One of the gadgets on my custom Google homepage is the “Top Nova Scotia News” feed. It displays the three “top” stories for Nova Scotia at any given time.
Usually my eyes scan over the headlines without paying much attention, but lately there have been a rash of headlines that serve to highlight just exactly where it is that I live.
Please, allow me to share.
On October 2nd I noticed a headline about a “wayward moose” troubling Pictou county. I can’t tell you the actual headline, since later that day the story was updated and all I have is the current headline. Here’s that current headline, with a snippet of the article:
Moose dies during relocation attempt
The wayward moose near Pictou has died.
Officials from the Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources shot the endangered moose with a tranquillizer gun Thursday, then used a helicopter to airlift the animal out of the area.
“The team worked pretty quick,” said Alan Blinn, DNR area supervisor.
By the time they lowered the moose onto a trailer two minutes later, however, it was dead.
“Moose are a highly stressful animal, and of course it was very stressed out when we were trying to catch it and tranquillize it,” Blinn said. “A combination of the stress and drugs might have done this.”
The later half of the article contains most of the text that was originally there when it was just a “moose on the loose” story. What’s been edited out was the background on how moose are in danger due to brain worms. That really caught my eye because it’s sad, and also–to be totally honest–because any combination of “moose” and “brain worm” triggers my Invader Zim neurons.
There was a write up that paragon of journalism, The Truro Daily News, late last month about moose and brain worms, triggered by the wayward moose. You can check it out. (Also, the Michigan DNR has a more technical writeup).
Anyway, on October 3rd, one another of the top stories was this shocking followup:
Pictou County moose fell from chopper
It turns out the moose that died Thursday was dropped from a helicopter.
The Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources initially said the endangered moose likely died of a combination of drugs and stress.
But on Friday, a spokesman for the department admitted the net that held the moose came loose from the cable as the helicopter took off.
It’s terribly sad for the moose, of course, but the idea of a cover-up here just cracks me up.
And what were the other two headlines that day?
Police seize 200 marijuana plants in Cape Breton
This one’s worth reading just for the classic CBI grammar displayed by the Staff Sgt.
Another prisoner mistakenly released in N.S.
I think the first word in that headline says it all.
And today? Well, let me pick out just one of the top three stories.
Starving kittens, puppies abandoned in Glace Bay
’nuff said?
