Wednesday, August 08, 2007

News has gone to the animals

For more than two weeks we’ve been hearing about Mike Vick and his fighting dog scandal. Well, today even more animal madness has made the news.

A man who boarded a flight to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on Spirit Airlines rom Lima, Peru, Monday night, was trying to smuggle a monkey into the country by hiding it under his hat.

According to CNN.com, during the flight, people around the man noticed that the marmoset, which normally lives in forests and eats fruit and insects, had emerged from underneath his hat.

After passengers discovered the money, it spent the remainder of the flight in the man’s seat. Airport police were waiting for the man and his monkey when the plane landed about 3 p.m., and the man was taken away for questioning. It was unclear whether he would face any criminal charges.

The city’s animal control agency said the monkey appeared healthy. But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was planning to take it for disease testing and keep it quarantined for 31 days, CDC spokesman Tom Skinner said.

If the monkey is healthy, it could wind up in a zoo.

In other news, a herd of Cape Buffalo attacked a pride of lions who were trying to feast on one of their little ones.

A tourist on a safari in South Africa’s Kruger National Forest caught on video a lion attack on the young buffalo. As the lions attempted to pull the baby out of the water a crocodile gets ahold of the back end of the small animal, coercing a tug-o-war between the group and large reptile.

The pride shortly wins the tug-o-war and drags the young buffalo upon the shore. Apparently the herd of buffalo hears the baby bleating and came to its rescue. The herd circles the lions along the shore of the watering hole and eventually saves the young calf.

The “Safari Smackdown” is available on youtube.com, where more than 8 million viewers have watched the video, and a CNN.com.