Well, it has happened. Pigs can fly.
Not only that, but they fly first-class, for free, on US Airways.
This odd story, and many others involving farm animal-related matters, find their way to my desk via readers and co-workers who know my weakness for both farm animals and odd stories. Irresistible.
Hence we learn of Charlotte, a 300-pound pig (of the Vietnamese potbellied variety) who is a so-called “therapeutic companion pet” that helps her owner control stress so as not to aggravate a heart condition (the owner’s, not the pig’s.)
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As noted via the Salon.com website and Associated Press some months ago, U.S. based airlines must allow service animals to accompany passengers to their seats. Charlotte did so.
Only later did passengers complain that the pig, following its porcine instincts, snuffled about, tried to enter the cockpit and visited the galley for a snack.
From this writer’s point of view, the truly odd thing about this story is why passengers found such behavior offensive. A pig must be a pig, after all, and what’s the big deal with wanting a window seat and some extra peanuts?
Elsewhere in the farm animal/odd story file is a year-old National Post clipping about One Man and His Dog, a BBC television program that shows flocks of sheep being herded in competition by specially trained dogs.
When the BBC threatened to cancel the 23-year-old show, public outcry ensued. It still attracted 1.6 million viewers at the time of the threatened cancellation.
At last word, the broadcaster had relented and promised to air the sheep show every once in awhile.
A pat on the back to Andrew Hall, co-editor of a sheepdog magazine, for his quote: “There’s a real beauty in a really good dog moving sheep very gently.”
Finally, a wee story about eggs, literacy and cuisine. It comes from a National Farm Products Council newsletter: “The NFPC struggles with the legacy of Dr. Seuss. One of the top internet search phrases that lead web surfers to the NFPC site is ‘green eggs’, as in ‘Green Eggs and Ham.’ We get many e-mail queries asking if there are green eggs, and if so, where they can source them.”
While the NFPC does have an answer to the green eggs question, the curious must look elsewhere for answers on the whereabouts of Yurtle the Turtle.
