Coved-19 Happy And Sad Again: Animal Edition

Desperate monkeys look for food in Lopburi, Thailand. Tourists would
always feed them, but now they're gone, chased home by the
coronavirus. Locals have been trying to help by leaving food out
for at least some of them. 

From what I've read, most animals don't get the coronavirus that is alarming everybody around the world right now.

That doesn't mean the disease has no effect on them. After all, anything that happens to humans can affect animals.

I have two of no doubt zillions of examples in this post.

First, the sad.

One of the charms of Lopburi, Thailand is the thousands of monkeys that roam the streets and buildings and temples in the region.

It turns out the monkeys' main supply of food is tourists, who kindly give them treats as they visit. The coronavirus has dried up tourism everywhere, including Thailand.

Now, the monkeys are incredibly hungry. They're viciously fighting each other over food, and running around in gangs through town, frightening people.

Locals have begun leaving food out for the monkeys to help get them through this crisis.

Now the (relatively) happy:

Wellington the penguin checks out the fish tanks at the Shedd Aquarium
in Chicago. The aquarium is closed to the human public due to the
coronavirus, so animals living there were given tours. 

The Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, like so many other attractions is closed to the public while we try to whether the coronavirus pandemic.

Well, somebody's got to tour the place, so why not let the penguins there have a look-see, since humans aren't currently in the way.  I'm very partial to penguins, by the way, so this is my kind of story.

"Without guests in the building, caretakers are getting creative in how they provide enrichment to animals.....introducing new experiences, activities, foods and more to keep them active, encourage them to explore, problem-solve and express natural behaviors," aquarium officials told the Chicago Tribune. 

One penguin, named Wellington, seemed particularly fascinated by the fish.

We all need distractions like this to get us through what I'm calling the plague weeks.

Here's a clip from CBS News about the penguims:

Monkeys Lurking To Attack Trump During Trump India Visit

HuffPost won the headline war last week with this header for a story they ran:

Who will survive Trump's trip to India? Trump himself, or hostile
rhesus monkeys. Stay tuned!

"India Doesn't Want Monkeys Attacking Trump During Taj Mahal Visit."

President Trump is indeed in India this week on a state visit, and he is scheduled to visit Taj Majal.

Officials in India naturally want the visit to go smoothly, but rhesus macaques might ruin the plan.  There's probably 600 or so monkeys living near Taj Mahal.

As HuffPost reports, "The rhesus macaques have a reputation for being very aggressive toward the 25,000 tourists who visit the Taj on a typical day."

The monkeys aren't the usual terrorist threat.  Apparently, the best way to ward them off is with slingshots. Says HuffPost:

"'We found that monkeys get scared by just seeing us brandishing these slingshots,' Brij Bhushan, head of the Taj Mahal security force, told Reuters last year.'"

Here's the problem:  Slingshots are pretty effective at discouraging lone monkeys or small groups of them. But if there's a big pack of them, slingshots don't work.

I'm quite sure there are at least a few people in the United States who would say that India should just leave the monkeys alone and let them have their way with Trump.  It probably would be fun to see how the macaques react to Trump's, um, colorful orange hair and makeup.

Social media, of course, reacted predictably and humorously to this situation.

"But why? @POTUS @realDonaldTrump surrounds himself with monkeys everyday. Why would he object to a few more," wonderedr Mike Murdock (@theMagicalMrE).

Other people made remarks like "Get him monkeys!" or "I'm Team Monkey."

Anyway, let's hope peace continues between the mercurial Trump and his equally mercurial contestants, those damn monkeys.  Trump is headed home today. I guess crisis averted?

Heroic TSA Agent Saves World From Diabolical Rooster Monkburn, The Sock Monkey

A diligent. heroic TSA agemt in St. Louis possibly saved the world in the past week.

Rooster Monkburn, the diabolical terrorist
sock monkey named in St. Louis. 

Phyllis May of Redmond, Washington was trying to board a plane when the TSA agent uncovered the evil plot in which May had a role.

It turns out May had a little sock monkey named Rooster Monkburn in her baggage. And Rooster Monkburn had a gun!

It was a little toy gun, two inches long in his little holster. Imagine the carnage had Rooster Monkburn gotten on that plane with that gun! Oh, the humanity!!

Or, as the TSA reportedly said to May once she discovered Monkburn and his gun. "If I held it up to your neck you wouldn't know if it was real or not."

Well, that TSA agent certainly showed her analytical skills. Personally, I would probably know the difference between having a tiny two-inch toy gun held against my temple, compared to a Glock 9 mm, but what do I know?

That's why we have those wicked smart and on top of it TSA agents protecting us.

Those TSA agents are also so, so compassionate, too! The agent said she should have called the cops, but she didn't, perhaps judging that May was just an unwitting stooge in Rooster Monkburn's dangerous plot.

The holster and gun confiscated from Rooster
Monkburn, next to three quarters, for
comparions' sake. 

As is always the case, it seems, the TSA sidestepped comment on this incident just issuing their usual bland statement. You know, to keep those terribly terrorists among us off balance.

Said the TSA statement: "TSA officers are dedicated to keeping the nation's transportation security systems safe and secure for the traveling public. Under longstanding aircraft security policy, and out of an abundance of caution, realistic replicas of firearms are prohibited in carry on bags."

Especially when sock monkeys are involved. They're particularly dangerous.

On the bright side, everyone, espcially all of us naive Americans who don't understand terrorism like the TSA does, will probably want a Rooster Monkburn sock monkey for Christmas.

May is going to have her hands full in that terrorist hotbed of Redmond, Washington, making more Rooster Monkburn sock monkeys with their teeny, tiny, fake guns.

Which means the TSA is really going to have its hands full during the holiday travel system.