WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - Sidebar: Cicada-Geddon, Fox Healthcare, and Monkey Mayhem

Episode Date: April 5, 2024

In this episode of Sidebar on Radio Free Hillsdale, Lauren Scott, Maddy Welsh, and Emilie Moneyhon discuss wacky news stories about the upcoming cicada-geddon, one fox’s unique healthcare plan, a monkey takeover of a Thailand city, and more. Then Emilie quizzes Maddy and Lauren to see if they can determine which of her three zany stories is a lie.

You're listening to Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. This is Sidebar with Lauren Scott, Maddie Welsh, and Emily Moneyhun. This is Sidebar, the show where we bring you the news you probably won't find on the front page. I'm Lauren. I'm Maddie. And I'm Emily. Today we will be talking about boxes, marshmallows, and monkeys. Now let's get into it.

First up from AP News. staff at a Virginia Wildlife Center pretend to be red foxes as they care for an orphan kid. Employees at the Richmond Wildlife Center in Virginia are doing their best to act like mother foxes as they feed and care for an orphan kit that found her way into their care. The first thing this story taught me is that baby foxes are called kits. I did not know that. Okay, guys, I'm just going to say the first thing that popped into my head. So, okay, bear with me.

Do you guys know like those like videos on social media of like those dads who are like, oh, the wife is gone, but the baby still wants to feed? And so they'll print out a picture of their wives of their wife's face and put it on their face. And then they'll cut a hole in their shirt and put the bottle through there. So the baby thinks he's like, you know, eating from his mom. But it's literally just a bottle through. the dad's shirt, I totally think that the baby, where do you find this stuff? Morin? What's on? What is it? I'm on like the mom side of Instagram. I don't know why.

I'm not a mom. But it's like, okay, the babies totally know that that's not the mom. Like, you're not fooling anyone just because it's a baby doesn't mean that it's stupid. I feel like it's the same thing right here. The baby foxes totally know that these humans, are not foxes. I would like to say that this story presents us with a photo of the vets. That looks like a real fox

to me. No, it doesn't. Do you guys know what the first thing is I thought of? Do you guys know when we were in like fourth or fifth grade, that viral video? What does the fox say? Yes, it does the fox say.

It looks just like the guy who dressed up as a fox and it's obviously so fake. I think it looks like the fan. Fantastic Mr. Fox. Yeah, it also looks like that. That movie.

Wait, so there's a video. Is there, I don't want to play the video because I don't think it would do anything for listeners, but what is, have you watched the video? Oh, okay. Emily's shaking her head. No, so she really didn't do her homework here. I just love the picture that it gives you. It's terrifying.

If I saw that, like, I'd run and hide. I mean, there's more to the story than just being dressed as a fox. it says that the staff are wearing the mask to feed her and they're also minimizing human sounds, creating visual barriers, and taking other precautions. And then the Facebook post said, it's important to make sure that the orphans

that are raised in captivity do not become imprinted upon or habituated to humans. So they're doing more than just putting on these like sort of silly looking fox masks. Okay, but hear me out. Hear me out. I think you're more likely to encounter a human in the wilderness than a fox costume.

I don't really think they're doing any favors here. I think you're overestimating the intelligence of baby foxes. I don't think I am. The quote here says, the goal is to release animals back into the wild, not only to give them a greater chance of survival, but to recognize their own species and to reproduce to carry on their wildlife population.

See, I just feel like I can't really convey the message as well as I want to, because you can't see the picture of this fox costume, but it is ridiculous. It does not look like a real fox. But I totally like respect, like totally respect them for trying to introduce the fox into the human world. It reminds me of when I was a wee child and there was a bird nest. And your parents left you out for the wolves? No, not that story. No, it was whenever I was young and I went to my grandma.

mom's house and there was a bird nest on her patio and there were like these tiny baby birds like they barely had they barely had feathers and my grandma said not to touch the birds because then we'd get our humans scent on it on the birds and then the mama bird would abandon her babies because she would constantly fear that humans were like around um I think that's true if not it's a myth that I totally believe. And then afterwards, after my grandma gave us that whole lecture about how the mom would abandon the baby birds and they would starve to death, my cousin then picked up one of the baby birds and like held it in the palm of her hand. So I guess I got to commend these, he's a, what are they, veteran? Not a veteran. Not a veteran. They served in the Korean War.

