news
Newsstand: October 27, 2011
Once in a while a Thursday like this Thursday happens and you just hope someone, somewhere, will be handing out free cheese samples. In the news: G20 crossbow guy is acquitted, zookeepers aren't so sure about council's elephant sanctuary plan, and the police save apartment dwellers from snakes and look good doing it.
The man arrested for having a crossbow near the G20 security fence has been acquitted of weapons charges. Gary McCullough maintained the crossbow he was driving around with was strictly for bear-shooting and maybe for neighbour-scaring but definitely not for world leader–shooting. Whatever it was for, McCullough agreed to give it up.
Bob Barker may be happy with city council’s decision to send the Toronto Zoo’s three elephants to an animal sanctuary in California, but zookeepers want a showcase showdown. Staff at the zoo had already voted to relocate the elephants for cost reasons, and talks were underway with a zoo accredited by the American Association of Zoos and Aquariums before council waltzed in and sent the pachyderms packing for the sanctuary. Elephant keepers say accredited zoos have certain standards of care, like trunk inspections and daily exercise, while anybody with 50 acres and an elephant-sized Jacuzzi can just slap a “sanctuary” sign on a heated barn.
Speaking of trunk inspections, Toronto Public Health’s free flu shot clinics open today. So go get the shot, unless enduring the flu is the price you happily pay to take a few days off that job you swear you’re leaving soon.
The Toronto Police Service may have recently announced that instead of cutting their budget they’re just going to go ahead and raise it a little bit, but the boys and girls in blue did find one thing they could save a couple bucks on: dry cleaning. Ordinarily it cost about $1.4 million for the TPS to clean their dirty laundry, but a deal with new cleaners cuts the cost in half. So next time you see a cop with mustard stains on his shirt, know that he probably gets a better deal on dry cleaning than you do.
And now the tale of two snakes, two cops, and a superintendent named Andre. The snakes were spotted in two different but nearby apartment buildings in the Jane Street and St. Clair Avenue West area. The same two police officers who were called in for the first snake sighting were back for another less than 24 hours later. Though the cops had some theories about cold weather driving the slithery snakes to seek sanctuary, Andre (no last name), the superintendent of one of the buildings, had only this to say: your dog might eat one so check with them first. Thanks, Andre.