September 10, 2011

Swedish hangover---Elk in crisis





A homeowner in southern Sweden got a shock when he found 
a drunken elk stuck in his neighbour's apple tree.  

"The animal was apparently on the hunt for fermenting apples when 
she lost her balance and became trapped in the tree.  Per Johansson, 
from Saro near Gothenburg, found the elk making a roaring noise
in the garden next door. He called the emergency services, who 
helped him free the boozed-up beast by sawing off branches.  She 
spent the night recovering in the garden. The next day she took 
herself off into the woods with her hangover."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-14842999 

   The one in the photo is comical, all splayed legs, hard to tell which eye is up.  
   If I laugh am I callous and indifferent to suffering?  
   Well no.
   I realize it's hazardous to have tipsy elk hanging around the garden, snorting apples and threatening family members.*
   However I also have the elk's fundamental well-being at heart.  Consider the situation from the elk's point of view----there are no programs in Europe for treating alcoholism in elks!**
   This is clearly an elk with issues of substance abuse.  In a country like Sweden, she should be entitled to a proper government-funded residential detox and rehab program.  A three-step or ten-step program for follow up.  Without it she might become a repeat offender--shock another neighbor, get into fights, get tangled in another tree, mess up her liver.
   Elk haven't made it down to urban Geneva yet, maybe because we don't let our apples ferment outside of vats, and we create alcohol exclusively for human consumption.    
   Having said that, I just remembered there are some rotting apples at the base of two trees in our garden. I'll have to keep an eye on the cats, who have been spending more time down there lately.....
-----
*A man was recently acquitted of murdering his wife when forensic tests showed the presence of elk hair and saliva on her person, presumably belonging to the four-legged suspect, who never bothered to show up in court. Yes sir, it was the elk.      http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8384143.stm
** to my knowledge