Criminal - A Splendid Newfoundland, Cursing Birds, and the Fashion Fox

Episode Date: December 17, 2021

Stories of animals really going for it. Say hello on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Sign up for our occasional newsletter, The Accomplice. Follow the show and review us on Apple Podcasts: iTunes.com/CriminalShow. We also make This is Love and Phoebe Reads a Mystery. Artwork by Julienne Alexander. Check out our online shop.  Episode transcripts are posted on our website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Support for Criminal comes from Apple Podcasts. Each month, Apple Podcasts highlights one series worth your attention, and they call these series essentials. This month, they recommend Wondery's Ghost Story, a seven-part series that follows journalist Tristan Redman as he tries to get to the bottom of a ghostly presence in his childhood home. His investigation takes him on a journey involving homicide detectives, ghost hunters, and even psychic mediums,

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That's BotoxCosmetic.com. That's BotoxCosmetic.com. In 1908, the New York Times reported on a dog, a, quote, splendid Newfoundland. The piece reads, quote, the dog is the property of a man who lives on the banks of the Seine, just outside Paris. Some time ago, a child playing on the riverbank fell into the water and was in imminent danger of being drowned. The dog, hearing the cries and the splashing, leaped over a hedge, ran down the bank, and plunged into the stream, just in time to rescue the little victim. Naturally, the brave animal was made much of,

and the father of the child, by way of recompense, presented him a succulent beefsteak. Two days later, another child fell into the water and was rescued by the dog. The lifesaver received another beefsteak. The piece continues, Rescues became more and more frequent. Hardly a day passed but that some unfortunate infant

was brought safely to the bank by the dog after an involuntary bath. It began to be suspected that the neighborhood was haunted by a mysterious criminal and a special watch was inaugurated. Then the truth came out. It was the dog, the noble lifesaver himself, that was the guilty one. Whenever he saw a child playing on the edge of the stream, he promptly knocked it into the water,

and then, nonetheless promptly, jumped into the rescue. He had thus established for himself a profitable source of revenue. The headline was, Dog, a Fake Hero. Today, stories of animals really going for it. I'm Phoebe Judge. This is Criminal. When I was growing up in Chicago, my family had a cat named Jim. My sister Chloe named him after our neighbor, Jim Grigar.

My mother and Chloe found Jim one afternoon at the playground near our house. They saw this little kitten who they said was going down the slide with kids. The kitten ended up following Chloe and my mother home and walked right through the back gate and into our yard. My mother said that if it was still in our backyard in the morning, we could take it to the vet and adopt it. I'd never had a cat before, so I didn't know how they were supposed to act. But I think I always knew that Jim seemed a little different.

He didn't ask anything from us. When he came inside, he'd just lie down near the heater. No litter box. He'd meow at the door, and we'd open it and let him out. He would roam far away, and we wouldn't see him for a day or two. And then he'd come back, usually leaving some birds on the front doormat as a present from his trip. One time, we got a call from someone a mile away

who had found Jim sitting on his front step in the sun and brought him inside. My mother thanked the man and then asked if he wouldn't mind just opening his door and letting Jim back out. She was certain he'd find his way home, which of course he did. Jim loved to ride in the car. Sometimes we would invite him in for a ride to the lake or to do some errands. Other times he would sneak in, and you wouldn't know he was there until you heard a meow from the back seat. My father used to tell a story about leaving for a business trip. He was driving himself to Midway Airport.

We lived on the north side of the city, and Midway was about as far away as you could get. When he parked the car at the airport, he reached into the back seat to get his bag, and there was Jim. My father didn't have enough time to drive all the way back to our house without missing his flight, and he couldn't leave Jim in the car for days. He didn't know what to do. So he took Jim under his arm

and walked to the cab stand at the front of the airport. He opened the back door of the cab and threw Jim in, handed the cab driver a $20 bill and asked, Take this man to the corner of Irving Park and Pulaski. When you get there, open the door. He'll find his way home. The taxi driver agreed. When he got to the corner, he opened the door, and Jim jumped out and found his way back home.

