to move up and down
The mysterious case of Calgary’s frolicking arrow-shot bunnies
The calls come every year, around the time that the snow melts and Calgary’s plentiful jackrabbit population begins to lose its white winter coat.
Residents around the suburban edges of the city peek outside to see a rabbit nibbling on new grass — a common enough sight. But then, something doesn’t seem quite right: The rabbit is hopping along, healthy as anything, but what’s weird is the arrow — complete with neon tail feathers — piercing the creature clean through.
A spokesperson for the Calgary Humane Society said the organization gets about 10 calls like this per year. Police, fish and wildlife or humane officers are dispatched, but more often than not, the bunny is gone before they get to the scene. So far this spring, two targeted rabbits have been caught alive. One survived surgery. The other died.
“I think what it comes down to is that people are just tired of the bunnies. That’s probably what we’re finding, that in certain areas they certainly are a nuisance.
“But to take care of it in this type of a manner is definitely not right,” said Steve Adair, a detective with the Calgary Police Service.(Jonathon Kettler for Postmedia News)
Homeless no more: Strangers reward Good Samaritan who found and returned $10,000
The world is full of stories of misery, but there are precious moments when human goodness shines through: The New York cop who bought shoes for a homeless guy without them; the Toronto man who conjured up $800,000 for a bullied bus monitor in Rochester, N.Y., through an Internet plea.
And then there is the woman from Calgary, a woman who went above and beyond the call of duty, her story made all the more remarkable because she was herself homeless.
She was down on her luck and living in a YWCA homeless shelter and feeling desperate; 62-years-old. She needed a break and found a purse on the street stuffed with $10,000; a woman whose first thought upon finding the loot wasn’t — ‘Yippee! I just won the lottery’ — but: “How can I return this to the person it belongs to because they must be frantic to find it?” (Keith Morison for National Post)
U.S. tourist who lamented lack of gun during Calgary encounter sparks online ridicule
Calgary Stampede: A defiant last stand of the politically incorrect
Once a more modest agricultural show, the festival is now best known for artery-killing, deep-fried sweet and salt, daisy dukes, sex, over-drinking, a post-party spike in divorce rates, exploitation of animals for amusement and profit, absence of safety gear, and a gratuitous over-use of stereotypical cowboy-and-Indian imagery — including an eponymous Indian village that the Indians won’t rename.
Stampede is the last stand, a glorious festival in defiance of an otherwise inoffensive country drunk on political correctness.
The only question lingering is how long it can last. (Photos: Calgary Herald; Canadian Press; Getty Images)
12th death linked to tainted ecstasy in B.C. and Alberta
Tests have linked another Calgary-area death to ecstasy made with a toxic additive, the 12th such death in Western Canada since late last year.
It’s believed the latest test results indicate the death of a 23-year-old student Cody Gorlick at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology residence on Jan. 21 is the latest involving ecstasy made with paramethoxymethamphetamine.
Seven people in Calgary and at least five others in British Columbia have died with the toxic chemical in their system. Officials believe ecstasy pills are being laced with paramethoxymethamphetamine (PMMA), a substance five times more toxic than ordinary ecstasy, or MDMA.
“The risk is outrageous — it’s so high for death and injury,” said EMS spokesman Stuart Brideaux. “It doesn’t matter if you’re a regular user of recreational drugs or a first-time user, what has been occurring is that one dose can be fatal. It’s a total roll of the dice.”
Lufthansa flight makes dramatic landing in 149km/h Calgary windstorm
Passengers and crew on this Lufthansa flight found out the hard way just how strong Calgary’s windstorm was on Sunday afternoon.
The Airbus A340-300 was buffeted by 149km/h gusts while attempting to land at Calgary International Airport.
The wild weekend weather in Calgary broke windows, downed power lines and ripped roofs from houses.
A video of the Lufthansa landing shows how pilots fought to keep control as the plane lurched dramatically to the left just moments before touching down on the runway.
OPENING NIGHT: We get into specifics in Day 2 of our preview, with a closer look at all the Canadian teams. Yes, it is the final countdown.
Wall Street protests spreading to Toronto, Calgary, Montreal
Organizers of a protest slated to take place on Toronto’s Bay Street later this month say they’re following in the footsteps of American activists who have stormed Wall Street in New York and other U.S. cities in a rally against the global financial system.
Hundreds of people are expected to meet in the heart of Toronto’s financial district, at the intersection of Bay and King streets, on Oct. 15 to prepare for a march two days later as the Toronto Stock Exchange opens that Monday. (Photo: Simon Hayter for National Post)
Will and Kate cowboyed it up in Calgary Thursday after a short period where, gasp, people thought they might not wear cowboy hats. (Stuart Gradon/Postmedia News) More photos here.
Illustration by Richard Johnson. Tara Sawchuk, 43, Captain | Nursing Officer and reservist based in Calgary. | In military since 1993. Deployed to Afghanistan twice Read her story
‘If you’re Canadian, why aren’t you bilingual?’ new immigrants wonder
Walk down the streets of Calgary and you probably won’t hear a lot of conversational French. Not a big surprise to most Canadians, but it sure comes as a shock to new immigrants who land there, a new study finds.
Recent immigrants expect Canadians to speak both English and French mostly because our nation boasts internationally about its two official languages, finds the study from the University of Calgary, to be presented this week at the 2011 Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences in Fredericton, New Brunswick.
Many of the immigrants interviewed by Albert Galiev believed all Canadians should be able to converse in either French or English in a matter of course and many admit to having been confused when told by Calgarians that they only speak English, said the doctoral student at the University of Calgary studying second-language teaching.
Their understanding of Canada’s language landscape boils down to personal bilingualism — that not only are public services and resources delivered in both languages, but that the languages are regularly used by individuals.
Prince William and Kate announce Canadian tour dates
The freshly minted — and newly married — Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will spend Canada Day in the capital before embarking on a cross-Canada tour in early July, according to a tour itinerary released by the Prime Minister’s Office on Monday.
In their first official visit abroad since their April 29th wedding, Prince William and Catherine Middleton will visit Ottawa from June 30 to July 2 before stopping in Montreal on July 2 and Quebec City on July 3 on their way to Charlottetown. Following an overnight stay in Charlottetown, they will travel to Summerside, P.E.I. on July 4 and then head north to Yellowknife from July 4 to 6. They wind up their Canadian tour in Calgary from July 6 to 8.
Calgary based clowns Saucy McCuddle (Fif Fernandes) and her husband Chuddie McFuddle (Hamish Boyd) dressed up to cast their votes in the federal election on May 2, 2011 at the Glendale Community Hall. The pair wanted to make a statement about their disappointment with unfulfilled promises by politicians to end child poverty. (Colleen De Neve/Calgary Herald)
Live Now: Election 2011 pre-game show
Join the National Post team for our live coverage as results come in for the 2011 Federal Election. Until 10:00 p.m. ET we’ll preview the key ridings and candidates you’ll want to watch. Polls close across the country at 10:00 p.m. ET and we’ll have all the breaking results and instant analysis.
Map: The world’s most — and least — livable cities
In an annual survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit, Vancouver scored 98% on a combination of stability, health care, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure to be ranked the world’s most livable city. Above, the survey’s top ten — and bottom ten — mapped.
We love tilt-shift. Look how teeny Calgary looks! (Calgary from the air. Creative Commons photo by Flickr user Oli-Oviyan.)
