The Washington Post reports on an unusual case of home invasion in Hailey, Idaho.
It’s been a rough winter in the American West, with heavy snowfalls that are causing trouble for even the hardiest locals.
Take, for example, the Idaho moose in the photo above. Like a lot of wildlife in the area, it probably meandered early Saturday into the town of Hailey in pursuit of food, according to the Blaine County Sheriff’s Office. It ended up tumbling down a window well and crashing into the carpeted basement of a house — which, to be fair, looked pretty cozy.
Sheriff’s deputies, police officers and Idaho Department of Fish and Game Senior Conservation Officer Alex Head were called to the scene at about 2:30 a.m. They tried to coax the animal up the stairs, but “the moose was having none of it, charging the officers several times,†Josh Royse, a Fish and Game regional conservation officer, wrote on the department’s website.
The authorities ended up sedating the female moose, who, fittingly, slipped into a more mellow state near a Bob Marley wall tapestry.
“With all hands on deck, the sleeping giant was carried up the stairs and out the front door,†he wrote. “It woke up in the snow covered street, groggy and confused, but free.â€
A Western Fly Fishing video devoted to Ralph Moon, author, fly tier, bamboo rod builder and conservationist who lived on the banks of the Henry’s Fork River in St Antony, Idaho. He passed away in 2011.
Long-shot candidates at the Republican primary husting for the Idaho governor’s race made for hilarious viewing Wednesday with their bizarre takes on life.
The politically incorrect leader of a biker gang, Harley Brown, claimed his fellow riders were “cop magnets, like a Playboy bunny in a mini-skirt gets hit on all the time.”
Meanwhile, second wannabe guv Walt Bayes insisted the Bible foretold nuclear accidents and urged every citizen to take potassium iodide tablets to protect their thyroid glands.
The unpredictability of what the duo, who’ve both qualified for the May 20 primary, would say saw the contest was broadcast by Idaho Public Television on a 30-second delay.
Representing the mainstream was incumbent Gov. Butch Otter and state Sen. Russ Fulche.
“I don’t like political correctness. Can I say this? It sucks! It’s bondage,” Brown, who had a cigar firmly placed into his shirt pocket the whole time, told the cameras.
“I’m going for the vote of the real people out there, not these bondage-type who don’t have a clue about picking up strangers at night and hauling them God-knows-where,” he added.
After claiming he had “a Master’s in raisin’ hell,” he told viewers his plan to seize power.
“You bind those evil spirits behind the feds with the blood of Jesus, the name of Jesus, the power of entombment of the Holy Spirit, the power of agreement, the word of God. Take air superiority, and then roll in with your tanks on the ground, like … lawsuits. Blitzkrieg!”
Hundreds of earthquakes have hit Yellowstone National Park, raising fears of a more powerful volcanic eruption.
The earthquake swarm, the biggest in more than 20 years, is being closely monitored by scientists and emergency authorities.
The series of small quakes included three last Friday which measured stronger than magnitude 3.0. The strongest since this latest swarm of quakes began on December 27 was 3.9.
No damage has yet been reported but scientists say this level of activity – there have been more than 500 tremors in the last week – is highly unusual.
“The earthquake sequence is the most intense in this area for some years,” said the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory. Some of the larger earthquakes have been felt by park employees and guests, according to the observatory.
The swarm is occurring beneath the northern part of Yellowstone Lake in the park. Yellowstone sits on the caldera of an ancient supervolcano and continuing geothermal activity can be seen in the picturesque geysers and steam holes, such as Old Faithful.
About 1,000 to 2,000 tremors a year have been recorded since 2004. …
Professor Robert B. Smith, a geophysicist at the University of Utah and one of the leading experts on earthquake and volcanic activity at Yellowstone, said that the swarm was significant.
“It’s not business as usual,” he said. “This is a large earthquake swarm, and we’ve recorded several hundred. We are paying careful attention. This is an important sequence.”
The last full-scale explosion of the Yellowstone Supervolcano, the Lava Creek eruption which happened approximately 640,000 years ago, ejected about 240 cubic miles of rock and dust into the sky.
Geologists have been closely monitoring the rise and fall of the Yellowstone Plateau as an indication of changes in magma chamber pressure.
The Yellowstone caldera floor has risen recently – almost 3in per year for the past three years – a rate more than three times greater than ever observed since such measurements began in 1923.
From mid-summer 2004 through to mid-summer 2008, the land surface within the caldera moved upwards as much as 8in at the White Lake GPS station. The last major earthquake swarm was in 1985 and lasted three months.
We almost missed this one. Just found it via a link to NYM.
Associated Press, recently reported (10/12), the case of a spirited and quick-thinking babysitting aunt who saved two nieces and a nephew from an aggressive black bear.
Porthill, Idaho — A northern Idaho babysitter shot and killed a 422-pound black bear that broke into a backyard as three toddlers played.
The woman was watching her sister’s children at their home near the Canadian border early last week when one the kids began screaming, “Bear! Bear”
Becky Henslee says her sister grabbed the youngsters and ran into the house.
As the bear pawed at the screen door, the woman, who did not want to be identified, loaded a hunting rifle.
When the bear looked away, she opened the door a crack and fired twice, killing the animal.
Idaho Fish and Game Conservation Officer Greg Johnson says the bear was likely hungry and drawn to the house by a backyard barbeque.
The shooting was legal — the babysitter had a valid Idaho bear hunting tag.
