The frigid weather has sent wildlife searching for warmth, and has led me to never want to A) use an outhouse in Alaska, and B) never swim in Oklahoma ever again.
Our first entry in When Animals Try to Survive a Polar Vortex comes from Alaska, where Shannon Stevens was camping last weekend and stayed in a yurt. It’s a big cabin-esque tent, for the record. Learn more here. The only bathroom option was an outhouse and, when nature called, she went out, sat down, and promptly got either bit or scratched.
BY A BEAR.
A BEAR LIVING UNDER THE OUTHOUSE.
Needless to say, she was freaked out. Hear her story in her own words here.
Thankfully, she wasn’t seriously injured, as she only needed the wound cleaned and bandaged. The bear retreated from the outhouse, which is probably for the best. I hear that neighborhood really went in the toilet.
Next up, Dave Arbour with the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation shared photos he had taken recently of alligators stuck in frozen waters in Oklahoma due to the winter storm over the last week.
STOP.
REWIND.
ALLIGATORS?!?!?! IN OKLAHOMA?!?!?!?
SINCE WHEN?!?!?!?
Apparently since 2005. The more you know…
Anyway, Arbour’s phtoto showed the gators with their snouts poking up out of the ice, in what he called ‘icing.’ That way, they can stay in the water, yet still breathe when it’s frozen. There’s more details in the link above with the photos.
I’m never swimming in Oklahoma ever again. Not even a swimming pool.
