Saturday, April 16, 2011

Cazadora's Top Tweets: Crap in the gene pool, a dead little stallion and dolphins cuddling a cat

Tweetweek in review:

A dumb ad: How about a nice big raspberry for Dodge for its really stupid ad on YouTube for the 2011 Ram Outdoorsman?

What's wrong with it?

It features a guy who's camping out under the stars. He's trying to sleep, but some crickety thing keeps chirping, keeping him awake. So he gets up, grabs a compound bow from the handy storage compartment in his truck, and shoots the chirping thing.

When he returns to his sleeping bag to enjoy the peace, a frog starts croaking, and the ad leaves us to believe he's going to get up and kill that, too. Get it? Bother a hunter and he will hunt you down and kill you.

This is not the worst image of hunters I've ever seen. I just hate it when people on "our side" project an image of hunters that makes us look like a bunch of 7-year-old boys who can't stop ourselves from shooting everything that moves. It's just not helpful.

Thanks to Peebs for bringing this one to my attention.

Please remove this person from the gene pool: Some moron videoed himself on a snowmobile chasing a moose. The moose runs and runs and runs and finally stops and nearly head-butts the idiot.

Almost all of the comments on the video are pretty caustic - deservedly so.

I don't own a snowmobile or an ATV and I doubt that I ever will, so I don't take personal umbrage at what this idjit has done to besmirch the reputation of snowmobilers.

I just think he's a jerk, and I hope he never procreates.

Thanks to Chas Clifton at the Southern Rockies Nature Blog for bringing this one to my attention.

Wolf-dog hybrids kill miniature stallion: Apparently, there are a bunch of wolf-dog hybrids running around Riverside County, and one of them killed and ate a miniature horse, maybe 30 inches high at the shoulders, right in front of a rancher.

See the problem here? The fearlessness of a domestic animal, the instincts of a wild one? Hide your kids, folks.

Of course, that fearlessness turned out to be a problem for one of the wolf-dogs, because one of the ranch hands promptly shot it. But a second wolf-dog got away after taking a few rounds himself.

According to the Riverside Press-Enterprise story, "Wolf-dog hybrids are dogs that have been bred with wolves or wolf mixes. Detractors describe them as being wild and unpredictable, but supporters say they are good around people."

Thanks to @alquackenbush at the SoCal Bowhunter for Tweeting this one first.

Good news: A win against HSUS! A federal judge rejected a lawsuit by the Humane Society of the United States that attempted to end hunting at more than 50 national wildlife refuges, according to a story in Ammoland.

If you're like me and like more than one source for your news, you'll find there wasn't much written about Wednesday's decision. The only other substantive piece I could find was this story by the Courthouse News Service.

Something to make you go "Awwwwwww!" You know how I love my kitties, so I couldn't resist this sweet little video of a cat engaging tenderly with some dolphins.



It's a really touching video, and I wasn't surprised to see the following comment on the YouTube page: "I believe Heaven is just what I saw, all the creatures getting along."

Apparently this person wasn't aware that dolphins - like humans - can be cute one moment, then hungry for meat the next:



Ah, life in all its glory!

© Holly A. Heyser 2011

11 comments:

The Suburban Bushwacker said...

'I just think he's a jerk, and I hope he never procreates'
or gets to practice
:-P

SBW

Holly Heyser said...

Excellent addition!

Jon Roth said...

OK, I saw the Dodge ad this morning while watching Outdoor Network and thought it was kind of funny. While normally sensitive to the depiction of hunters, etc., I took it for as it was intended - simple humor. As for the others, agreed!

HTTrainer said...

These ads are part of Chrysler's campaign to outdoors self styled hunting people. BLame the marketing department for this one, just say NO! Then again my dogs were in one of their print ads last fall.

Holly Heyser said...

I love good marketing because it's so powerful, which is precisely why I pay close attention to the messages of marketing.

The marketing folks for a lot of hunting stuff can be even worse in terms of being really careless (and teen-age-boyish) with message. There was one in particular I remember about how a game-cam could help a guy out when he'd rather be in the woods scouting, but oh, poor him, he has to go to dinner with his wife on their anniversary. Funny, yes, but utterly disregards that there are a LOT of women out there who hunt deer and use game-cams.

What kind of dogs do you have? Is that ad online?

Simon said...

"...makes us look like a bunch of 7-year-old boys who can't stop ourselves from shooting everything that moves..."

(sighs) let's replace negative stereo-types of hunter's with negative stereo-types of male children. How constructive that is.

I usually really enjoy your blogs Holly.

Holly Heyser said...

Simon, that's a fair hit.

But I must say in my reading on hunting, I've found male writers tend to acknowledge that little boys do like to go around hurling whatever projectiles they can get at animals. (For some writers, it is the basis of the assertion that men are genetically programmed to hunt, not women, because girls generally don't do that.)

Albert Quackenbush said...

Thanks for the mention, Holly. I haven't caught the Dodge ad, but I will. I'll have to check it out... maybe I'll have the opportunity to pick it apart. In a total "I work in a Marketing Dept." of course. :)

I still think the people with the wolf-hybrids are missing a few brain cells.

HTTrainer said...

Sorry for the delay. The ads appeared in Time Magazine, EPSN and some others.
I have goldens. This is all I found online, the version without the ducks.
When I find others I can send more info.
FWIW, there were only 10 dogs used in the ad.
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/6225030/awesome_ram_truck_ad_howd_they_get_50_golden_retrievers_to_sit/.
I think because of the more limited market the retriever version lost out other versions. The ad that appeared in DU magazine was a better ad and featured a GSP instead of retrievers.
P

Holly Heyser said...

LOL, it looked like 50 dogs! Very cool!

Dale said...

Thanks for writingg this