Seattle University's student newspaper since 1933

The Spectator

Seattle University's student newspaper since 1933

The Spectator

Seattle University's student newspaper since 1933

The Spectator

Not So Breaking News

    This week headlines about natural disasters, political campaigns and unrest in Syria, inform us about the state of America and the global state of humans. My question is, why do we so often overlook the news that completely embodies human reactions and emotion, the beauty of human error and stupidity?

    In early October—this isn’t such breaking news—a man in Norway did something that truly gets to the heart of what it means to be human; i.e., make mistakes.

    Whilst frolicking in the beautiful open spaces of the Norwegian landscape, this gentleman simultaneously had the best and worst day of hunting in his life. His dog had caught a scent and had started after what turned out to be big game. After the dog reportedly crossed a fence—I wasn’t actually there—the man spotted his game: two Norwegian moose.

    Unfortunately it was only after he had cleanly killed one and injured the other that he discovered he was in a zoo. Paired with this discovery came officials of the wildlife enclosure and—I’m just assuming here—policing officials. The second moose was later euthanized due to its injuries.
    “We can’t explain what happened, but probably the hunter must have been so eager that he didn’t think,” said Polar Park CEO Heinz Strathmann.

    I would say this is textbook human oversight, but in all honesty it rings as an anecdote too crazy not to be true. My hope is that the viewing area of this zoo enclosure was not full of horrified Norwegian—or not—onlookers.
    If you are having a bad day, if you’re tired of the breaking news, if you feel like you’ve gone and messed something up royally; just remember that a few miles from the Arctic Circle some poor man got too excited about his hunting and shot two moose, in a flipping zoo.

    Have a good week, and explore the fringes of newsworthy news.

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    Chris Salsbury, Author

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