Jim lived for almost 20 years, walking the neighborhood as an old man, just as he had done as a little kitten. A few years after Jim was gone, we got another cat, Elliot. And it turns out that he's picked up just where Jim left off. All right, so my name is Felix Hackenbruch, and I work as a journalist for the Berlin newspaper called Tagesspiegel. In the summer of 2020, a man in Berlin named Christian Meyer went for a run. And when he came back, or when he returned, he left his shoes outside as always.

But on the next morning, the shoes were disappeared. He told me later the shoes were new and quite pricey. And Christian Mayer couldn't believe it because who should steal a pair of running shoes? So he wrote a message on a neighborhood platform called Neben Andi, that means next door. And then he got many messages. And suddenly he recognized, okay, seems that many, many neighbors missed their shoes. He's not the only victim. So were people writing in these messages, my shoes were, was there a pattern in how these shoes were missing? Were both shoes being taken from the neighborhood, or was it just one sometimes?

Oh, sometimes both, sometimes only one, so it was quite a mystery. There was not a really pattern, yeah. And then a neighbor wrote a message to the listserv saying that he had seen a fox running around a certain part of the neighborhood and suggested that Christian Meyer might consider looking for his shoes around there.

So next day Christian Meyer did that. He went to this place and when he arrived he just found the stealing fox in action actually. When he arrived the fox was running away with a pair of flip-flops in his mouth. Blue plastic flip-flops in his mouth. Blue plastic flip-flops. Two of them. And then Christian Meyer made a decision.

He decided he would chase the fox. He was running behind him, but then the fox went through a fence, and so he lost the fox, but he was climbing over the fence and through this kind of jungle, forest, wood, whatever. And yeah, he tried to find the fox or at least the flip-flops. And then Christian Meyer looked down and realized he'd found what must have been the fox's den, or at least his hiding place.

He told me he was completely surprised because he found not one or two shoes. or at least his hiding place. Crocs in yellow and green and pink in camouflage. They were quite colorful, so it seems it was a fashion fox. Crocs in yellow and green and pink in camouflage, kids' crocs, and also lots of running shoes, and even tall gardening boots. One loafer with a high heel, one black ballet flat, one scarf with pink stripes, one loose insole. Christian Meyer recovered as many shoes as he could. The good shoes, which were in a good shape, he took all back to his place and he posted a picture.

And he posted it again on this platform. And so many neighbors got their shoes back because they saw, oh, there's my shoe I was missing. And yeah, so they found their shoes back because they saw, oh, there's my shoe I was missing. And yeah, so they found their shoes. But unfortunately, Miles' running shoes did not appear. So he went through the fox's den and collected all of the shoes that the fox had stolen, brought them back, lined them up and said, hey, come take your shoe if you see it here. I found a size nine lime green crock left. Is this yours? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Did any behavior start to change in the neighborhood after it was found out that a fall, did people start keeping their shoes inside? Well, Maya did that, yeah. He told me from that point, he never left his shoes outside. Felix wrote about the shoe-stealing fox and posted a photo of all the shoes on Twitter. Lots of people commented on the Crocs. One person wrote, he was doing you all a favor. Thank you. series Essentials. This month they recommend Wondery's Ghost Story, a seven-part series that follows journalist Tristan Redman as he tries to get to the bottom of a ghostly presence in his childhood home.

His investigation takes him on a journey involving homicide detectives, ghost hunters, and even psychic mediums, and leads him to a dark secret about his own family. Check out Ghost Story, a series essential pick, completely ad-free on Apple Podcasts. for you and what privacy issues should you ultimately watch out for. And to help us out, we are joined by Kylie Robeson, the senior AI reporter for The Verge, to give you a primer

on how to integrate AI into your life. So tune into AI Basics, How and When to Use AI, a special series from Pivot sponsored by AWS, wherever you get your podcasts. How many birds do you have there? Approximately 1,400. 1,400 birds? Yes. What kinds? There's 103 different species of parrot.

