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Post by Die Fledermaus on May 27, 2004 1:00:36 GMT -4
WABC News at 11:25 PM Wednesdsay night. Location: Morningside Heights (NW Manhattan, NYC). A new sport: taking a cricket bat and seeing how many rats you can "slug" and kill. They were apparently captured in a large container and turned loose one at at time. WABC showed numerous shots of rats being smashed in front of the laughing approving neighbors.  I thought it disgusting. The rats have to be killed, and I don't know if this is less painful for the rats than rodenticide, but to CELEBRATE this as a funny social game was medieval. |
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Post by jeannie on May 27, 2004 18:22:37 GMT -4
Ugh - that's awful!  |
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Post by Die Fledermaus on May 28, 2004 3:04:14 GMT -4
I complained vociferously to WABC, twice, and told them I informed the ASPCA of this garbage (and I did), which is akin to bear-baiting and penis-fighting. hey, it is May and SWEEPS month for the local news shows!  Batter up!! Humans. Bah. |
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Post by rasputin on May 28, 2004 5:03:13 GMT -4
What a waste. There are places in the world that rats are welcome, even big bad NYC rats. Not that I'm volunteering my pad, mind you. I'm sure there are better ways to deal with annoyances than by smashing them.
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Post by Die Fledermaus on May 29, 2004 1:33:57 GMT -4
No one is suggesting a New York variant of India's famed rat temple, Karni Mata, in Desnok, Rajasthan, but the idea of using them as batting practice, and then telling a local news show about it as if it was SOOOO cool, and then having them tape it like some sport from the Dark Ages, makes me prefer animals to most people even more. Milk for the ratties! Yum.  It is considered very auspicious for people to wash in and drink the milk. I consider that much less offensive than what I saw on WABC. |
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Post by rasputin on Jun 1, 2004 1:14:55 GMT -4
Imagine running that temple -- the number of adorable rodents you'd come into contact with!
Although the rats might not be so adorable when they find a good spot to use for a toilet -- thousands of rats = very potent smell.
Still, what a sight!
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Post by Die Fledermaus on Jun 1, 2004 22:12:03 GMT -4
They are a lot nicer than the monkey temple where balsey simians actually mug humans in search of food. They have become furry hoodlums.
But the rats "go" wherever they please. Videos showed droppings everywhere. I guess rat poo is also auspicious.
The thought occurs to me with all those rats, and "nature" taking its course. . . they must have immense overpopulation problems, and how that is dealt with I have no idea.
Last night the same reporter (Sade Baderinwa) did a cutesy if not cloying animal piece on doggies being allowed to ride MetroNorth with their owners. The dogs could be kept on leashes, not boxed or crated. That makes MetroNorth the only commuter railroad that does this. Wonder if they deliberately did a cute animal piece after the flack they must have gotten from the rat slaughter story.
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Post by Die Fledermaus on Jun 12, 2004 8:09:35 GMT -4
Just a follow up on this. . . I was talking to my friend Mary, the lab lady, and she apropos of nothing started relating her disgust over this story on WABC. I had not told her about it. I mentioned I complained about it; I am sure it disgusted a lot of people. This happened in May. Anything goes in Sweeps Month, when local stations get rated for viewership. |
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