Feline Diplomats of National Palace & Michigan's Wolf Revival

Have you ever wondered what kind of impression a gang of feral cats would make if they prowled the corridors of power? Well, wonder no more. On this week’s episode of Weird World Variety, we take a stroll through the gardens of Mexico City's National Palace, now the official residence of 19 feline dignitaries. These cats aren't just charming the staff and tourists; they've clawed their way into government records as living fixed assets. We'll share the purr-fect story of their ascent to political prominence and what it means for the future of four-legged residents in official spaces. And if you think that's wild, wait until we track the paw prints of the gray wolves making an unexpected comeback in southern Michigan, bringing with them a whole new set of ecological and conservation conversations.

 Join us as we honor the extraordinary tapestry of life, the untamed and the cherished encounters that remind us of the wild, weird, and wonderful world we share.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:12

that's right, we're back. Ladies and gentlemen, we're back. Let's go. How y'all feel out there? Are you feeling good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, right, let's get right to it. All right, that feels better. How we doing, how we doing. Welcome to Weird World Variety.

Speaker 1: 0:41

If you don't know this show by now, this show brings you weird and crazy news from around the world and funny news from around the world. We put a positive spin on the news, um, and it's just something fun we like to do. We like to have a little fun. So is every buddy ready to dive into this week's stories? All right, let's go ahead and dive right in. So this week we have a lot of animal news. I don't know if you've kept up with some of the animals lately, but it's been going crazy. I don't know if you've kept up with some of the animals lately, but it's been going crazy. Um, and with the recent, I don't know how many of you went to, uh, see the solar eclipse. Did, uh, did anybody go see the solar eclipse? Yeah, yeah. So If you went to go see the solar eclipse, it was pretty crazy. So it was awesome. So, besides that and some other things, and them saying that the world was going to horribly end. Um, we are still alive, yeah, so here we go. We're going to report on some animal news. Here we go.

Speaker 1: 2:29

A new declaration in mexico gives 19 cats roaming the presidential palace food and care forever, forever. Okay, I know it was bad, I know. I know, I know it was bad, all right, all right. So what's going on with this Mexico City? They prowl through palace gardens, stalking pigeons and making cameos on televised press briefings. Some greet tourists at the door while others a sneaky lick of ice cream from staff. Nineteen feral cats have free reign of Mexico's national palace Long roaming, the lush gardens of historical colonial hills, of the most iconic buildings in the country. They have access to every part of the palace, so they walk in on meetings, interviews and even wander on the camera, said Jesus Sarius, the palace veterinarian, as a handful of feline friends brush against his ankles.

Speaker 1: 3:24

Now the palace cats have made history after the government of mexico, mexican president andres manuel lopez abrador, declared them to be living fixed assets, the first animals in mexico to receive this title. And they have pictures here, if you want to see these apnewscom slash oddities. And there's cats literally everywhere. They're resting on trees, they're going around the palace courts like it's pretty interesting. The investment term fixed assets usually applies to buildings and furniture, but by applying it to cats, lopez Avedor's government has obligated the country's treasury to give them food and care for the rest of their lives, even after the leader leaves office.

Speaker 1: 4:19

Is there, like they said, 19.? So is that a? Is that a direct number or are there more? Because it's like can you put that title on 19? If there are more cats wandering around, like, say, one cat wanders in, does it get included in this special treatment or not?

Speaker 1: 4:39

The cats are now a symbol of the National Palace. Just as we understand this world, I wouldn't understand the National Palace without the presence of these cats, said Adriana Castillo-Roman, General Director of the National Palace and Cultural Heritage Conservancy. We have to make sure the cats are well taken care of. So, nestled in the heart of mexico city, the presidential palace has long been the seat of mexico's executive branch, now the residence of lopez arbador. It is built upon the former palace of indigenous emperor moctezuma. Ironically, montezuma, ancient Aztec culture, honor not cats, but hairless dogs known as I'm not even going to say this Zolotz Quintal, who were even buried with their masters. So there you go. Honored cats in Mexico. We now have royal kitties in Mexico. So if you are ever at the palace in Mexico, you might see the royal kitties that are being taken care of. That's crazy, okay.