So there's everything from African grey to budgerigars to macaws to cockatoos, along with the Amazons. And then we have other types of birds like jays and cockatiels. So there's quite an array, quite a mix. Steve Nichols runs Lincolnshire Wildlife Park in England. In August 2020, the park adopted five new birds, all African gray parrots, from different homes in different parts of England. The birds were named Billy, Elsie, Eric, Jade, and Tyson. Steve Nichols says that at first, all five of them were placed in a quarantine together, like all new birds who enter the park. One day, Steve Nichols was cleaning in the room next door to the birds,

and he heard something strange. I actually heard quite a lot of vocals going off in there, which basically I thought it was some volunteer workers we had that were being quite rowdy, and their language was getting quite loud. So I actually went into this quarantine to basically tell the volunteers off, to tell them to be quiet. And when I walked in, I was quite surprised to see that there was actually no one in there,

just the parrots. And it all went silent as I went in. But then when I came back out, I could hear the swearing again, so I went back in. And when I went back in, they wasn't worried about me then, so they just carried on swearing.

And what happens is, if you teach your parrot to actually say something like that, usually what happens is, the first time you hear the parrot say it, then you will follow that by a laughing. So you will make a laughing noise. And the parrots actually class that as a positive reaction. So they then, that encourages them to do it even more. And before you know it, the parrots then learn how to swear and they also learn how to laugh afterwards.

And what was happening then is as one was swearing, then another one was laughing, and that then encouraged it to swear even more. And before you know it, all five of them were swearing at each other. So the parrots not only swear at each other, but if you were to walk into the cage or the parrots were to see you, they might tell you to... Yes, exactly. I mean, some of the things they say is when you walk in, they'll shout things like, oh, you're fat. And then at the end of it, put a swear word. And we, I mean, even though we're used to it,

there's still nothing more unusual than walking past just a normal grey bird that then can turn and say something very obscure to you in a very swearing manner. And you can't help but laugh. Even us, after all these years, when a parrot swears, you still have to laugh. And I know people say you shouldn't because you encourage them, but it's so difficult not to. What happened when the birds were brought out for public display?

Did they start swearing at the guests? I mean, I would assume this is a place where kids come in. Initially, they did swear. Initially, they were swearing. And what we first did is take them back offshore because they started swearing at the children because the children were very loud, naturally, and the children had been excited because they hadn't been able to come out and see animals for a long time. And the parents were very excited to see people. So as the kiddies went walking up, I actually heard, this is why it all happened again, why we took them offshore. When I was walking up, I thought the children were swearing. And I thought, that's quite coincidental, children swearing at parrots. So I went down,

and as I was walking down, I could hear the parrots swearing and the kiddies laughing. The birds were screaming obscenities, so shocking, apparently, that Steve Nichols wouldn't even repeat them to us. He says Billy was the worst. All the F-words and all the quiet extremities that are very, very, very bad. He knew he couldn't let these birds continue screaming at people and then laughing about it. And so he pulled them from public view and took them to an aviary where, Steve hoped, they might be influenced to behave more like the other birds, more polite birds, birds that imitated other things, car alarms, cell phones, a microwave beeping. He remembers walking through the aviary for a health check every evening

at dusk, and hearing birds vocalizing, making ringtones, saying hello. And then, he says, he'd hear the F-word. Eventually, Billy, Elsie, Eric, Jade, and Tyson were allowed to go back on public display at the sanctuary. They joined 1,500 other parrots and all kinds of other birds, including a pink Australian cockatoo, who also talks. And as you're walking past him, he'll go, hello, sexy, how are you? And you can't help but change your mannerisms. And as you're walking past, you'll say, I'm doing very well, and thank you for calling me sexy. And then you just carry on walking. I think we've all lost

it a little bit. I think it is just what it is. Steve Nichols also told us about Chico, a bright green parrot, who sings Beyonce songs. Here's more from Chico. When I moved into my house in Durham, there was already a strange tiny pond in the backyard that the previous owners had put in. It's only a couple of feet across, full of algae. It's never made any sense to me. A few years ago, my father was in town,

