How far they have fallen
From the
Wall Street Journal:
Green Movement's New Mascot: the Slimy Snot Otter
For decades, wildlife conservation groups and environmental advocates have embraced certain animals as "save-the-planet" symbols: whales, pandas and polar bears, for example.
So it made sense when the organizers of a North Carolina festival suggested that the state zoo here adopt a mascot to promote clean rivers.
Except that the creature in question is the snot otter.
Formally known as hellbenders, which is not much better from a public-relations standpoint, snot otters are giant, slimy salamanders that lurk under big rocks at the bottoms of pristine streams in the Ozark and Appalachian mountains. The nocturnal, mud-colored, prehistoric amphibians look a bit like eels with stubby legs and can grow to be two feet long.
Geeezzz -- to be demoted from the once proud and mighty Hellbender to Snot Otter?
These poor critters are now the laughingstock of the animal kingdom...
Posted by DaveH at March 13, 2011 4:42 PM