A raccoon put his ninja skills to use in a stealthy doughnut-stealing mission at a Canadian café. One of the customers caught the furry masked thief in the act and posted his escapade on YouTube. The raccoon descended from the coffee-shop ceiling and artfully reached for a shelf full of pastries. An amused onlooker said, “If he falls out of that hole, it’s gonna hurt”, but the raccoon held his own… in seconds, he grabbed a doughnut and fled back to the shadows. A customer caught the whole caper on camera and shared it online. Peter Jensen, who recorded the video, told Buzzfeed Canada, “People outside were cheering when he finally got the doughnut”. People quickly compared the doughnut-stealing raccoon to the “pizza rat” from the New York Subway. Earlier this year, the rodent captured the world’s attention when a video caught it dragging a slice of pizza down a series of subway steps.
My question is, “This was a coffee shop… where were the cops? Don’t Canadian coppers do coffee n’ doughnuts the way that American cops do?” Or, did a cop sit there and laugh his ass off at it all? Perspirin’ minds wanna know…
BMD
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Sergei Galinichenko, owner of an aviary with 400 parrots (25 different species, including rare specimens… Grey, Blue-Fronted Amazon, Senegalese, Congolese, Alexandria, and Rosella) in Lugansk, told us that the war adversely affected his birds; the battles of last summer continue to have an impact on them:
The explosions and upset very strongly influenced the behaviour of my parrots, 85 to 90 percent of the birds that hatched eggs, ceased to care for them. The stress caused the parrots to stop feeding the fledglings, so, eventually, the young birds died. It also happened that adult birds refused to feed. This year, the situation began to improve, the smaller birds have calmed down, as everything is normal, but the larger parrots aren’t fully up to par, but with time, that’ll happen. Not only is there local demand for these birds, but also from Russia. I have potential buyers from Russia, but because of difficulties at the customs office (he needs a large package of documents to send the birds) I can’t do it yet. I hope that soon everything will work out.
She chose “sunny” for an early spring! That’s what’s shakin’ at the Yekaterinburg Zoopark…
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On Monday, Pugovka, a long-eared Russian hedgehog at the Yekaterinburg Zoopark, promised the people of the Urals an early spring, in a local event rivalling the American holiday Groundhog Day. Handlers placed Pugovka, the Russian diminutive for “button” or “buttonette” on a mat before two separate sets of plates with her favourite delicacies, including curds, carrots, and ground meat, with the phrases “early spring”, “late spring”, “sunny”, and “cloudy”. Unable to make up her mind at first, Pugovka eventually chose “early spring”. Then, hesitating a bit between “’sunny” and “cloudy”, she ended up at “sunny”, signalling an early and sunny spring. This is Pugovka’s fourth year serving as prognosticator. A Yekaterinburg Zoopark statement noted, “This event is similar to the overseas Groundhog Day and the ancient Roman Hedgehog Day, where the animals make predictions regarding the coming spring. However, our zoopark doesn’t have a groundhog, so our long-eared hedgehog Pugovka got the job. This year, she continued her responsibility… to determine what kind of weather awaits us when spring begins”.
German immigrants brought customs to the USA that became the famous American holiday Groundhog Day, popularised around the world by the 1993 film of the same name. According to the American tradition, if Punxsutawney Phil leaves his burrow and doesn’t see his shadow, his country will have an early spring. This year, Phil emerged from his burrow atop Gobbler’s Knob in Pennsylvania and saw his shadow, forecasting six more weeks of winter for North America. In recent years, some Russian cities decided to celebrate the holiday themselves, but using hedgehogs instead of groundhogs. The groundhogs used in America, the Marmota monax, only range in North America; in Russia, the hedgehog is a widespread woodland animal, having much forest and cultural lore. North American groundhogs in Russian zooparks usually sleep through the 2 February holiday, given the longer Russian winters.
