Wolverine Mayhem at Newark Airport

There's a headline you don't see often

From NY Times:

A 40-pound male wolverine named Kasper was being shipped from a zoo in Norway to a conservation park in Alaska. On Tuesday afternoon around 3:30, he arrived in Newark to change planes and go through United States Customs.

It was there that the animal’s handler, Sarah Howard, noticed there was a hole in Kasper’s cage.

“His head was sticking out,” said Ms. Howard, a curator for the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center, the wolverine’s intended new home. She had flown to Newark to meet him.

The cage was made of metal, said Joseph Pentangelo, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs the airport. “It’s believed he chewed a hole in it.”

Wolverines, which look kind of like small bears but are actually the largest members of the weasel family, are legendarily vicious. With long, sharp teeth, they have been known to kill animals many times their size, including caribou and white-tailed deer.

Kasper remained in his cage, but Ms. Howard was alarmed.

“She said it was growling and stuff like that, but maybe they do that all the time, walk around and make noise,” Mike Miller, executive director of the conservation center, said.

A wildlife officer and a Port Authority police officer were summoned to Terminal C.

The cage was carefully placed in a transport van, Mr. Pentangelo said, “just to add another level of security, so that the wolverine wasn’t a threat to himself or the public.”

A new, uncompromised cage was procured from the Bronx Zoo, as was a wild animal veterinarian. The cages were put face to face and Kasper was encouraged to walk into the new one.

“He balked,” Mr. Pentangelo said. “He did not want to go. He made it very clear.”

The veterinarian administered a shot of ketamine, a tranquilizer. Kasper dropped off to sleep. The cage transfer was accomplished. And after an overnight stay at Terminal C, Kasper resumed his journey.

Kristiansand Zoo in Norway, which had sent Kasper, was closed on Wednesday evening when a reporter called, and no one there could be reached.

A decent life awaits Kasper in Alaska, where the conservation center sits on a 170-acre spread in the mountains about an hour southeast of Anchorage, in Portage.

He will get three acres, at least. That is not a lot by wolverine standards — they can range over 200 square miles — but it is enough to roam around.

And if all goes well, Mr. Miller said, he will have a mate.

“There’s another facility, in Sweden, that is sending us a female,” he said.

I thought this would be about Hugh Jackman getting caught in a kerfuffle at EWR.

There have been a few stories about people taking seats other than the one they purchased, and refusing to leave. Actually I would find that more annoying than a wolverine on the loose.

apple44 said:

There have been a few stories about people taking seats other than the one they purchased, and refusing to leave. Actually I would find that more annoying than a wolverine on the loose.

 Isn't that what stun guns are for?

apple44 said:

There have been a few stories about people taking seats other than the one they purchased, and refusing to leave. Actually I would find that more annoying than a wolverine on the loose.

 This happened to my sister and myself on a flight to Morocco.  My sister explained to the woman that she was in the wrong seat.  The woman said in French that she didn't speak English, so my sister explained in French that she was in the wrong seat.  The woman said so long as everyone got a seat which particular one they had didn't really matter.  My sister then said she had reserved a window seat on purpose because she gets motion sickness and if she was forced to sit in the middle then she would vomit on the woman's lap instead of an airsickness bag.  That convinced the woman to relocate herself to her assigned seat.

apple44 said:

There have been a few stories about people taking seats other than the one they purchased, and refusing to leave. Actually I would find that more annoying than a wolverine on the loose.

 But what if the wolverine wanted your seat and refused to leave?

My experience is that wolverines stick to first class.

LOL!

Re people taking seats that they didn't reserve - I do not have much patience with that, especially now that some of those seats are extra cost. But I think that the airlines may be reaping what they have sown because there are more and more stories of escalating conflicts between passengers on flights over this kind of thing.

sac said:

LOL!

Re people taking seats that they didn't reserve - I do not have much patience with that, especially now that some of those seats are extra cost. But I think that the airlines may be reaping what they have sown because there are more and more stories of escalating conflicts between passengers on flights over this kind of thing.

 Unfortunately, passengers are reaping what the airlines have sown. 

It's like the frog in the pot. Had airlines gone from the spacious seats and amenities of 25 years ago to the crap that passes for air travel today, there'd have been a huge uproar. but they shrank the seats slowly. And removed amenities one at a time. And added fees in dribs and drabs. And now we have this cluster**** called an airline industry.

You tell 'em @ParticleMan

Completely agree, btw

By the way, is it a generational thing that someone mentioned wolverines and you don't automatically think:

ParticleMan said:

By the way, is it a generational thing that someone mentioned wolverines and you don't automatically think:

 I didn't want to show my age.

Touché )

http://www.hulu.com/watch/3530

mrincredible said:

I thought this would be about Hugh Jackman getting caught in a kerfuffle at EWR.

 And I thought it was going to be about University of Michigan students rioting.

My favorite Newark Airport kerfuffle story dates back to the 80's.  A follower of Lyndon Larouche noticed Henry and Nancy Kissinger walking through, rushed up to Nancy and screamed, "Your husband sleeps with young boys at the Carlyle Hotel."  An incensed Nancy put her hand around the Larouchie's neck, it was alleged, and was at some point arrested, tried, and acquitted of assault.  I have no love for either Henry or Lyndon, or their followers, but the Larouche organization had run an unrelenting, worldwide hate campaign against Kissinger on many levels, including anti-semitic rants.  

So I think the Kissingers merit some sympathy in regard to this incident.

You can't make this stuff up.

Henry Kissinger takes other people's seats on airplanes???

Um, what?