Poke! Eviction turned destruction in UK; exotic animals ran wild, got killed (20th October 2011)

Irish travellers eviction turned into violence in UK [The Australian]

An eviction of traditional nomadic society turned into a riot as hundreds of Irish travellers resist eviction from the British police in Dale Farm, Essex, UK. There has been several evictions in the past but apparently this is one of the most serious ones British police has done so far.

"I've been through a lot of evictions, but I've never seen anything like this ... they have come in and started a riot that we never wanted," said resident Kathleen McCarthy, who accused police of roughing up traveller at the site, injuring three women. [...] (The) council has estimated that the total cost to taxpayers of evicting the traveller from the site - including clean-up and post-eviction security - could rise to $28 million.

News topic like this makes me curious about this kind of nomadic people: their lifestyle is similar to Gypsies and they don't have a fixed residence. In UK, there are around 15,000 to 30,000 Irish travellers in Britain, which is fascinating. This is one kind of a minority group in society where people used to ignore and I can see why. In their minds, they cause trouble and hogging government resources. They don't have education from the system and basically, they're like wild people. I wonder what their cultures mean to us. 

US Exotic animal slaughter: Lax laws to blame [ABC]

In the state of Ohio, US, an owner of bears, lions, tigers, wolves and monkeys has committed suicide after releasing all the animals from the enclosures, and police has to follow the shoot-to-kill orders to keep the public safe from the potentially lethal animals. However, those are not ordinary animals we'd usually see in the wild. They are tremendously exotic and rare, and simply put, this stirred up a debate whether the authorities have done the right thing. Almost 50 animals were killed in this incident and still, a monkey was thought to be on the loose as well.

However in hindsight, the lax laws regarding animal protection have provided a safe haven for people to trade exotic animals in this state. There are no apparent regulations to control what animals are allowed to be purchased without permits. This news has caused a journalistic investigation.

"There's an exotic animal auction that's notorious here in Ohio, where literally thousands of animals come in - kangaroos, grizzly bears, hyenas, wolves, a wild menagerie of different animals,""And people can just go and they put maybe a horse trailer on the back of their car and they purchase them and they buy them."

Indeed, even though a powerful country like the US, local state governments are still doing their crappy job over issues like this. It looks as if no one is taking notes of their lawmaking and regulations at all.

D.