Out of Africa

A man is swimming in a backyard pool in Africa (I didn't know they had backyards in Africa), and a wild elephant stops by for a drink. He must not have liked the taste of chlorine as he didn't stick around too long...

International update: Indonesia

 
If you had a rough weekend, maybe this will cheer you up. It's an orangutan in Indonesia who can't stop smoking. People at the zoo throw their half lit cigarettes near his enclosure and he mimics the humans he sees and casually smokes. In this clip, he is even seen lighting a cigarette with another one.


Zookeepers are doing everything they can to end the practice. Not sure if they've tried the patch yet?


Zookeepers Want Orangutan To Quit Smoking

What will they think of next?

 
An elephant in North Carolina with vision problems is being fitted with a set of king sized contact lenses. While I think it's a great idea, I'd like to know whose going to teach him how to put them in each morning?...
King-Size Contact Lenses Considered For Elephant With Eye Trouble

Pig-Dog in China

 
Chinese villagers reported strange sightings of this pig-dog recently. Police captured the freaky looking animal and determined that it was, in fact a stray dog. Sometimes, when domesticated animals return to the wild, they lose their hair and their appearance changes.
Is This A Mutant Pig-Dog?

Well rounded athlete

A 13 foot alligator captured in Hilton Head, South Carolina was a living, breathing sporting goods store. Once captured, authorities got an incite into the reptile's diet...


Trappers who opened the gator's stomach found 53 fishing lures, a half-pound of lead sinkers, a soccer ball, two baseballs, one tennis ball and two other balls that were unidentifiable because they had been partially digested. They also found a 4-foot gator. 

That discovery, plus other meals that included two turtles, a beer can and 48 rocks suggest the 13-foot gator ate just about anything, said Mark Carinus, who assists Critter Management with trapping and harvesting nuisance gators.

Read more here: http://www.islandpacket.com/2012/05/23/2079464/baseballs-rocks-another-gator.html#storylink=cpy

Baseballs, rocks, another gator found in belly of Hilton Head 13-footer | islandpacket.com

Neat sighting at Tifft Farms

I never knew we had pelicans around these parts. A volunteer at Tifft Farms Nature Preserve snapped this photo of a White American Pelican swimming in Lisa Pond yesterday...

People who are different from us

A man, a parrot and a zebra walk into a bar. Believe it or not, this is not  the beginning of a joke. An Iowa man actually did try to walk into a bar with a parrot and his pet baby zebra. (With a picture of a man who looks like he might own a baby zebra)...

A Cascade man was arrested outside of a Dubuque bar on Sunday night with a pet zebra and a macaw parrot in the front seat of his truck.


Officers charged Jerald Reiter, 55, with OWI. Police reports say officers stopped him in the parking lot of the Dog House Lounge as he drove away in his truck. According to police, field sobriety tests showed Reiter had a blood alcohol level of .14. The legal limit in Iowa is .08. 


Man Arrested for OWI with Zebra, Parrot in Front Seat of Truck*

Black bears invade news set

A Pennsylvania weather guy was getting ready to do the "weather outside", when a family of four black bears interrupted the show...

Share |

Tifft Farms Mink

Thought this was cool. I'm friends with Tifft Farms Nature Preserve on Facebook. A friend of the preserve named Lauren spottted this mink the other day. Amazing how many animals are right in our own back yard...


Here's another taken a few months ago at Tifft by Andrew Stadler...

Share|

Man's best friend

Thought this picture making the rounds on Facebook was an interesting one. You can tell that despite this man's obvious plight, the dog wouldn't want to be anywhere else...


Here's video of a black lab whose companion (a yellow lab) was struck and killed by a car on a busy L.A. Freeway the other day. Despite the obvious danger, the black lab refused to leave the scene until animal control officers arrived...

The Turtles

Taken from WGRZ' website. My brother, Patrick took this picture of turtles enjoying the sun at South Park Lake. If you look closely, you will be able to count at least 17 of them.

Share|

Incredibly lucky photographs of animals

You came here for political talk and instead you get pictures of animals. The photographs shown here of animals in the wild are incredible and none of them have been doctored. There is a link at the bottom of the post to the site where I obtained them from...








For the rest of the photos, please check out 25 Incredibly Lucky Photographs Of Animals



Share|

Purple squirrels and the NY state Assembly race

In a year filled with forty degree days in February, expect the unexpected when it comes to the race for New York state Assembly. At the crack of dawn, a squirrel spotted Mickey "Rivers" Kearns trying to win support from the South Buffalo sanitation workers at the Tim Hortons on Seneca Street. After the encounter, the rodent saw his shadow outside of the restaurant. He claims this is a sign of a Kearns victory on the Bloggers' birthday, March 20th.

