Sporran news

[McClef]

I gather that they spray international planes after landing too.

[shane the piper]

ive had a cousin that was pulled over by a cop. sop asked " sir have you been drinking tonight" and he responded with "I had a case of beer and a bottle of the hard stuff" and when the officer asked him to step out of the turck his response was "what you dont belive me!?"

[cavscout]

Reminds me of a buddy in the Corps who was pulled over for DUI as he was heading to the ATM before going to McD's on base. After they graciously said he could go back to the barracks and sleep it off (knowing he was over the limit), he says "Since I'm here, do you mind if I hit the ATM first?" He was so laid back about everything if he didn't move every now and then you'd think he was dead.

Wow, my friends are something else,

I remember another time when a Buddy lost the CO's Hummer in the ocean. I think he's still having his wages garnished for that one

[AL-58]

Both Australia and New Zealand are ultra-cautious about insects and diseases getting in and affecting their agricultural interests. Every time I have gone home to NZ and brought fly fishing gear my boots and waders are taken away and sprayed.

Brian

Yep, our isolation from the rest of the world has protected us from many outbreaks and its nice that way. A friend returning from the UK a few years ago, the quarantine guys asked where he'd gone to visit, once he said he'd been in farm country they took all his shoes and steam cleaned them (cleaner than they'd been for years). Better than bringing Mad Cow disease here though.

I've driven to areas where they get you to stop and hose off your vehicles tyres on a metal grid to stop the spread of dieback though infected soil as well.

We checked the quarantine site before I made the Kangaroo fur semidress sporran I'm taking to Edinburgh, I wanted to know I'd be able to get it back through, but it's not on the endangered list.

Al

[Raphael]

I just hope he wasn't wearing it and hoping to have children in the future!

There is never an end to bureaucratic idiocy.

This is no laughing matter. Australia doesn't have a single case of foot and mouth disease and they try to keep it that. I don't think that was the first time the custom officer had inspected Sporran from Scotland. It is better safe than sorry. If not careful, the cattle industry is going to take a hit.

[brandycr]

A local bar use to have tricycle races(nothing worse than drunk men trying to ride tricycles real fun to watch though)anyway one idiot took tricycle out in parking lot riding around acting stupid and was ticketed for operating vehicle while under influence thought that was funny.

[Wompet]

gents, check your sporrans for foot and mouth.
A sporran which was part of Gareth Moore's wedding outfit was impounded by customs officials in Melbourne. It was handled with rubber gloves and bombarded with gamma rays in case its horse and goat hairs were contaminated with foot and mouth.
Source:
http://www.huddersfield1.co.uk/weird...eirdtales2.htm

Wierd news!

As someone who works in Agriculture Quarantine Inspections, I get enough of this at work from the Customs Officers.
Some quick facts:

• The 2001 FMD outbreak in the UK cost over 11 billion dollars
• The most likely scenario for a FMD outbreak in the U.S. would generate losses of $30 billion.
• The December 2003 discovery of a BSE-infected cow caused the U.S. the immediate loss of 4.6 billion dollars in beef and ruminant product export.
• The 2003 outbreak of Exotic Newcastle Disease in California, Arizona, Nevada, and Texas cost $188 million to erradicate - and that was with rapid response.

Animal disease is not a laughing matter.
Don't even get me started on plant health.

Thank you to AL-58 and Raphael for treating this with the seriousness that it deserves.

[Skweres]

BwaaaHaaHaa, that's great! Almost as good as me getting pulled over by a Sheriff on my bicycle.

LMAO!!! what? hahah

[Matthew J. Greene]

I work in air cargo. We send a chartered 747 to Australia every Saturday. There was a beetle (Japanese or some such type) problem a few years ago. There were inspectors checking for them while we loaded the aircraft. If one was found the pallet had to be taken out and sprayed before continuing the load.

Needless to say it was taken very seriously. A prime exampleof why it is taken so seriously is the problem that Ohio is having with the "Emerald Ash Borer".

[cacunn]

BwaaaHaaHaa, that's great! Almost as good as me getting pulled over by a Sheriff on my bicycle.

Why was the Sheriff on your bicycle? It is bad when you have to supply the Sheriff with the means to chase you down and arrest you.