chimpIt's the stuff movies are made of. Two chimps were on the loose in Las Vegas today, forcing police to lock down an elementary school. The chimpanzees were in a north west Vegas neighborhood and according to reports, they looked aggressive. The cops were called in and they shot the 170-pound male who seemed threatening to by-standers, and tranquilized and re-captured the second chimp before it was able to cause any harm. No one knows how the animals got loose or why they ended up in Vegas, but it's pretty clear to me that the mammals were in from St. Louis for a bachelor weekend when things got out a little too vodka-y and yada yada yada they're stumbling around a residential neighborhood trying to get their bearings when boom, tragedy strikes.

It's terrible that one of the chimps had to die; I wish the story had ended differently and both were contained and returned to the fictional homes I created for them in the Midwest. Alas, what's done is done.

But here's a question. Have you noticed that there's been a lot of animal escapades, recently? There was the Bronx Zoo cobra who escaped and enjoyed a wild ride on the town before being captured, and there was the well-dressed pig who trotted along a highway in a dashing scarf like it ain't no thang.

Then, of course, there was that heartbreaking menagerie massacre in Ohio when lions and tigers and bears escaped from a zoo a man had in his backyard.

You heard it hear first, the animals are mobilizing and they're ready to take over. Some are better dressed than others, but they're coming nonetheless. Eek.

Thoughts?

 

Photo via Reemul/Flickr