and without asking permission, he went to Pet Supplies Plus, bought ten goldfish, and put them in the pond. He said nothing. I eventually noticed the fish food sitting by the back door. But then my father left town, and now I had all these fish to take care of. They were growing and multiplying very quickly. And then one day, I looked out of the window and saw a great blue heron standing over the pond,

completely poised to start fishing. I went outside to shoo the bird away, but then I just didn't stop him. I got out my phone and started filming. The heron ate every single fish. And then my neighbor, who apparently felt bad, restocked the pond. What software do you use at work? The answer to that question is probably more complicated than you want it to be. The average U.S. company deploys more than 100 apps,

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Stay focused on what's important to you with Noom's psychology and biology-based approach. Sign up for your trial today at Noom.com. It actually happened, I was out of town, and my father stopped by the office to check on things, and he saw some money laying on the floor inside of one of our entry doors. It's like a glass bank of windows with a solid panel of glass doors, so it's kind of got a bit of an air gap between the door and the window. At the bottom of it inside the office was a few, like a $5 bill and a $1 bill. Stuart McDaniel owns a marketing firm in Tulsa, Oklahoma. And it was really peculiar.

We didn't understand, like, why would there be money laying on the floor of our office? I don't know that any clients pay in their bill with singles. So my dad kind of got to thinking, during the evening that go to the restaurants and the bars and stuff downtown, had walked by. And the cat, we've known this for a while, the cat is kind of a snooper. He's a people watcher in the windows, and so he sits at his perch and watches people go by. And he just likes to sit there and and and uh snoop on people and um i guess somebody they cut he caught their eye and um they decided to put money through the door to play with him and he took it

he grabbed it with his claws and snatched it out of their hand. And they were shocked and laughing in the video. And then they had to do it again. And that's where the other bill came from. And I think they were just meaning to play with him. And they didn't realize that they were about to lose their money. And so that's kind of how it happened. And once we realized that people were willing to do something so silly, we were like, well, we'll just sort of sign up and see what we can raise.

And in the first weekend we did it, I mean, there's like $20, $30 in the floor the next morning. It's hilarious. There's videos of it. He'll in the floor the next morning. It's hilarious. There's videos of it. He'll bring the money in and then he'll pat it. And that's like it's his now. Like, that's mine. And when we lay the money out and organize it to count it and we take a picture and put it on his Facebook, he's circling the money like watching it be counted because that's his prize. That's

his trophy. So it's funny. He's an interesting little cat. I'll say that. So you will walk in in the morning and there will be a pile of money just there waiting for you? Depending on the day, weekdays, there might be only $5 to $10. On the weekends is when that's his sweet spot. He'll end up with $50, $60 after a week. Can he tell the difference between money and paper? Early on, I said probably not, but I've seen him ignore business cards and flyers.

And then if someone slides money through, he snatches it. So I think he's actually gotten wise to their tricks. And he doesn't like the hard cardboard cardstock of a business card. So I've watched him ignore people trying to cheat him. And then if someone's putting a real dollar through, he snatches it. So he might have gotten wise to it. It sure seems like it. Stuart McDaniel and his family donate all of the money to the Tulsa Day Center,

which serves people in Oklahoma who are experiencing or at risk for homelessness. He's raised over $8,000 today. $8,000? $8,000 today. $8,000? $8,000 through the door with his paws? With his paws or his mouth. He'll bite it. Sometimes the bills are a little more mutilated than others. I don't know if that was an aggressive attack or what,

but the bank lets us tape them back together. We do a deposit and get a cashier's check so we don't have to send some of the tethered and withered money over to the day center. I'd like to meet this cat. He seems like quite a guy. He's fickle. So I will tell you this, there's lots of people, lots of people, an unusual number of people like to come by and say hi to him and they want to pet him and hold him. And I'm like, full disclosure, he loves or hates you. And like, you can pick him up and he'll purr and he'll lay on his back in your arms and kind of do that whole, like, rub me thing. And then he'll turn right around and claw the crap out of you. So I tell people, hey, pet him at your own peril.

