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Hawks Vs. Ratdogs
By
Jen Chung
Published Aug 7, 2003
Modified Mar 6, 2008
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By
Jen Chung
Published Aug 7, 2003
Modified Mar 6, 2008
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Bryant Park has put the hawk program on ice after the other day's ratdog-mauling by hawk Galan. The Daily News reports that while the proogram was successful (50% reduction in park-user-harassing-pigeon), Parks spokeswoman Megan Sheekey says, "We place the safety of park users, including pets, over any minor inconveniences that may be caused by pigeons." Gothamist suggests that tiny rat dogs be given those medical collar crowns - huge ones - so hawks won't mistake them for rats. Hawks should stay at Bryant Park if not for their useful pigeon and rat killing ability, but for their inherent coolness.
Now, there are many trends that Gothamist enjoys from Japan (usually involving gadgets or Hello Kitty), but loving tiny dogs isn't going to be one of them. Currently, Japan is going gaga over Que-chan, the chihuahua. Que-chan appeared in a commercial for bank Aiful, and has sold "80,000 [copies of a photo collection], a children's picture book, and over 200 related products." Plus now Que-chan is on the Aiful credit card (in clothes) and has a CD (with "the raw voice of Que-chan") coming out this month. We'll take your panda transformers and your candy & snacks but not this. Oh, no.
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Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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