Channel hopping in the USA
I recently returned from a business trip to the States. In my hotel room I channel-hopped to a TV news report that’s been stuck in my head ever since: a mountain lion had strayed into a nearby settlement of townhouses. I took this at more than face-value; a metaphor for the present fragile and confusing state of the world, perhaps. Visits from mountain lions are becoming increasingly frequent to populated areas of the US; in recent years, they’ve shown up in Palo Alto, California, near the Stanford University campus. On one occasion, the docile-looking lion climbed a tree before being shot dead by Police. Anaesthetised darts are risky, it seems; the lions must be killed outright to minimise the threat. A Jobs-Worth appeared onscreen to make official excuses. “If it becomes a public safety mountain lion, we’re left with no choice but to shoot it.” If you call yourself a mountain lion, you might argue that becoming a public safety mountain lion would be a self-fulfilling prophecy. Which must be the moral to this story.
posted by Chris Bell at 4:52 PM
2 Comments:
Let's hope the boys in blue don't designate Gin a "public safety otter"
Mind you, devious things, otters. And there are loads of them, more than we could ever possibly want. And they breed like whales.
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