Strange News - March 27, 2010

Police report attempt to revive flattened opossum

CNN- A Pennsylvania man attempted to resuscitate "a road-killed opossum," state police say.

But this was one possum who wasn't playing possum -- the ugly creature remained dead.

Troopers responding to the scene in Oliver Township on Thursday determined that Donald J. Wolfe, 55, of Brookville, was drunk, according to the police report.

Several witnesses observed Wolfe's failed resurrection of the flattened marsupial, police said. It was not immediately clear how he endeavored to restore the possum's life.

The arresting officer in the incident was unavailable for comment Friday. Attempts to reach Wolfe were also unsuccessful.

Wolfe will be charged with one charge of public drunkenness, police said.

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'Mystery Monkey' Remains at Large

abcnews- Known as the "Mystery Monkey of Tampa Bay," a rhesus macaque has run amok in the Tampa Bay area for nearly a year, eluding state wildlife officials and capturing the hearts of locals.

Home video shot by Tampa residents and broadcast on local TV stations shows the macaque rummaging through trash bins, scaling walls in a single bound, even hanging out poolside and swiping fruit.

On at least a dozen occasions Florida Fish and Wildlife officials shot the plucky primate with tranquilizer darts. Increasingly large doses barely fazed him. One professional trapper, hunting the monkey, wondered whether the monkey had become a "drug addict."

Buoyed by his successive escapes fans have championed the 20 pound monkey as a local hero. A Facebook fan page "Mystery Monkey of Tampa Bay," already boasts 43,000 fans and is growing by 15,000 fans a day. His location has been listed as "all over."

You can even buy a "Mystery Monkey" T-shirt for $18.00.

Gary Morse, a spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, understands the humor, but warns the rhesus macaque is dangerous.

Depicting him as the Rambo of primates he told ABC News "That animal is so much quicker and more powerful than people perceive."

Untrained professionals trying to capture him could be seriously hurt he added, since "he's perfectly capable of doing damage to a human."

And his germs may be even more potent than his bite: Morse said the monkey could infect a potential fan/captor with Hepatitis B or Simeon Herpes.

No one is certain of the ape's origin, but Morse believes he may be an outcast from a troop of rhesus macaque's living on a preserve near Ocala Florida, about 100 miles away. He said that troop is a relic of the half dozen Tarzan flicks shot there in the 1930s and 1940s.



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