And if you're going to try to pet him, at least have a dollar at the ready. Yeah, maybe. Maybe it's the fact that he knows you don't have any money on you, so he's going to act out. I don't know, but he's fickle. Well, I hope you have a really nice holiday season, and thanks so much for talking. Absolutely, thank you. On November 28, 2016, Corporal Julie Yingling of the St. Mary's County Sheriff's Office in Maryland was told by dispatch to report right away to the Dollar General store.

When you pulled up to the Dollar General, what did you see? Well, obviously I pulled up in a strategic position. I wasn't going to pull directly up into the building. I wasn't sure if this was some kind of an ambush or what was going to happen. So I pulled up in a strategic position and when I entered the building, I found all the workers up front kind of where the, I guess, cash registers and so forth are. So you walk in, all of the workers are by the front, probably nervous and scared. What do you do? I've walked in, obviously, you know, I inquired, I was like, what happened?

Why am I here? What is going on? And one of the workers said he was outside taking a break and the doors are automatic. They have sensors. And he said, after my break, I walked back in and the sliding doors opened. And he said, and behind me came a beaver. I was like, you've got to be kidding me. He's like, no, he's back in the back of the store.

They said he had run around. I think he'd climbed on some things. I think he'd climbed on some things. I think he'd laid on some toilet paper or something. I don't really know what he did prior to my arrival. Once I got there and he saw me, he immediately, he looked at me for a few seconds and then he took off running. So I'm actually now pursuing this animal through the Dollar General. The aisle I contained him on happened to be a Christmas aisle.

And then once he realized he was contained, he almost like, it was like almost like he was Christmas shopping. He went, looked at some plates, he looked at some other things. I guess he didn't like that and he threw a couple of plates and some decorations into the floor. And then he found the Christmas trees and he was very intrigued by the Christmas trees. That's what, again, when he got up on his hind legs and was actually, looked like he was perusing through the trees.

It was actually very cute. How did you finally capture this beaver? So finally, I had to admit defeat because there was nothing I could do with him. So I called our dispatch who called our on-call animal control and they actually responded to the scene and took custody of him. And what happened to the beaver? They took the beaver and they, I guess they kept him for a day or two and then they released him back into the area where he came from. So I don't get Christmas

cards from him. I've never heard from him again. Well, you know, it's still the Christmas season and maybe he'll show up this year looking for a little last minute gift or a last minute tree. And so who knows, you might get a call again. I would actually love that. That would be amazing. Well, thank you very much for speaking. This has been great, and I'm very happy we talked to you, and I hope you have a very good holiday season, and we'll wish the same for your beaver friend. All right. Thank you so much, and you too.

Thanks for listening to Criminal this year. It means an awful lot to all of us. We've got big plans for 2022, more episodes, more often, and some special series on the way. Happy New Year. We'll see you soon. Criminal is created by Lauren Spohr and me.

Nadia Wilson is our senior producer. Susanna Robertson is our producer. Engineering by Russ Henry. Audio mix by Rob Byers. Julian Alexander makes original illustrations for each episode of Criminal. You can see them at thisiscriminal.com. We're on Facebook and Twitter at Criminal Show. Criminal is recorded in the studios of North Carolina Public Radio, WUNC.

We're part of the Vox Media Podcast Network. Discover more great shows at podcast.voxmedia.com. Shows like Cover Story, a new investigative series from New York Magazine. The first season of Cover Story is called Power Trip, Thank you. people are calling it the psychedelic renaissance but what are we overlooking in our rush to feel better follow cover story on spotify apple or wherever you listen i'm phoebe judge this is criminal the number one selling product of its kind with over 20 years of research and innovation. Botox Cosmetic, Adabotulinum Toxin A, is a prescription medicine used to temporarily make moderate to severe frown lines, crow's feet, and forehead lines look better in adults. Effects of Botox Cosmetic may spread hours to weeks after injection causing serious symptoms.

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