Scuttlebutt Pipeline

Welcome to Scuttlebutt Pipeline! If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed or sign up to receive email notifications of new entries.
Also, don't forget to check out Fifty for the Fall, your chance to win $50 cash - no strings attached!

Want to take your young children and their friends out on an entertaining yet educational outing? Before you send out invitations for your young children’s friends to come along you might not want to take them by Peaches the cockatoo’s cage:

ALBION, Ind. - People are being careful about their language around an 8-year-old named Peaches who has a habit of learning and repeating the worst she hears.

Peaches is a Moluccan cockatoo, and staffers at Black Pine Animal Park say she used to be a pet in a household where she picked up a vocabulary that can be as colorful as her feathers.

The bird didn’t miss anything when a volunteer construction worker started cussing recently after a chimp threw feces at him, said Jessica Price, senior zookeeper at the sanctuary about 30 miles north of Fort Wayne.

“She started laughing and carrying on,” Price said.

Peaches then reverted to a few of her own favorites.

“Go away, shut up, shut your blankety-blank mouth,” Price said. “She says a lot of very bad words.”

It is difficult to get birds to stop using words they have learned, she said.

“We obviously don’t repeat them,” Price said. “We don’t encourage it.”

(article source)

This makes me want to know where they rescued this animal from, in a way. Then I think about all the times I’ve lost my temper and cussed up such a storm that would make a sailor blush, and I’m glad my cat’s can’t talk. I imagine they could teach many quite a few things.

NEW YORK - A man smuggled a monkey onto an airplane Tuesday, stashing the furry fist-size primate under his hat until passengers spotted it perched on his ponytail, an airline official said.

The monkey escapade began in Lima, Peru, late Monday, when the man boarded a flight to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., said Spirit Airlines spokeswoman Alison Russell. After landing Tuesday morning, the man waited several hours before catching a connecting flight to LaGuardia Airport.

(full article)

Sadly enough, I can’t really fault the guy for trying. I mean come on, those little monkeys are adorable! If I was in his shoes I’d probably would have tried to find a way to smuggle the little guy home with me.

It’s a known fact I’d try to do the same thing with a koala bear too.

Wouldn’t you like one of these guys or another exotic type animal as a pet? If so, which one?

In reference Falcons’ Michael Vick’s impending criminal proceedings in regards to his participation in and training of dogs for dog fights, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell had this to say:

“While it is for the criminal justice system to determine your guilt or innocence, it is my responsibility as commissioner of the National Football League to determine whether your conduct, even if not criminal, nonetheless violated league policies, including the personal conduct policy,” Goodell said….[source]

Well said. Truth be told, I rarely agree with PETA because I’ve found them to be, for the most part, extremists of the worst sort. Yet on this I feel they have the measure of the situation. Since Monday PETA members and animal lovers have been picketing outside of the Falcons practice field calling for the suspension of Michael Vick.

It’s good to see that the NFL is taking this matter seriously, though why they have to even launch an investigation to determine if this compromises their integrity is truly beyond me. Fact is, it does and he needs to be let go.

SAN ANTONIO - A tiger at the San Antonio Zoo attacked a keeper Saturday, critically injuring the man, the zoo said.

The zookeeper was attacked about 2:30 p.m. in a nonpublic area by the tiger, said zoo spokeswoman Dawn Campos. The man was expected to recover, she said.

The zookeeper, who specializes in large cats, was flown to a hospital and was in critical condition, a hospital spokeswoman said. The keeper was in his 20s, Campos said.

The male Sumatran tiger was 4 or 5 years old, Campos said.

Campos said she did not know the extent of the zookeeper’s injuries but said: “He was very, very fortunate. He’s going to be fine.”

The zoo was closed after the attack and was expected to reopen Sunday, Campos said.

(Article Source)

Perhaps this is callous of me, but why does this surprise people? These animals are all wild and are not in anyway domestic. You’re taking a beautiful creature used to roaming free and shoving them behind bars, how the hell do you expect them to react?

For the zookeeper and his family’s sake, I hope they have Globe Life. I can see more such incidents in his future.

It’s instances like these that make me think that there are some really messed up people out there. But why is it that an innocent and undeserving animal suffers?

NEW YORK - A peacock that roamed into a fast-food restaurant parking lot was attacked by man who vilified the bird as a vampire, animal-control authorities said.

Beaten so fiercely that most of his tail feathers fell out, the bird was euthanized, said Richard Gentles, a spokesman for the city’s Center for Animal Care and Control.

Full Article

This man clearly has some mental issues and needs help. Thinking a peacock is a vampire? I’m not going to even elaborate on how wrong that is on so many levels. What do you think, if this man were to be caught, what would be a suitable punishment/sentence for him?

Is it possible that he was just responding to a combination of mental illness and stress and is in need of a Florida rental vacation? Loony sounding right? But there are actually people out there who will think and suggest this line of treatment for the man sadly. Personally I would love to see him fined and forced to pay restitution to the peacock owner and to receive medical treatment should an illness present itself. If there isn’t a mental condition than I would love to see him serve a couple of years for this brutality.