It's been awhile since my last blog. Been on a week's vacation in Maui where, on my last day, I saw dozens of mongoose (mongeese?) scampering amidst lava formations on a golf course. I couldn't help but think of Mr. Magoo. No, not the nearly blind cartoon character voiced by Jim Backus, who also played Thurston Howell III on Gilligan's Island. I refer instead to the Indian mongoose that arrived in Duluth, mid-60s, aboard a foreign ship. As an illegal immigrant, the arrival of this weasel-like carnivore was a big story on KDAL and WDSM. It was going to be killed but after legal wrangling the Duluth Zoo was allowed to keep the varmint after President Kennedy granted Mr. Magoo an official pardon. According to my research Mr. M. lived at the zoo until its death in 1968. During a 6th grade field trip that included the zoo I remember seeing the mongoose.
Hawaii is extremely wary of people bringing animals onto the islands now. Before arrival everyone must fill out a form listing any animals - including any protozoans - you've included in your luggage. After some more quick research via the web I learned that decades ago mongoose were intentionally imported into the islands by sugar cane growers. They thought it would be a good idea to help protect their cane from the rat population. Unfortunately these mongoose eat everything including eggs of birds and turtles. The mongoose population has soared. Native species of animals are becoming extinct on the islands because of the mongoose population.
That's it for today. Maybe I'll write more about that same Duluth field trip another time, and I will pose this question: Is it a good idea to bring six graders to a slaughter and meat packing house?
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