Later in the evening, the same squirrel noticed Chris Fahey having a relaxing dinner at Pasquales. I have to say, Fahey has better taste than Kearns as Pasquales is an A+ establishment. (Sorry I didn't say hello, Chris Fahey. I don't like to bother people while they're eating.) I figure I bother them at every other point in the day. I can at least let them eat in peace.

Anyway, the neighborhood squirrel reports that he is NUTS about Kearns. Regardless of who wins, these two will most likely butt heads again in the democratic primary this Fall.

Speaking of squirrels, thanks to my niece Mary for sharing this article about a rare purple squirrel found in Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania. (No word yet on whether they're naming it Snookie)..

Emert said she had spotted a purple squirrel on her property but no one believed her.

"I kept telling my husband I saw a purple one out in the yard. 'Oh sure you did' he kept telling me," said Emert. "Well, he checked the trap around noon on Sunday and sure enough, there it was."

Purple Squirrel Found in Pennsylvania






Share|

Smith St. Owl

Lots of wildlife down in the Valley, and I'm not just talking about the people coming out of Tunies. Thank you to Carol Webster for sending me these pictures of a very large owl trapped near Smith Street. Props to Geno Letina for helping to save the frightened bird.

I was cycling during the summer on Exchange Street (near Smith) and spotted a bird very similar to this one on the ground across the street from the Larkin Building. A spokesman from the D.E.C. was on hand at the scene last night and said the hungry owl was probably in the area in search of "Valley Rats".











Share|

Milkbone mystery

I was very happy to hear that the two dogs stolen from the Elmwood Village yuppies have been returned unharmed. To some people, their pets are like family members. Stuff like this happens too often in the city. People might think I'm crazy, but I think they should make stealing someone's pet a felony. That's the only thing that will deter these. God forbid, their conscience would get to them. They only think of their own fate, and a stiff sentence would be a nice deterrent.

If your dog gets stolen, you don't know what has happened to it, or if it is being harmed. The hardest part is not knowing. Some of your Irish neighbors could be conducting dog fights in their basements right now. The DJ on 102.5 today was crying when he reported this story(when the dogs were still missing) and I think most of us understand how he felt. Another DJ referred accurately to the suspects as "scumbags".

Gabby and Gilly were safe at home on Monday. Reached by phone, Gabby said she just wanted to put the whole ordeal behind her and was glad to be back with her old owners. Gilly thanked the community for the outpouring of support and said she was looking forward to "eating a can of Alpo and going out to the yard to take a piss."

This seemingly happy ending does not add up to me, though. Something is rotten in the state of Denmark. I'm glad the dogs were returned unharmed, but who sold them on Facebook? And, since when do people buy and sell dogs on Facebook? If you bought a stolen dog for $200, wouldn't you just return the dog? What's up with collecting the $2,000 reward? I can see accepting $200 because that's what they paid for them. And the dog walker? Was she an innocent victim or does she know more than she's saying? They need to put her on a tight "leash." Lots of questions. Not enough blog readers to answer them...


2 Dogs Reported Stolen Returned to Owners


Share|

Whitetail population on the rise

WGRZ did an interesting story about the exploding whitetail deer population in WNY. According to one of the experts, the deer began migrating north from the Southern Tier 50 years ago, adapting to changing landscapes there.

A recent aerial survey spotted 77 deer over the Tifft Farms Nature Preserve in South Buffalo alone. And they are doing a number on the plants over there as well as at the Botanical Gardens...

Share|

White squirrel

I saw this interesting picture on WGRZ's website. It's a white squirrel on Baker Road in Orchard Park. Because the eyes are not pink, we know it is not an albino. (Photo sent in by Don Daly.)


Share|

International update: Bulgaria

• 

Fed up with the incumbent, a political party in the Bulgarian city of Varna has succeeded in running a donkey against him. In my favorite part of the story, the incumbent has refused to share a platform with the donkey (nicknamed Marko the ass)...

Angel Dyankov, a representative of the Society for New Bulgaria party, told the country's Darik Radio: "Unlike the other mayor candidates and politicians, the Donkey has a strong character, doesn’t steal, doesn’t lie, and gets work done."

Donkey enters elections in Bulgaria

Share|

• 
  

Unwelcome guest

Our cameras were there at the WPS championship in Rochester, as a squirrel entered the field causing a 5 minute delay. Like a true goal scorer, he went directly into the box. Despite an underwhelming performance from Marta, the WNY Flash won the game 6-5 in a PK shootout, a sad way to end any final. Very good game though with over 10,000 fans in attendance.

Share|

Giant rat

Experts in New York City have always said the sightings of 3 foot long rats in the housing projects were just the stuff of urban legend. That was until someone killed one and took a photo of it last week. Chinese Buffet anyone?...

Giant rat killed by pitchfork in Marcy Houses is believed to be Gambian pouched rat

Share|