oddly enough

oddly enough

Fake coyotes used to scare geese at Michigan beach

HOWELL, Mich.

A Michigan community that’s fed up with geese fouling up a beach is hoping fake coyotes encourage the birds to land elsewhere.

The Livingston County Daily Press & Argus of Howell and WHMI-FM report that the beach on Thompson Lake at Howell City Park is expected to be closed for the rest of the summer swimming season because of elevated E. coli levels. The beach was shut down this month, and goose poop is blamed.

Debbie Mikula is director of the Howell Area Parks and Recreation Authority. She says the fake coyotes have shown some success in keeping the birds away. They’re being moved at night to trick the geese into thinking they’re real.

The hope is that the beach about 45 miles northwest of Detroit will reopen next year.

Cat videos get their moment at Minnesota film festival

MINNEAPOLIS

It might be art or it might just be cute, but a Minneapolis museum gave serious attention to the online phenomenon of funny cat videos with a film festival in their honor.

The Walker Art Center’s “Internet Cat Video Film Festival” was Thursday night. The museum programmer who hatched the idea says it’s part social experiment to see if a popular online activity will translate into a shared community experience.

But program associate Katie Hill says it’s also because cat videos are funny and cute.

And hugely popular. Some classics of the form rack up YouTube views in the tens of millions. Some of those videos were shown Thursday, with a total of about 70 clips scheduled for the festival.

Associated Press