A ginger tomcat who broke into a closed shop at Vladivostok international Airport and treated himself to seafood worth 63,000 roubles (6,700 Renminbi. 67,900 INR. 1,080 USD. 1,260 CAD. 1,320 AUD. 870 Euros. 690 UK Pounds) has gone missing. The fishy story sparked a media frenzy… both in Russia and beyond. The four-legged seafood lover… who nibbled on and scarfed down squid, flatfish, and octopus from the shop counter under the cover of night… quickly rose to stardom, as his crime made world headlines for two straight days. The little ginger thief overshadowed record-low oil prices and the plunging Russian rouble; he dominated news reports on Russian online media services. However, now, the story took a dramatic turn… the cat is nowhere to be found.
ITAR-TASS announced that cops launched a search at the airport when the feline went missing. The seafood store’s owners blame the airport for the loss of their goods, as they had to write off the entire inventory of fish on the counter that the cat laid its paws on, due to health and safety regulations. A source told TASS, “The cat disappeared. He was here yesterday, but today, he’s not here anymore. He’s been here [at the airport] for some time before the incident, but where he came from and where he’s now gone remains unknown”, suggesting the cat could have been left at the airport by a passenger who didn’t want to pay the extra fee for pet transportation. An airport official source previously stated that security regulations strictly prohibit any unsupervised animals in the terminal, and blames the shop for the stray cat’s intrusion.
People across Russia… and even beyond… are worried about the tomcat’s fate. Some added fuel to the fire, claiming that the shop owners killed the cat, whilst others believe that his death could be impending if well-wishers don’t find him first. Vladivostok locals have launched their own investigation on social media, to find and save the feline. Local source PrimaMedia reported that requests to find the animal bombarded the airport, whilst the seafood shop became an attraction for both travellers and locals. Shop owner Irina Kuzmina told PrimaMedia, “Literally, passengers and those who see them off or meet them occupy the shop. People come here straight from the terminal, asking us about the cat. Nevertheless, they don’t buy anything; they’re just curious”, adding that she’s also been receiving international calls regarding the store’s furry visitor. Dvtur reported that some worry about the cat’s health… he did eat a lot of dried salty fish… but experts say that the animal should be fine, and could have helped himself to some water.
Both local and social media have chosen names for the seafood lover, with some suggesting Hooligarch or Inflatio. St Petersburg’s Onion-like “communist” website anointed the cat a hero and promised him “party membership”. The site quoted its fake party head as saying, “This cat is Robin Hood or Che Guevara”, adding that the feline simply brought revenge upon “bourgeois and foreigners” who could afford buying goods at the seafood store, unlike “proletarians”. Russia’s well-known cat trainer Yuri Kuklachyov also promised the now famous ginger thief permanent employment. The founder of the Moscow’s Cats Theatre wasn’t joking when he said that he was eager to pay for the damage the hungry feline cost the shop, and feature him in the theatre’s performances. Cat lovers on Facebook went even further, suggesting that the Vladivostok airport erect a monument in honour of the feline, which would become a symbol of “optimism and desires” for Russians.
For more read this, this, this, and this… the last one has three funny demots in Russian. Also, check out this vid.
Editor:
Now, this is something that I enjoy doing. Normally, I cover politics, religion, history and culture… this is a welcome break from all that. I hope that they find the little guy and that he gets a good home. We have three of the furbies (one of ‘em is trying to get my attention big-time… I think that I need to attend to their food bowl). We’re animal lovers (but no more than three… that’s all that we can afford and have sufficient room for).
BMD
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Voices from Russia 
The Ukrops Even Harm Innocent Beasts… War Affects Birds in Lugansk Aviary
Tags: Animal, animal behaviour, animals, Bird, birds, civil unrest, LNR, Lugansk People's Republic, Novorossiya, Parrot, political commentary, politics, Russia, Russian, Ukraine, Ukrainian Civil War, war and conflict
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Sergei Galinichenko, owner of an aviary with 400 parrots (25 different species, including rare specimens… Grey, Blue-Fronted Amazon, Senegalese, Congolese, Alexandria, and Rosella) in Lugansk, told us that the war adversely affected his birds; the battles of last summer continue to have an impact on them:
20 September 2015
LITs Lugansk Information Centre
http://lug-info.com/news/one/ptitsy-do-sikh-por-ne-mogut-otpravitsya-ot-voiny-vladelets-ptichego-pitomnika-foto-6840