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Animals Are Good Entertainment by Sarah Wright and Marissa Tejada We stared at the picture a little more closely. With a pink lau around her neck and her bulging belly, SHE jumped through the hoop with all the grace a lady can muster. She kept her head high and her eyes closed as she jumped with such ease. And from that moment on, we knew ...we knew we had to see her for ourselves, Nellie, the World's Smartest Pig. That weekend, we packed up the car and set out on our journey to find Nellie at the 1999 Pet Expo just outside of Los Angeles. Upon entering the Pomona Fairgrounds, where the expo
was held, we were surrounded by an excitement in the air which held
a scented mix of carnival foods and manure, and the sounds of children
running around while their parents chased them. The nine giant warehouses
kept all the animals, their owners, spectators and Nellie. It didn't take long to find her - surrounded by children,
parents and camera flashes. First she played basketball by rolling the
squishy, pint sized orange ball with her snout, then she picked it up
with her mouth and brought it to the miniature hoop. The crowd cheered
wildly. Photographers moved to get the best angle, the best shot. Next
she rode the skateboard across the green turf about two inches. "Do
an Ollie, Nellie. Show them all," we kept whispering to her.
Now it was time for her to jump through the hoops. A big fat pig and she was jumping through hoops! All of those years of training finally paid off, Nellie. You're a star. And she was. To us, anyway. The pig had won our hearts. We didn't give a second thought to Nellie and her owners/trainers the Valentines. We didn't think about her rights as an animal. We didn't think about their training tactics. They seemed like nice enough people and Nellie seemed to be enjoying herself. However, not all animals can be the World's Smartest Pig, with their own press releases, headshots and agents. But for one reason or another, humans can find entertainment in almost any animal. While show pigs are captivating in Southern California, there are horse races, dog races, cock fights, bull fights, rodeos and circuses all over the world. Even Central New York has found, what we think is a most interesting and to some, an amusing animal event. It all starts with the whistle pig, the groundhog, the Marmota monax, take your pick... yellow-bellied or hoary. They are described as cantankerous, shy and are amazing fortune tellers , as we all are aware. The woodchuck. To those unfamiliar with the scope of upstate N.Y. land, the woodchuck was here before our time. These stocky little animals with their flat little heads are a precious part of the North American rodent family. Woodchucks have their litters in April and most breeds around these parts hibernate in winter. Research shows they enjoy sunbathing. They have clever little homes deep in the soil (they dig their own bathrooms!) which they get to efficiently by digging with their clever sharp claws. In fact, all sorts of animals thrive because of the shelter supplied by woodchuck holes. So woodchucks go about doing what they were naturally made to do, yet they get "in the way." In someone's way... Farmers especially find woodchucks to be a nuisance. They've been a long time problem since they love to munch fresh veggies (especially broccoli, go figure), fruits and flowers... lying so conveniently on the ground at their disposal. Their burrows are a sort of annoyance too as farm animals (before they are sent to the butcher) break their bones by falling into woodchuck holes. Good thing "Ropel" is around. Ropel is a terrible tasting formula sprayed onto the rodents potential meal. Yuck. Or the famous traps which "are designed to fit any woodchuck " (according to Chuck Control) Depending on the trapper, they are let go later on, at least five miles away. In the Ithaca area, however, people recently found a better way to deal with the situation: The Woodchuck Shooting Dispatch held this past summer. Yes, my friends, not only is it a way to get rid of the little pests... the participants were able to demonstrate their skills - the winning dispatch participant shoots the most and the fattest. But at the same time, we were told, "it's nothing but good beer drinking fun." And, of course, it is, to some. You get rid of the nasty varmints as well as participate in a contest with the rest of your community. And of course, those types of ideas go hand in hand with factors of culture, surroundings and personal experiences. Fun... Is it fun to see a pig in a hula skirt? Or is it even more fun to see a marmot scurry around with a bullet wound? So how 'bout a whistle pig go the pot belly route and don a pretty lau, perhaps learn to do 'the twist,' at least its life will be spared and what best for than for our entertainment. Sarah Wright is a senior print journalism major at Ithaca College. Marissa Tejada is a senior broadcast journalism major at Ithaca College. |
