It’s still doggone funny
It’s not hard to imagine life in a Wile E. Coyote world; after all, we’ve watched him work at catching trying to catch his prey for years and years on TV. Well, the same mental spirit that dreams up devices for our friend over at Acme Inc. is alive and well, if a report I caught this afternoon on Discovery Channel is any indication.
This story is not new: I found a CNN report that goes back better than a decade, but the clip was still cartoon-funny. It seems that the prairie dog, (a distant cousin of the groundhog on the Sciuridae side of the family tree, for the genealogist in us all) is a pest. Disclaimer: although I am an advocate for the necessary holiday, Groundhog Day, I do not have any stock in prairie dogs.
Let’s get on with the story. The pest tends to dig holes (really, a rodent that digs holes; how novel!). The pest tends to destroy irrigation equipment. The farmer loves his irrigation gear more than his local colony of “whistlers”. Ergo, time to call in the local exterminator.
Except that exterminators are evil killers, if the animal advocates are to have any input. Instead, look up Acme in the Yellow Pages. Select the guy with the huge commercial vacuum truck. He’ll come, push a hose down the hole, seal things up with a spade and then turn on the fun ride.
Whoosh! Whee! Do it again! Watching the video of the funny little lawn rats flying into a padded bin was as inspirational as any cartoon. Later, the boys are picked up by the scruff of the neck and tossed into a wire crate for a trip “to the edge of town”. Go, sheriff, go.
I believe that this is a humane technique. I also find it to be the funniest thing I’ve seen in a “dog’s age”. Doggone funny stuff. For those of you who are now curious, here’s a link to the Quicktime movie…
