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Feb. 8, 2013
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Jewish World Review
March 8, 2012/ 14 Adar, 5772
Really, no place is safe when you think about it
By
Dale McFeatters
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
With tornadoes, blizzards and wildfires below and massive solar storms and killer asteroids overhead, people's attention is naturally focused on finding a safe location to live, one that is free of flesh-eating diseases and limb-lopping religious fanatics.
Inevitably, two places spring to mind -- New Zealand and Australia. The Christchurch earthquake last year that killed 186 people caused New Zealand to drop rather precipitously in the standings. Fantastic scenery is all well and good as long as it's not falling on your head.
That leaves Australia, but now questions have arisen about just how safe the Land Down Under is.
The dingo is Australia's wild dog, a subspecies of wolf, actually, that had been widely regarded as shy and harmless. In a celebrated case, when a mother told authorities that a dingo had carried off and killed her 9-year-old daughter, the authorities jailed the mother.
Increasingly, it has become clear: The dingo did it. In the past decade or so, reports The New York Times, "there have been a number of reported attacks, some disputed, and one unarguable fatality." In 2001, two dingoes killed a 9-year-old boy and injured his brother, and, as the article suggests, there may have been other attacks.
You don't want to live in fear of a creature that looks like your neighbor's dog.
As an Adelaide wildlife researcher pointed out to the Times, dingoes are great at "working well in groups, and independent problem-solving." The Times story adds that "they also understand humans in a way that wolves do not." So not only are the dingoes going to eat the occasional wayward urchin, they might also steal your car.
If the dingoes don't bother you, maybe the spiders will.
Rising floodwaters in Wagga Wagga -- did we mention that Australia has floods and towns with names like "Wagga Wagga"? -- filled the town with fleeing spiders that promptly covered everything -- trees, bushes, lawn furniture, fences -- with their webs. Photos in the Daily Mail make Wagga Wagga appear to be covered with snow, albeit snow laced with industrious spiders.
And then there are the giant toads. You did know about the giant toads, right?
In the 1930s, the country's sugar-cane farmers were fighting an infestation of beetles, so they imported 100 cane toads from Hawaii. Apparently, the Hawaiians managed to keep straight faces all the way to the docks, because the toads arrived in Australia and, like so many other non-native species brought to those shores, thrived.
The cane toads are not only ugly, they're big -- up to 4 pounds. The toads are also poisonous, enough so to kill a small child or animal and temporarily blind an adult. Being inedible as well as poisonous, they have no natural predators. As for the beetles, they simply flew out of the toads' reach. Both are still there in abundance.
In the 1890s, some Australian sportsmen imported some European rabbits for hunting. The rabbits bred like, well, rabbits and quickly became prolific and destructive. There are now an estimated 200 million rabbits. In 1907, the government built a 1,700-mile fence to keep the rabbits penned up in Western Australia, much the way we do to try to keep people in Mexico. It didn't work, either.
And let's not even get started on the great white sharks and the voracious freshwater crocodiles.
In trying to avoid hazards, you might as well stay where you are. If the killer asteroid is big enough, it won't matter, in any case. On the other hand, drinking beer with a crowd of amiable Aussies wouldn't be such a bad way to go.
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Previously:
• 03/06/12 Putin 'carousel voting' victory
• 02/28/12 Fighter of future still glued to tarmac
• 02/27/12 Every candidate has to have a tax-reform plan
• 02/23/12 Au revoir, mademoiselle: It's been bonne
• 02/21/12 A new way of attacking food-stamp fraud
• 02/20/12 Feds don't want you driven to distraction
• 02/15/12 Putin has found can't lose campaign issue: Promoting a randier Russia
• 02/14/12 Obama's budget lays down battle lines for the fall
• 02/10/12 Filming in D.C. creates hassle for Hollywood
• 02/08/12 At Lake Vostok, Russia taps into new realm
• 02/07/12 'Granny dumping' in prisons
• 01/30/12 National Defense Authorization Act indefensible
• 01/23/12 Barbie sparks fear among Iran's mullahs
• 01/19/12 From overseas, U.S. industry is looking good
• 01/18/12 American posterior a growing problem for mass transit
• 01/16/12 Planets and roaches
• 01/13/12 Not exactly a biblical plague, but certainly an annoyance
• 01/12/12 Fewer young Americans interested in driving
• 01/05/12 Majoring in unemployment
• 01/04/12 Cutting the military by blunt force
• 01/02/12 Pragmatic look at top words
• 12/22/11 Basketball the way to Kim's heart and nuclear weapons
• 12/21/12 Speculation and wishful thinking can get scary
• 12/20/11 A third Kim has North Korea by the throat
• 12/19/11 Congress pats itself on back for budget bill
• 12/15/11 The U.S. government is cashing in its chips, literally
• 12/14/11 TSA might try trusting its own people
• 12/12/11 That $1.2 billion? It's around here some place
• 12/09/11 State Department Creates Virtual Embassy For Iran
• 12/08/11 If you've ever tweeted, you're in the Library of Congress
• 12/07/11 Discoveries go to the core of what makes us humans
• 12/06/11 Stealing elections badly in Russia
• 12/05/11 Sometimes paranoia is common sense by another name
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• 12/01/11 Last chance to snap up a Maybach
• 11/30/11 Iran wants respect without earning it
• 11/29/11 Surprise! Spider-Man may weave a profitable web
• 11/28/11 Italians entertain novel proposition: Paying their taxes
• 11/25/11 No time to let up on al-Qaida
• 11/24/11 Congress Quietly Abolishing Friday
• 11/23/11 Cleaning up after supercommittee implosion
• 11/22/11 Jailing minors with adults adds to problems
• 11/21/11 Brilliant strategy? Action by inaction
• 11/18/11They're going to eat horses, aren't they?
