Animals Gone Wild

Posted on September 28, 2013September 28, 2013 by Dusty Roads

It seems that animals are making headiness these days.

According to the AP there was a real case of Snakes on a Plane in Australia grounding a Quantas Passenger plane. The article , written by ROD McGUIRK states in part: CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — A tiny Asian snake was found on a Qantas Boeing 747 airliner in Australia, leading to 370 passengers being grounded overnight.

Staff found the 20-centimeter (8-inch) Mandarin rat snake in the passenger cabin near the door late Sunday before passengers were due to board the flight bound for Tokyo from Sydney International Airport, Qantas said in a statement Monday.

Australia’s flagship airline said passengers were given hotel rooms and left Sydney on a replacement plane Monday morning. Qantas said the original jet would be fumigated before returning to service in case there were other snakes on board.

Then we have the case of the stinky city and I don’t mean smog!

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Residents of a Buffalo, N.Y., neighborhood plagued by skunk odors now know what caused the stink: Trapped critters that were shot and stored at a shuttered police station.

The Buffalo News reports (http://bit.ly/18myscv ) that the city’s public works commissioner confirmed Monday that humanely trapped skunks have been taken to an old police station in South Buffalo, where they’re shot and stored in outdoor freezer until they can be incinerated.

Residents say they complained about the smell months ago but were told by city officials that skunks weren’t being killed inside the building. Later, they were told only a few skunks were killed there by lethal injection.

One neighborhood leader has dubbed the community scandal “Skunkgate.”

City officials say they’re looking for new locations for dispatching the nuisance skunks.

A bear walks into a bar….no this isn’t joke it really happened but he was a very well behaved bear and apparently left when asked.

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — If only all unwelcome bar guests were this obliging.A black bear walked into the bar at the Alaskan Hotel in downtown Juneau on Monday night.Bartender Ariel Svetlik-McCarthy says she freaked out and yelled, “No bear! Get out! No! You can’t be in here!”The bear complied, leaving the bar within seconds.

And finally , It doesn’t pay to be anti social. Even animals can be “fired”. The Dallas Zoo certainly gave the cranky gorilla plenty of time to mend his ways, 18 years but finally it was time to hand the animal his “pink slip”. The story was reported by the AP this week. An excerpt from their report is included here:

DALLAS (AP) — There will be no rose ceremony for a 430-pound bachelor gorilla that failed to form any meaningful relationships with fellow apes during an 18-year stay at the Dallas Zoo.

Patrick, the 23-year-old Western lowland gorilla known for being gregarious with zoo staff and the public, while being ambivalent toward his female counterparts, has been handed his walking papers. The silverback will be transferred to the Riverbanks Zoo and Garden in Columbia, S.C. where he’ll be allowed more solitude, according to a statement issued Monday by the Dallas Zoo.

And now we will return to our regularly scheduled postings. 🙂

The Good and the Bad

Posted on September 13, 2013September 13, 2013 by Dusty Roads

The ying and yang, alpha and omega, black and white….life and death.

Always a balance. When something bad happens something good needs to come along for balance. I’m not a philosopher but I know that many people much smarter than I am have spent many hours contemplating this very idea.

Why am I bringing this up? Because I am caught in a BAD/GOOD situation.

The Bad first because without that I wouldn’t have the good.

The Bad is that a very funny, gentle, kind man, a former marine who served his country, has passed away at the very young age of 30. I had the pleasure of meeting him. He was a celebrity of sorts as he was involved with the Gator Boys show on Animal Planet. On the show he went by the name of J-Mart and I saw him do his alligator wrestling show at Holiday Park . I even wrote a post about seeing the show and shared some of my photos.

I now know his name is John Martinez. From the comments and the emails I’ve receive as a result of my blog I know my impressions of him were right. The loss of such a gentle soul makes me very sad.

http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/2013/09/gator_boys_alligator_wrestler_dies_john_carlos_martinez.php

Now the good, for me anyway. Because I wrote the post and because I included photos that were at least half way decent, I was contacted by the Broward New Times, Florida for permission to use my pictures. In return they linked to my blog. They even took some of my comments from the blog and used them in their obituary. That is wonderful promotion for my blog and for my pictures. What’s the saying… there’s no such thing as bad publicity? I get really excited that my blog got found and is , in a sense, being promoted by a publication like the Broward New Times, and then I remember that someone has died and I wonder if I should be so happy. 🙁

I also got an email from the Story Producer from Animal Planet. He too asked about using some photos. I don’t know what, if anything will come of that but it’s all so exciting until I remember why my photos are in such demand. And then I get sad again.

The whole set of photos taken at Holiday Park on that trip are on my pro website: www.dustyroadsphotos.zenfolio.com I moved them to the opening slideshow as a tribute to J-Mart.

As much as I love the attention my photos and blog are getting, I would gladly skip the excitement if J-Mart was still with us. For those who knew him as a friend, his family and to his fans, I am very, very sorry for your loss.

This and That

Posted on September 7, 2013September 7, 2013 by Dusty Roads

Mayor Stubbs: We know what’s going on with Mayor Stubbs, how he was mauled by a canine assassin and is clinging to life. I checked his Facebook page to see if there was any update on his condition but I didn’t see anything new. However there was a cute post. One of his young fans wrote him a song. http://youtu.be/XOEaFNfdQfo Now that should make him feel better. Maybe we could get him to run for President?

In Sports :

Tim Tebow was released by the New England Patriots.

He vows to continue his pursuit of an NFL career. Reports are that an unnamed NFL team was willing to pick him up if he’s change positions..no more quarterback. Tim allegedly declined.

And Aaron Hernandez appeared in court where he pled not guilty to all charges. You know who he is, right. He was a New England Patriot until he was charged with murder. Then, of course, the Pats fired him. Makes me wonder how they could have hired him in the first place. He had a history of violence and it seems like the team should have known.

And more cat news!

Alaska isn’t safe for kitties at the moment! Mayor Stubbs is mauled and now a cat in Juneau survives an 11 story fall from a window. The cat did not get away unscathed. He suffered broken bones and had to endure surgery to , Like Humpty Dumpty, put him back together again. According to the Juneau Empire, the cat, named Wasabi, was chasing the Alaska State Bird when it flew out the window of the 11th floor apartment and he followed.