A veterinarian. Yeah, for trying to protect the fox and not do what my cousin did. Yeah. And I think your grandma's right too. And that's just our word from zoologist, Lauren Scott. Moving on from Foxes, now we have here a story about monkeys. From AP News, Thailand has a plan to contain the monkey mayhem in the popular tourist town of La Puri. Thai wildlife officials laid out a plan on Wednesday to bring peace to a central Thai city after at least a decade of human monkey conflict.

The monkeys that roam the city are. 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. 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. Authorities hoped to round up some 2,500 urban monkeys and place them in massive enclosures.

They'll work with wildlife experts to find a way for a limited number of monkeys to stay at liberty in the city. This is crazy, but I totally believe it. When I was on a mission trip in South Africa, there were a lot of monkeys. And one of the things we did while we were there is we hosted a VBS for small children. And one of the days we gave all of the kids candy. And one of the little girls, she was probably like five or six, walked up to one of the sponsors on the trip. And she was like, can I have another sucker?

The monkey took mine. And he didn't believe her. He was like, what? Are you being for real right now? She's like, yes, the monkey took it. And he looked over and there was a monkey running around with a sucker in its hand and he was eating the sucker. Or lollipop, as some people call it. So I totally believe that these monkeys can be a little bit mischievous.

Yeah, I'm going to be honest, if I was traveling in a city and a monkey just came up and stole my food, I would be very upset. Yeah, but it is kind of fun to feed them. I would kick it. No, Emily, that's so sad. They're really cute. Well, these ones don't sound that cute, especially in this article. It says that they are trying to capture the more aggressive alpha males first. So it sounds like they can get pretty aggressive.

Well, I better watch out then. Our next story is not about monkeys, but it's about goats. coming to you from the New York Post. The title says, Italian island overrun by goats is begging people to catch and take them away. The story reads, This Italian island is overrun by so many goats

that locals are begging people to sail away with as many as they can catch. I feel like this is also, this should be the solution to the monkey problem. People should just sail away with the monkeys. Rehome them. Yeah, take a monkey as a pet. Bring some monkeys to wholesale.

You know, I'm sensing an overall theme in our episodes today. And that's the theme is that these animals are just trying to live their normal lives. I don't know, on the planet that they also live on. Not just our planet. And these humans are like, bye. Go away. You're inconveniencing me. I just don't think that's completely fair.

You're being a little too liberal for me today. It's just that these goats, I'm sure, are just sweet and fun. You know, Earth Day is in a couple weeks. I think Lauren is just really getting into the spirit of that holiday. Oh, you're so right. But you know what? I really think that we should rename this show Barnyard or something like that because we're always talking about animals. We are talking about animals because you know why people like animals.

And also all the other news stories that I find are about murderers. Okay, something else interesting in this story. is that the mayor announced a quote, adopt a goat program, which will allow people who make an official request

to take up to 50 goats. I mean, I think, you know, I'm not a huge fan that these goats are kind of, you know, being disrupted from their natural habitat.

But if the goats are happy and, you know, people who want the goats take them away, I think that's fine, especially because you can get things from goats like goat,

which some people like to drink. Are the goods free? That's a good question. I don't think the article says what the program entails as far as like if you have to pay for it. But the lead says they're, you know, begging people to sail away with them.

So I would imagine if you're begging people, you're not also charging them money. That would be my assumption. Well, guys, I have an idea for a grad trip for us. Ooh. What's that, Maddie? Italian island. Come home with some goats. Win-win. Sounds awesome to me.