Speaker 1: 6:00

First of all, how do you keep track of them? So, would they? I'm assuming no, they wouldn't. They probably wouldn't put collars on them. In the pictures they don't have collars. So they just know which 19 cats to take care of. I'm assuming, because otherwise it'd be hard to like keep track of. Anyway, I hope so. Let's hope so for their sake.

Speaker 1: 6:25

All right, here we go with the next one. From cats to wolves. I said from cats to wolves. There we go, there we go. Oh my gosh, it gets me every time.

Speaker 1: 6:56

All right, gray wolves hadn't been seen in south michigan since the 1900s. This winter a local hunter just shot one marshall michigan an animal. A michigan hunter thought this was a big coyote when he shot it in january and it has been determined to be a gray wolf, the first time the species has been found in southern michigan in more than a century. Wildlife officials say the hunters shot the wolf and Calhoun County. Let's see. Do I have a thing for that? What's the? Uh, here we go. It's a little violent, but all right. Uh, the hunter shot a wolf in Calhoun County in the Southern reaches of Michigan lower peninsula, while taking part in legal coyote hunting accompanied by a guide. A Michigan Department of Natural Resources said the man said he encountered what was initially believed to be a large coyote, but it weighed 84 pounds, which is significant, more than the 25 pounds to 40 pounds that coyotes typically weigh, at least the eastern ones. A series of genetic tests on the harvested animal confirmed that it was a gray wolf, a species not cited in this part of Michigan.

Speaker 1: 8:25

Since the likely extermination of wolves from the state in the early part of the 20th century, gray wolves are currently confined almost exclusively to Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The DNR said the few instances of wolves being present in this being president, being present in the state of Lower Peninsula in the past two decades has been Lower Peninsula's northern areas. The agency added this is an unusual case and the DNR is actively delving into the matter to learn more about this particular animal's origins origins while rare instances of wolves traversing vast distances have been documented documented, including signs of wolves in recent decades in michigan's lower peninsula. So, yeah, so this is the first time in a while that we've seen a wolf this far south, I guess since the 1900s. Um, hide your chickens and hide your farm animals, you know? Like I don't know what to tell you. Uh, I'll tell you what. If I saw a wolf, I'm definitely not getting in his way because, uh, it's, it's not happening, it's not happening, it's not happening. If you ever encounter a wolf, usually I don't know why, this wolf in particular was by itself, but usually wolves travel in packs. So you will not see me taking on a wolf anytime soon, soon. But for now we can say that Wait, hold on. Now I've lost control of my show. What's going on? I'm having technical difficulties. Pardon me, everybody, pardon me. Alright, we might have to reopen. There we go. I think we got it back. I think we got it back. Here we go. So for now, wolves have been seen in Michigan In other news.

Speaker 1: 10:58

Voodoo, doll, whoopee, cushion, denture powder what do these all have in common? Honestly, I don't know, but as far as this story goes, this is among the bizarre trash that was plucked from New Jersey beaches. They're finally cleaning up the place and it only took about, I'd say, about 20 years or so. So, alright. So nah, I'm just joking, but I guess a recent clean of new jersey's beaches has found all these weird items. Let's figure out if we can find out what's going on. Jersey shore beach season is almost here and if last year's any indication, it will soon be time to pack the voodoo dolls, whoopee cushions, zip ties and denture powder. Those were just a few of the bizarre items plucked from the sands of New Jersey's beaches last year by volunteers with Clean Ocean Action Environmental Group. Man, that's a mouthful Alright, all right.

Speaker 1: 12:29

According to a report group released on thursday, nearly 3 700 volunteers picked up and disposed of 176 206 items along the state's 127 mile coastline. Many were mundane and sadly common, like bottle caps, cigarettes, plastic pieces. Then there are the oddities A 50-pound bag of rice which who just leaves that on a beach? A baby Yoda doll, a severed Barbie head. And then there was the food fryer. Who brings a food fryer to the beach, much less leaves it behind. If I'm bringing a fryer to the beach, I am definitely not leaving that sucker on the beach, and I'll tell you that right now. Also left seaside were clothes, fake eyelashes and other weird items that we are not going to go to for the sake of being family friendly.

