Watercooler Stories

Neighbors no fans of backyard donkeys

ANDOVER, Mass., July 27 (UPI) -- Neighbors of a family in Andover, Mass., say they should not be forced to hear the family's two donkeys bray for food from their backyard home.

Biologist Leyla Schimmel said the two donkeys her family houses behind their neo-Colonial house would only bray on the rare occasion her 12-year-old daughter is late in getting the animals their food, The Boston Globe said.

Schimmel said her neighbors should not have been able to complain about any odors caused by her family's two miniature donkeys, a mother and foal, because she composts the animals' waste.

"It's hard to understand how neighbors could find anything to complain about,'' she told the Globe.

But neighbors complained to town officials, leading authorities to rule the donkeys cannot live on the family's land due to a zoning bylaw.

"It would be hard to sell a house with a donkey next door," one unidentified neighbor told the Globe.

"If I wanted a donkey, I'd buy a place where it belongs," said her husband, whose identity was also not reported.

Angry python removed from Florida pipe

BRADENTON, Fla., July 27 (UPI) -- A wildlife expert says a 14-foot python he removed from a drainage pipe in Manatee County, Fla., was so angry it may have to be put down.

Matthews Wildlife Rescue executive director Justin Matthews said while attempting to remove the large Burmese python from the 2-foot-wide pipe Saturday, he was forced to stun the animal because it was so angry, the Bradenton (Fla.) Herald reported.

Matthews said the potential danger of the angry python may make the snake unusable in educational efforts through his rescue program. Instead, Matthews is considering euthanizing the animal.

The local wildlife expert told the Herald he had been tracking the python prior to Saturday's capture. He said he finally decided to take action against the wild animal after Florida legalized the hunting of invasive snakes two weeks ago.

Many of the exotic snakes on the loose in Florida had been pets but were freed by their owners, the Herald said.

Man wants iguana on Florida menus

PUNTA GORDA, Fla., July 27 (UPI) -- The author of a new cookbook says residents of Florida should begin eating iguanas to help avoid a possible population explosion of the animals.

The St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times reported that with several reptile species breeding in the wild throughout Florida, cookbook author George Cera wants iguanas on Florida residents' plates rather than loose in the wild.

"Listen," the author of "The Iguana Cookbook: Save Florida … Eat an Iguana" said. "In Central America, in South America, in Mexico, iguanas are considered a delicacy. We ought to be eating them."

Iguana researcher Kenneth Krysko of the University of Florida said iguanas are becoming widespread in Florida.

"They are widespread," Krysko said. "And there are tens of thousands of them."

The Times said lax state and federal laws for the pet trade are partially to blame for the growth of such reptile species in Florida. For Cera, the problem stems from iguana owners who simply released the creatures into the wild.

"They were brought here. They were let loose by idiots," he told the Times. "Now they are destroying Florida. We can't let that happen."

White House bans staffers from Twitter

WASHINGTON, July 27 (UPI) -- White House staffers have been blocked from using Twitter at work, press secretary Robert Gibbs said.

Gibbs disclosed the block Friday, saying he doesn't use the popular social networking site himself because the world already knows enough about what he is doing, Tribune Newspapers reported.

Gibbs said he really doesn't know why the chief executive's offices blocked access to the site. Maybe to avoid taxpayer-funded tweets, Tribune Newspapers said.

President Barack Obama reportedly posts on two Twitter sites: @WhiteHouse and @BarackObama.