The article also says that the animals were introduced to the island around 20 years ago by a farmer who set them free. And they have reproduced at a rapid rate and have taken over the town. So, I mean, good for you, goats, but I guess not good for the people who live there. Yeah, this is what we would call an invasive species, Lauren. So this is not their natural habitat. This is totally invasive. So your argument falls apart. You know, I take all that back.

I said that before I had read the entirety of the story. She's a really good journalist. However, I still think that the goats should deserve justice because it is their world, too. Do you think all of these goats are being taken to be slaughtered? No, I don't. I don't really know why someone would do that. Why would you even... Lauren is now vegan.

No, why would you even think about this? Oh, okay, Maddie, so I found the answer to your question. It says applicants must email their request to the authority local by April 10th, which is in six days. and pay around $17 for a stamp fee to make it official. So I guess $17. That's what you have to pay to get 50 goats. You're listening to Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. This is sidebar.

And now we are going to play Emily's little game. Play this each week. Emily tells me and Maddie three news stories. Two are true. One is fake. And then Maddie and I try and guess the, fake one. So Emily, what do you have for us this week? First up, from UPI News, snake missing for over a year gets dropped on roof by crow.

Animal rescuers in Britain said a pet snake that had been missing from her home for over a year was found after being dropped onto a rooftop by a crow. The R-S-P-C-A said rescuers responded to a home where a resident spotted a three-foot corn snake in their garden. When we arrived, the snake had vanished and was then discovered on the roof of a garage. The R-S-P-C-A said in a Facebook post, we suspect that the crow had given the snake a not-so-help leg up, but thankfully we were able to come to her aid. They discovered the snake was a pet named Agnes, who had been missing from her home for over a year. And then at the end of the article, they said, for the record, this is a real rescue, not an April Fool's.

I believe this 100%. I believe this too. This seems like just the type of thing that would happen in England. I also think that this is just the type of thing that someone would find out about and then want to write a new story because it's fun, it's news. And people, again, people like reading about animals. If you made this up, Emily, I will be really impressed with your

sort of cultural accuracy with the name of the snake because I feel like Agnes is a very British thing to name a snake. And so if you came up with that, I'll be very impressed. But I don't think you did. Yeah, I definitely think this is true. All right. Number two. Again from UPI.

Kyle, Texas seeks visitors named Kyle for world record attempt. The city of Kyle, Texas, announced it is making another attempt at breaking the Guinness World Record for the largest same-name gathering with an official gathering of the Kyle's. The city, which managed to attract 1,400 people named Kyle to the event last year, said the official gathering of the Kyle's record attempt will take place at 1 p.m. on May 18th as part of the Kyle Fair. The current record for the largest name, same name gathering, first name only, was set in July of 2017, when 2,300 people named Ivan attended an official record attempt in Bosnia.

The city of Austin, Texas, hosted another attempt at the record in February when the Ryan Rodeo attempted to take the title by bringing together people named Ryan. That attempt fell short of taking the title. I feel like I saw one of these on the internet a few years ago that was like a Josh conference. It was a bunch of guys named Josh.

It was like really built up on the internet too. So I totally believe that this event would happen. I think it's really interesting that it's occurring in Kyle, Texas. I don't know if that makes it more believable to me or less believable. I don't know. Yeah, especially you, Emily, being from Texas, I could see you wanting to make up a story

about your own state. But it also is something that I would completely believe. I do find it a little interesting that the record for the most attended gathering with people at the same name, the name would be Ivan, because I only know one person, person, like personally, only know... It was in Bosnia, though.

