Rough Day At The Zoo

The Panama Canal expansion has come to a grinding halt. The widening of the canal has a 1.6 billion dollar cost overrun and doesn't appear close to being done. France actually started the canal project in 1881, but it was the United States who actually finished it in 1914. Due to the expanding global economy, the Panama Canal is even more vital today. Ports on the eastern seaboard have already spent millions of dollars upgrading their existing infrastructure in anticipation of the increased traffic. Hopefully, the Panama government will get this resolved shortly.

For some reason, animals dominated several of my conversations yesterday. I briefly chatted with a man who breeds myotonic fainting goats. It's a domestic goat whose muscles briefly freeze when they feel panic or become startled. Apparently, it's a popular goat for meat usage.

Then I was roped into watching part of the Westminster dog show since we might be getting a pooch this year. I really detest dog shows. They seem so pompous. This year they had a agility competition for ordinary mutts. Of course, they call them All-American dogs instead of mutts. It's even getting to be politically correct in the dog world!

The Copenhagen Zoo killed a healthy two year old giraffe to protect the zoo from giraffe inbreeding. Despite offers from other zoos and private collectors to take the giraffe, zoo officials decided to kill the healthy giraffe and feed it to their lions. Zoo patrons were allowed to watch the feeding if they desired. This certainly doesn't sound like a typical zoo's mission statement.

There is a man eating tiger in northern India. The tiger has roamed about eighty miles from its natural habitat. In the last six weeks it has killed ten people and partially ate them. It's believed the tiger is attacking people because it's having a hard time finding its natural prey. Maybe the Copenhagen Zoo can spare another giraffe. I imagine the locals would appreciate the gesture.

Later