Friday, July 10, 2009

This is why I had so many stuffed animals as a child...

When I was little I LOVED stuffed animals. I toted one everywhere with me, and I always wanted one more. I remember one photo where my bed is so covered in stuffed animals there isn't room for a four or five year-old me to get in it. Even today I need to remind myself I am 27 years old and do not need that stuffed penguin from the aquarium or that teddy bear from Stieff in Berlin (I wanted to be a teddy bear collector when I grew up according to my pre-school diploma.). 

When I was in Berlin, I opted for the Knut t-shirt with an image of the polar bear, furry in the same way "Pat the Bunny" is instead of a stuffed bear. But I made sure we stopped at Knut's enclosure at the zoo. I had heard the Berlin Zoo may not keep him for much longer, and I wanted to see him while I was there. Fortunately, I saw in the news yesterday, via the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, that Knut is staying in Berlin! The zoo ponied up $600,000 for him, and he gets to stay in his home.

The New York Daily News had a story yesterday about one of my other favorite animals. I have absolutely no idea why, but I love turtles. Love them. I was fascinated by the giant ones swimming in the coral reef tank at the Boston aquarium. Apparently runways at JFK were taken over by 78 terrapins who had climbed out of local waters looking for a place to mate. They were scooped up by Port Authority workers and loaded into a truck to be returned to the bay. I can't help but think perhaps someone should have called the Department of Natural Resources, but at least no turtles were lost. After all the crappy flight delays I've had, I probably wouldn't mind a cute one. : ) 

Finally, the Daily News (usually not one of my favorite papers - too florid) has my last link for the week. As a corollary to the turtle story, the paper linked to a multimedia gallery of the 87 cutest animals in the animal kingdom. In the interest of thorough journalism, I went through all 87 photos to report on who actually was the cutest. However, I ended up with a five-way tie, so I'll just post the link and let you go through it yourself. : ) 

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