiced response to a tiger escape using…and I swear I am not making this up…a guy in a tiger suit!

A Tokyo animal park conducted the drill to train the zookeepers in emergencies such as a tiger escaping.  About 100 firefighters took part in the drill, together with police and one person in a tiger fursuit.    To his credit, the cute stunt tiger evaded authorities for minutes while zookeepers practiced taking shots with a tranquilizer gun and eventually capturing the ferocious furry.   He did knock one of them down, and they will probably remember him…this is, after all, the Year of the Tiger!

Categories: animals, furries, furry, humor, strange happenings
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The Sierra Nevada Sasquatch

March 18, 2010

– – In what may be the last episode of MonsterQuest ever, we were promised “aggressively territorial packs of Sasquatch,” and received, blobsquatch, a short,  low resolution May of 1991 video taken at Mono Lake that shows something east of the Sierra Nevada mountains.  Some contend that the creature depicted was a black bear, while others feel it was a genuine Bigfoot clone.  Enhancements of the footage revealed little in light of its poor quality, while whatever was depicted was calculated to be between six and eight feet high…

Perhaps more promising were the Jamie Avalos footprint casts suggesting smaller than average Sasquatch that may represent evidence of juvenile creatures; we all know how cute Sasquatch are at that age!  An adult Sasquatch print tends to run about 16″ long and show a flat foot.  MonsterQuest’s scientific team determined that the Sierra Nevada area (near the California-Nevada border) could support a group of large primates.

Lastly, there were the eyewitness reports, including a hunter who saw multiple creatures in 2005, and a motorist who had an encounter in 2006.  Such eyewitnesses appear credible, even if a bit shell-shocked.

If this is the last episode of MonsterQuest ever*, they have gone out with a whimper rather than a bang, and even Dr. Meldrum may not be enough to save the series.  At least we still have Destination Truth and possibly similar shows to come…

…and as for the Sasquatch, as one expert concluded on MonsterQuest, “They don’t want to  interact with human beings; if they do, they’ll let you know.”

(* I’ve since learned that another new episode of MonsterQuest is coming…America’s Wolfman, March 24th!)

Categories: animal occurrences, animal oddities, animals, anomalies, cryptozoology, mysteries, television, unexplained, unidentified
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One Tough Dog!

March 18, 2010

– – From our tough dog department, we bring you the tail of a dog in Chattanooga, Tenn. that escaped from a fence in a nearby welding shop, and decided that he could take on a local cop who was running radar, and ruining the day for some otherwise law-abiding motorists…

…well, imagine the look on that public servant’s face when he felt his squad car shaking, and saw a bulldog chewing on his tires!   The mighty mutt also attacked two passing cars and a second police car, and was not deterred when the police used pepper spray and a Taser on him!

By the time that animal center staffers captured mighty dog and two others, he had chewed two tires and the entire front bumper off the first patrol car!- – Talk about bulldog tenacity!  If a Klingon owned a dog, it would be like that one!

Categories: animal occurrences, animal oddities, animals, strange happenings
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Billy the Exterminator!

March 13, 2010

– – You may not want to watch this show while eating, especially when he’s grappling with cockroaches, but otherwise Billy the Exterminator on the A & E network is a hoot!

Now Louisiana has lots of critters needing removal, and Billy together with his brother, Ricky, and other members of his family run a small but effective operation that’s shared with you.   Billy himself looks like an over-aged punk rocker or goth, complete with spiked hair, black clothes,  spiked armband, and  an aura of cheerful insanity; such apparently helps in that business.   He seems like a really nice guy and knows his stuff, even if you wouldn’t want him to marry your sister…anyhow, ladies, he’s taken!   As far as exterminators go, Billy’s also refreshingly humane, and tends to be into relocation of most of the life forms he removes, except for the insects.- –Catch and Release, three words to live by!

Watch a few episodes, and you’ll see Billy remove poisonous snakes, raccoons, bats, beavers, and a variety of other mammals and invertebrates from sites where they’re not wanted.  In a recent surreal episode, the intrepid exterminator was called upon to remove a nasty, p.o.’d rattlesnake from the cremation area of a funeral parlor.  It’s not all the glory stuff, however…in an another episode, you crawl along with Billy as he goes underneath a building to remove the festering and rancid corpse of a bloated, decomposing cat that’s stinking to high heaven.–“Fluffy’s not so fluffy anymore,” jokes Billy, noting that bugs are crawling in and out of the late cat’s head.- -Sure am glad that I wasn’t snacking during that one!

So give Billy the Exterminator a look…he’s got an interesting if offbeat life, and you might find a new role model!


Categories: animal occurrences, animals, Brilliant but twisted, cool things, furry, television
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Animal Lawyer!

March 9, 2010

– – You have, of course, heard of Ace Ventura, Pet Detective. But did you know that Switzerland boasts an animal lawyer?

Now animal rights are no joke in tiny Switzerland, which revised and tightened its regulations two years ago.  Their animal protection laws are 160 pages long, stating among other things that pigs, budgies, goldfish, and other social animals can’t be kept alone.  Horses and cows must have regular exercise outside their stalls, and dog owners must take a training course to learn how to look after their pets.   As in other countries, the law forbids killing animals in a cruel fashion or for fun.    Swiss voters, however, recently rejected by a margin of about 70% a proposal which would have required special lawyers to be appointed to act on behalf of animals.

Switzerland’s single animal defense lawyer, Antoine F. Goetschel, represents about 150-200 animals annually, although only a handful of cases go to court each year.  Most of his clients are dogs, cows, and cats.  Cases often involve the serious abuse of animals, such as deliberate wounding, neglect, and yes, rape.  Such cases can get a bit ridiculous, as in one handled last month where the attorney represented a dead pike after an animal protection group accused the angler who caught it of cruelty for taking ten minutes to haul the fish in…

Categories: animal rights, animals, furry, furry causes, furry perspectives
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The Dino Dilemma…

March 7, 2010

– – How, oh how, did the dinosaurs die off?- – For many, the answer has been an asteroid impact, while others have blamed the eruption of a mega-volcano. Yet others think that they smoked too much… (Gary Larson, et al)

Well, the latest is that a “dream team” of 41 researchers from 12 nations continue to feel that the evidence points overwhelmingly to a mountain-sized asteroid more than seven miles wide impacting with the earth at twenty times the speed of a rifle bullet about 65 million years ago, leaving a 120-mile-wide scar, the Chicxulub crater,  on the Mexican coast. An impact-induced environmental catastrophe ensued,  with melted rock raining as far as northern Canada followed by caustic chemicals, dust, and soot filling the air, shutting down photosynthesis and causing darkness for perhaps as long as a year...major bummer!

The dinos, however, were in decline for millions of years before the asteroid strike, and the celestial hammering may be seen as presenting additional circumstances that collectively the saurians couldn’t cope with, causing 60% of all species to  go extinct at that time.

…and how about a “Dream Team” of  researchers?- – Can you imagine all of those pocket protectors?- -The nerdish laughter?- -The sexual frustration?!

Categories: animals, environmental, evolution, extinct species, science, strange happenings
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