Oh. Scratch that. I didn't, listen, I didn't hear that part. So I don't know. I'm a little more skeptical about this one, but I could still believe it's true. And finally, also from UPI News, Central Texas braces for surge of solar eclipse tourists with unique hotel accommodations. In anticipation of the solar eclipse on Monday, Austin City officials found a solution to the lack of hotel-acom patients. Tents. These, however, are not the typical tents you might find along the streets of Austin. These luxury bungalows will house six to eight people and are complete

with heating, cooling, electricity, and even food provided by local vendors. The built-in tinted skylight will provide the optimal place to view the eclipse. Each unit has been auctioned off by the city for $700, up to even $1,500. Extra housing will be much needed as Ken Snipes, Austin's director of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, estimated this weekend, will bring about as many visitors as F-1 weekend and South by Southwest combined. The tents will be temporarily set up along 6th Street. I kind of feel like this is a lie. Yeah, I'm calling Cap on this, because I was in Austin just this week,

and I feel like if something crazy like this was going to be happening, people would be talking about it. And somebody, other than UPI News, the most niche news website on the Internet, would be reporting on it. So I think number three is the lie. I agree. I think it's a lie because you're also from Austin, and I feel like you'd want to just make up something about your own state.

Okay, you're right. But I feel like this is a good one. It was good. No, it's really good. Also, like, not like, no one would actually care. They wouldn't be like, did you hear about the tents down on 6th Street? I feel like people would.

There's always tense on 6th Street. Yeah, I mean, nice track. I see the effort. I kind of, like, you know, it's good, especially because a lot of people are traveling to Texas for the eclipse. Imagine having no life. But good job on the creativity.

For our last animal-themed story of the day, we are talking about cicadas. This story from AP News says, invaders from underground are coming in Cicada Gedin. It's the biggest bug emergence in centuries. Trillions. of evolution's bizarreo wonders, red-eyed periodical cicadas that have pumps in their heads and jet-like muscles in their rears are about to emerge in numbers not seen in decades and possibly centuries.

Crawling out from underground every 13 or 17 years with a collective song as loud as jet engines, the periodical cicadas are nature's kings of the calendar. These black bugs with bulging eyes differ from their greener tinge cousins that come out annually. They stay buried year after year until they surface and take over a landscape, covering houses with shed exoskeletons and making the ground crunchy. This spring, an unusual cicada double dose is about to invade a couple parts of the United States and what University of Connecticut's cicada expert John Cooley called Cicada Geddon. The last time these two broods came out together in 1803, Thomas Jefferson, who wrote about cicadas in his garden book, but mistakenly called them locusts, was president.

This terrifies me. I don't want to be anywhere. near these cicadas when they come out from the ground after, I don't know, hibernation? What are they doing? Forming all these years? They're plotting and scheming. They're going to take over this time. My dog loves to kill cicadas. He likes to eat them except not the wings. Hal is going to single-handedly save us from this. He would. From cicada get in. He would. I think the story doesn't make it super clear, but I think what's happening here is that there are some cicadas that emerge from the ground every 13 years and some come out every 17 years. And this year, both the 13 year group and the 17 year group

are coming out at the same time. So it's going to be a lot of cicadas on top of the normal regular every year, cicadas. This is insane. And again, I want nothing to do with these bugs. But it always amazes me when I think about like certain animals that, you know, like certain animals or certain flowers that like only come every like 15 or 20 years. It's just amazing to think like how do they know? Like how does it always work that way? It just fills me with wonder as someone who doesn't even really like science that much. I think speaking of the solar eclipse, there's a quote in here from a Georgia Tech biophysicist. And he said if you're fascinated by the upcoming solar eclipse,

the cicadas are weirder and bigger. So I would argue that the sun is actually bigger. But I just always have very fond memories of the summer hearing the cicadas chirps so loud that you can't hear yourself think. It is nostalgic. Yeah, I would agree. I'm excited for that. Thanks for tuning in this week to Sidebar on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM.

I'm Lauren Scott. I'm Maddie Welsh. And I'm Emily Money Hun. You can find more episodes of Sidebar online at Sidebar.transistor.fm. Once again, you've been listening to Sidebar on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM.