St. Paul, Minn. – A 26-year-old Denver businessman was in custody Sunday for allegedly ripping the head off a live, tame duck that resided in a hotel lobby’s ornamental pond.
According to a police report, Scott D. Clark, a guest at the Embassy Suites Hotel in St. Paul, cornered the duck early Saturday, grabbed the bird and “ripped its head from its body” while a hotel security guard and others watched. Clark then turned to onlookers and said: “I’m hungry. I’m gonna eat it,” St. Paul police Sgt. John Wuorinen said, citing the police report.
“He was allegedly drunk,” Wuorinen said.
Clark was detained by hotel security guards until police came to arrest him. He remained in jail Sunday on suspicion of felony animal cruelty and was scheduled to appear in court today to be charged.
A phone message left for Clark at the jail was not immediately returned Sunday. He could face up to two years in jail and a $5,000 fine, said Tim Shields, general counsel with the Minnesota Federated Humane Societies.
ROCKY FLATS
Head-on collision seriously injures two
A collision on Colorado 93 near Rocky Flats critically injured an Oklahoma man Saturday, the Colorado State Patrol reported.
The accident happened shortly after 3:30 p.m. when a southbound Chevrolet sedan driven by Alexander Martinez-Quintana, 20, whose hometown could not be determined, crossed into the northbound lane.
The State Patrol said that charges are pending against Martinez-Quintana and that drugs were considered a contributing factor in the wreck.
The car driven by Martinez-Quintana struck the northbound vehicle, also a Chevrolet sedan, head-on, causing the northbound car to roll over.
Gary Beller, 34, of Oklahoma, who was driving the northbound car, was taken to an area hospital and listed in critical condition.
Rhonda Green, 43, of Colorado, but whose address could not be determined, was a passenger in the northbound vehicle. Green suffered serious injuries, which were not considered life-threatening, the patrol said.
Martinez-Quintana suffered moderate injuries.
CRIPPLE CREEK
Donkeys’ rich diets cut off for own good
Eleven donkeys that freely roam the gambling town and surrounding fields were rounded up in late August after a regular checkup raised concerns of a foot disease called founder, or laminitis, said Greg Brazill, one of about a dozen volunteers who watch out for the animals.
The disease can cut blood flow in the hoof and, in some cases, can kill an animal. Overweight animals or ones with rich diets are predisposed to the disease.
“The tourists give them whatever they have in their cars – potato chips and ham sandwiches,” Brazill said. “They’ll eat anything.”
The donkeys have been confined to the town’s fat farm to eat a healthy diet of hay.
Brazill said the donkeys will be released once frost kills the rich vegetation.
The herd is descended from donkeys brought into the area in the late 1940s.
RIO RANCHO, N.M.
Santa Fe displaced as third-biggest city
Rio Rancho has replaced Santa Fe as New Mexico’s third-largest city, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Rio Rancho’s population increased from 63,116 in 2005 to 72,646 in 2006.
The two largest cities in New Mexico are Albuquerque and Las Cruces.
IDAHO FALLS, Idaho
Elk killings may lure bears, neighbors fear
Neighbors of a fenced-in trophy elk hunting ranch in eastern Idaho, including a church camp, say they are concerned about grizzly bears being drawn to the area by piles of dead elk.
“There has definitely been an increase in bear activity since they put in the shooter pen,” said Perry Rotenberger, who for a decade has run Old Faithful Christian Ranch, which borders the hunting fence. “Never in the history of the camp have I walked around with (bear) pepper spray. Last week, I kept it on my belt.”