• 11/17/11 A pretend stick shift for pretend drivers
• 11/16/11 Clinton's vast experiences: Did NBC pick the wrong Chelsea?
• 11/15/11 Occupy protesters, you've made your point. Now, scat
• 11/10/11 Our vets are a national problem?
• 11/09/11 Requiem for a once-great sport
• 11/08/11 A toilet as smart as its occupant
• 11/07/11 Prerevolutionary gems in need of TLC
• 11/04/11 Feds must stop scam of stealing from dead children
• 11/03/11 Bank listens very closely to customer lynch mob
• 11/01/11 TV that's leading the people away from core socialist values
• 10/31/11 NATO should not be a victim of its success
• 10/28/11 Iran mulls getting rid of president and presidency
• 10/27/11 Bienvenidos a Dayton and bring your businesses with you
• 10/26/11 Archivists long for Obama's teleprompter
• 10/25/11 United Nations to run the Internet?
• 10/24/11 Attention, world: You've got the cash. We've got the houses
• 10/19/11 Oil pipeline must be in America's future
• 10/18/11 U.S. plans limited mission in an Africa with no limits
• 10/17/11 Social Security's grave mistakes
• 10/12/11 NASA's help-wanted sign for astronauts
• 10/10/11 Saving Thomas Jefferson''s chimneys
• 10/06/11 Uncle Sam's answer to deadbeats --- robo-calls
• 10/04/11 Christie should ignore jibes on his weight
• 10/03/11 Iran says its warships will head for Jersey shore
• 09/29/11 Europeans bristle at Obama's lectures
• 09/28/11 Jessica Rabbit for the defense
• 09/27/11 Russia learns outcome of next March's presidential election
• 09/26/11 Another try at leaving no child behind
• 09/23/11 This generation needs a job more than a name
• 09/22/11 In the lane next to you: A driverless car
• 09/20/11 Cloudy, cool, chance of falling satellite
• 09/14/11 Humanitarian extortion
• 09/13/11 Paging Dr. Watson; he's there in 3 seconds
• 09/09/11 Forecasting 100 percent chance of heavy metal
• 09/08/11 A jobs program at Obama's doorstep
• 09/07/11 Iran's government afraid of the water
• 09/06/11 Congress returns, tanned, rested and testy
• 09/05/11 Space nations must clean up after themselves
• 09/02/11 Osama bin Laden died a failure and he knew it
• 09/01/11 Time to retire political pie in the face
• 08/31/11 Labor Day celebrates what, exactly?
• 08/30/11 These arrestees really are framed
• 08/25/11 When in an earthquake, block traffic
• 08/23/11 A case for discretion in deportation arrests
• 08/22/11 Tough times or not, parents shell out for school
• 08/18/11 Being unpleasant for fun, profit, promotion
• 08/17/11 Time to prepare for the end game in Libya
• 08/16/11: Super Committee starts facing reality
• 08/15/11: World's fastest plane disappears even faster
• 08/12/11: British cops track rioters through security cameras
• 08/11/11: Relax. There is no Death Star
• 08/10/11: House pages run final errands
• 08/09/11: U.S. treading water on job creation
• 08/08/11: Uncle Sam, the world's permanent guest
• 08/05/11: Most 9/11 victims not on federal death records
• 08/04/11: Russian PM calls U.S. a parasite. He should be so lucky
• 08/03/11: Congress goes from one bind to another
• 08/02/11: D.B. Cooper may no longer be a mystery
• 08/01/11: Libya's latest weapon against NATO --- lawsuits
• 07/29/11: He'll always be known as Hot Wheels Handler
• 07/25/11: Recruiting children to save a dying town
• 07/22/11: Bachmann's admirable medical candor
• 07/12/11: Social Security's grave mistakes
• 07/08/11: Debt crisis need not be constitutional crisis
• 07/07/11: Startups entice new talent with kickball, treehouses
• 07/05/11: Stranded tourists get rare treat
• 06/30/11: The dollar Americans refuse to spend
• 06/27/11: The hangman doesn't cometh
© 2011, SCRIPPS HOWARD NEWS SERVICE
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