Number 4. RedState. Monkeys with Herpes and COVID loose in Mississippi after truck crash.
It’s like something from a Dean Koontz horror story. Or maybe Michael Crichton.
In Jasper County, Mississippi, last week, a semi-truck carrying Rhesus monkeys overturned on Interstate 59 near Heidelberg. That was unfortunate enough, but it was immediately announced that the monkeys were infected with a variety of diseases, including hepatitus C, herpes and COVID.
If one were looking for a witch’s brew of an Armageddon-like plague, one might find it in aggressive 40-lb Rhesus monkeys on the loose with end-of-civilization diseases. One web commenter posted: “Welp. It’s been a nice ride, gang.”
Most of the critters remained caged, except for the 6 that escaped into the tall, roadside grass.
The article suggests that the primates were headed from Tulane University to a client, and Tulane dispatched a team to collect them… at least, the ones still caged. A companion article noted that Tulane was quick to point out that when the accident occurred, the monkeys were not being transported by Tulane and were not the property of Tulane.
Tulane is merely here to help, an eager bystander. The university helpfully advised that the loose monkeys were dangerous to humans and that personal protective equipment should be worn in their presence.
No kidding. There was no elaboration as to whether the PPE ought to include a Remington 870 shotgun.
The immediate statistics were published:
21 monkeys were on the truck
15 remained caged
6 escaped
Of the 6, five were eventually captured. According to one report, when those apprehended were reunited with their peers, the 20 then in custody were all euthanized. Reports, however, vary; some may have continued their interrupted trip to The Client.
That left only one roaming free. In the grass, or climbing trees. Free at last, and probably terrified. And carrying hepatitus, herpes and COVID.
Several days later, this happy CNN headline — happy for Mississippians, not necessarily for monkeys — came out of Heidelberg: “Mississippi woman kills escaped research monkey.”
A 35-year-old woman with 4 children was awakened by her son who told her of a monkey running through the back yard of their home. The woman called police, then approached the Rhesus and dispatched it with gunfire.
There was no word on whether she tried to reason with the monkey before opening up on him.
Number 3. BBC. Japan is overcome by bear attacks on civilian population.
I find it interesting how the gun is always the problem until it is suddenly recognized as the solution.
Bears are on the move in Japan, both black bear and grizzly. The mountainous region in the north of the big island is home to the black bear, while the browns (grizzlies) are confined to Hokkaido, the island yet further north. Both ursidae are entering areas of human activity.
Two culprits are noted in the article. Japan’s declining (and aging) population has led to more sparsely populated areas, inviting newcomers. Also, the recent scarcity of beech nuts, apparently a favorite of the diet, has driven the critters farther from their stomping grounds in search of food.
The decline in beech nuts is of course due to climate change. I feel better now. We can’t really have a news article about challenges to animal survival without at least a passing nod to climate change.
To fix the problem, the Japanese government is going to hire hunters to cull the herd. Hunting has fallen out of favor in Japan, but the rising threat of bears mauling and killing civilians — 12 fatalities so far this year, a new record, with another 100 injuries — calls for desperate measures.
Along with the hired exterminators, Japan has also relaxed their internal regulations on firearms, allowing both law enforcement officers and private citizens to shoot bears on sight.
It would appear the Japanese have concluded that the best way to stop a bear with a bad attitude is a good guy with a gun.
I’m waiting for the remake of Quigley Down Under: Quigley in the Far East.
Number 2. Breitbart. Los Angeles seized by violence after another Dodgers World Series win.
For the second year in a row the Los Angeles Dodgers are World Series champions, defeating the Toronto Blue Jays after a surprisingly close seven-game series.
Also for the second year in a row Los Angelinos celebrated by rioting and burning.
Is there any event, either happy or sad, in Los Angeles that musters any other response? I mean, do they ever just have garden parties or pleasant parades with school bands and fully clothed marchers?
Self-driven Waymo cars seem to be the primary attraction for jubilant arsonists. Several of the $200,000 vehicles were set afire, while others were merely vandalized. So far, there has been no report of police injuries, but tear gas was used liberally to dispel crowds.
I guess I am pleased that crowds in LA are at least aware that there was a World Series baseball game, and that their home team won, and that the people are happy. But they do seem to have an odd way of celebrating. Rioting crowds, tear gas and vehicles on fire are what they did last summer in the ICE protests.
How is one to tell the difference between happy car burning and angry car burning?
Number 1. The Daily Mail. Here is why Chinese electric vehicles are clogging up the car parks.
Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD (“Build Your Dreams” — I am not making this up; that’s what the company is called) has exported some 50,000 EVs to Australia this year.
BYD has actually sold less than 40,000 of them; the remainder are sitting in Aussie car parks.
The government of Anthony Albanese, Prime Minister of Australia, is quite sensitive to the impact of carbon emissions on the global climate. To curtail such emissions, most of which are generated by internal combustion engines in automobiles, Minister Albanese has sponsored an incentive plan to push car makers to build EVs.
You might think the incentive would be in the form of a benefit to the manufacturer when the car is sold, but if you think that, you may be out of touch with how things are actually done.
Maybe it is really hard to count how many EV cars are sold in Australia, because that would involve reporting from dealerships, and cause some potential confusion in understanding which manufacturer’s cars were being sold. But one thing that can easily be counted is how many cars are imported into Australia.
For that reason (apparently), the Albanese government rewards BYD in carbon tax credits based on the number of cars they send to Australia.
Whether the cars get sold or not is really a secondary concern. The carbon tax credit is apparently lucrative enough to continue BYD exports.
Because Australia imports virtually all the cars they have, and because China is close at hand, and has cheap prices and no meddlesome Trump tariffs, Australia is a prime market for BYD products. The land Down Under is flooded with BYD cars, sitting alone in open-air lots. They are visible from space.
And thanks for joining The Alligator News Roundup for Friday, November 7, 2025. Watch out for loose Rhesus monkeys on your evening walks.
And by the way, for reasonably family-friendly sci-fi horror stories, I like Prey and Eaters of the Dead, both by Michael Crichton. Also Seize the Night and Fear Nothing by Dean Koontz. (Disclaimer: Despite my “fam-friendly” endorsement, you might want to browse them yourself before offering them to your innocent 12-year-old. They are not exactly Tolkien or Lewis.)
Have a good weekend!
