Thoughtprints

Another recall -- this time for dog, cat and ferret pet treats, recalled for salmonella contamination.

WASHINGTON (AP) - A pet food company announced Monday a nationwide recall of dog, cat and ferret treats that could be contaminated with salmonella.

The bacteria could infect both animals and people handling the food.

The announcement is unrelated to the more extensive recall of melamine-tainted dog and cat food that led to kidney failure in pets around the country.

Eight in One Inc., a division of United Pet Group Inc., is recalling all packages of Dingo Chick'N Jerky, Dingo Kitty Chicken Jerky and Dingo Ferret Chicken Jerky.

Salmonella can cause serious infections in pets and children, the elderly and people with weakened immune systems. In pets, salmonella can cause diarrhea, fevers, vomiting, loss of appetite, lethargy and abdominal pain. Animals that do not get sick can infect other pets or humans.

Read the rest here.

And then in Mexico City, a spider monkey that escaped from a zoo boarded a bus and attacked a passenger, Red Cross officials said Tuesday. The monkey got on the bus at about 11 p.m. Monday after escaping from the San Juan de Aragon Zoo. It sat next to the bus driver for almost an hour as he drove through the city, and then scratched and bit a 20-year-old female passenger when she tried to hold it. OUCH! But uh ... isn't it kind of dumb to try and hold a wild animal? What if she didn't know it, you ask? As in she thought it belonged to the bus driver? Then HE was dumb for not telling her!!

Lastly, a coyote stopped to rest in a sandwich shop in Chicago.

Employees and customers at a downtown Chicago Quiznos sandwich shop were stunned to see a coyote walk through the propped-open front door Tuesday afternoon and lie down in a cooler stocked with fruit juice and soda.

"It wasn't aggressive at all," restaurant manager Bina Patel told the Chicago Tribune. "It was just looking around."

Employees and customers calmly cleared out of the restaurant, though some took the time to finish their sandwiches and snap some cell-phone photos, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. Animal control officers took the passive coyote away after about 40 minutes, after a curious crowd had gathered outside.
"This one definitely I will definitely remember forever. A coyote in downtown Chicago," Quiznos employee Rick Torres told WLS-TV.

LOL Cool beans. I guess big city people are easily impressed by wildlife. We have coyotes all over the place here where I live. You can hear them howl at the moon when it's full. And even when it's not. ;) I'm glad I live in a place where seeing a coyote is more commonplace than not.

What kind of animals are there where you live?

Spider Monkey, Coyotes, Pet Treat Recall