Speaker 1: 13:34

Cindy Zip is executive director of Clean Ocean Action, which was carried out beach sweeps at the beginning and end of beach season since 1985. They've collected nearly 8.5 million items of trash, recycling what can be reprocessed. She called the report a kill list of our region's worst littering ways. Yes, that's true. So next time you're on a beach, ladies and gentlemen, I'm going to say one thing I would please clean up after yourself. Like this is ridiculous. I mean, the amount of crazy items just gets crazier. Like Like we all know better, don't we? We're a human, we're a human race. We know how to clean up after ourselves. The fact that we're volunteering not to do it is not a good look on our part. And if there's one thing that I want to teach my kids growing up, is that when you have a party or you make a mess, be sure to clean up. It's just respect. That's all it is. It's just respect.

Speaker 1: 14:50

Let's move on over to our last story of the day. All right? So for our last story of the day, we have some monkey business. Yes, I did, I said monkey business. All right, all right, all right, all right. No, it wasn't that funny. It wasn't that funny.

Speaker 1: 15:20

So Thailand has a plan to contain the monkey mayhem in the popular tourist town of Lopbardi. Lopbardi, which is Thailand. Thai wildlife officials laid out a plan on Wednesday to bring peace to a center central Thai city After at least a decade of human monkey conflict. You ever seen, um, what's that movie? You ever seen war of the worlds? No, not war of the worlds, I'm sorry um, planet of the Apes, something like that. Anyway, the Makki I don't know how to say this. Y'all, you're going to have to bear with me. The Makkakes that roam Lopburi are a symbol of local culture and a major tourist draw, but after years of dangerous encounters with residents and visitors and several failed attempts to bring peace with population controls, local people and businesses have had enough. I would too. If you had monkeys messing your stuff up all the time and you weren't allowed to do anything, I'd be ticked.

Speaker 1: 16:38

The monkeys frequently try to snatch food from humans, sometimes resulting in tussles that can leave people with scratches and other injuries. But outrage grew in March when a woman dislocated her knee after a monkey pulled her off her feet in an effort to grab food and another man was knocked off a motorcycle by a hungry monkey. Hungry monkey, there we go. Authorities hope to round up some 2,500 urban monkeys and place them in massive enclosures, said Athapol I don't know their last name the director general of the Department of National Parks, wildlife and Plant Conservation. The Department of National Parks, wildlife and Plant Conservation. They'll work with wildlife experts to find a way for a limited number of monkeys to stay at liberty in the city. I don't want humans to have to hurt monkeys and I don't want monkeys to have to hurt humans, he told reporters during a news conference in Bangkok. An official monkey-catching campaign was launched this week, prioritizing more aggressive alpha males. It has caught 37 monkeys so far, most of whom have been placed and put under the care of wildlife authorities in the neighboring province of Saraburi, while others were sent to the Loburi Zoo. Officials said that they plan to capture the rest of the monkeys once the enclosures are complete, especially those in residential areas. Separate cages will be prepared for different troops of monkeys to prevent them from fighting. Athapul said he expects the first phase of the operation to start within weeks and believes the huge cages will be able to contain thousands of them and will solve the problem very quickly.

Speaker 1: 18:29

The monkeys are a symbol of the province north of Bangkok, where the ancient Three Pagodas Temple celebrates an annual monkey buffet festival, and they're commonly seen throughout the city. Makakes are classified as a protected species under Thailand's wildlife conservation law, so their idea is to kind of control, like not necessarily control the population, but also kind of control like where they're at and how many get to stay in the city, which, to me, if you're not trying to hurt the monkeys in any way and you're trying to find a solution, that's probably the closest thing to a solution that you're going to get without having to, you know, take down the population of monkeys or anything would. That would probably be the best way to do it, and also, when you have wildlife experts looking after them, it's also better and you don't have the public upset at you for, uh, you know, controlling the population. So I can understand why this would be the solution for this particular case. Um, yeah, let me know what you guys thought about this week's weird news and remember we have a facebook, we have an instagram and a youtube. Just find us at Weird World Variety with Matt and Jesse.

Speaker 1: 20:02

So, from all of us at the WWV until next time, stay weird everybody. Let's get out of here. Oh, you can't do this to me. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. It's a shame, isn't it? You can't give everything to someone else.