Let me just tell y'all a very funny story about my first week here at the Caller!
So I'm in the middle of my to-do list in the newsroom, and one of the editor's comes over to me and says, "The Zorse is out. We need you to go cover."
My response, naturally, was "What in the heck is a Zorse?!"
Well, apparently it's a zebra/horse. Yeah. Weird. So I said okay, and headed out to check on the Zorse escape they [supposedly] heard over the police scanner.
So I'm driving through this neighborhood with HUGE houses, thinking the whole time, "Surely I'm in the wrong place! This is like, a regular neighborhood. Where would somebody keep a zorse?"
Well I finally get to a gravel road. I drive down it in my little Scion TC, and end up in front of a gate. The gate has barbed wire in some places, apparently to keep large animals out, but I don't notice this until later.
It's locked, so I call the newsroom and one of the reporters tells me to climb over, or through, the gate to get to the house (aka mansion) up the driveway past the gate.
At this point I'm like, okay, well, I'm the intern and hence need to "prove myself." It's either get this story or leave, right?
So I chose to check things out. I wiggled my way through a BARELY big enough space in the fence. Yes, at this point I'm officially trespassing. haha
Well the sight I see when I get through this fence gives me a serious shock. Standing not 20 or so feet in front of me are zebras. Like, real-life, true-blue, zebras! And you got it... a zorse! A 6 ft. tall zorse no less!
To my left is this HUGE, well, watering hole I suppose you'd call it in this situation. With these beautiful palm trees everywhere, wide open spaces on all sides, and a gorgeous mansion up the road. Except, standing in front of me are 5 zebras and a zorse... all very wild animals. I am now faced with two choices: Turn around and crawl back through the fence, or get the video I was asked to get and the interview I need by somehow meandering up to and past the wildlife standing in between me and my destination.
I chose option 2.
Zoe the Zorse. Yes, it's legit.
So here I go, slowly and cautiously, walking up the driveway. As I got closer the zebras ran off a little ways, but the zorse didn't move until I was pretty close.
Well as I carefully tread up the driveway I heard hooves behind me... close behind me!
I turn around to see...
a donkey. hahaha He's just meandering along, following me up the road like, "Hey, let's be pals!" Yeah. Awkward!
I finally make it to the house. I knock and ring the doorbell a couple of times and no one's home. Bummer, all that for nothing. As I turn around to walk back I glance over at some bushes and I see this horn. That's right, a huge horn sticking out of the bushes.
I thought to myself, "Of course. Why wouldn't there be a disturbingly long horn sticking out of the bushes? I mean seriously, zebras, zorses, donkeys... why not?"
As I cautiously move to a position where I could better get a view of what the horn belonged to, I realized it was a longhorn. A full-size long horn. He was just munching away on the grass, minding his own business.
That was the point when I thought it best to get out of there.
I got a little more video footage, and walked as fast as I could without causing any wildlife disturbance back down the driveway.
The whole time the scene in The Lion King where the wildabeasts stampeded through the gorge is going through my mind. Ha!
Well I made it back through the hole in the fence in one piece. I wasn't stampeded, and was able to witness a really cool, totally random, and very rare sight!
The story ended up not being a story, as the zorse was safe inside the gate and none of the neighbors had seen him out.
Crazy Corpus Christi folk and their wild animals...
hahaha
To check out more on Zoe the zorse, go to:
http://www.caller.com/news/2008/sep/03/rezorseful-escape-artist/
So I'm in the middle of my to-do list in the newsroom, and one of the editor's comes over to me and says, "The Zorse is out. We need you to go cover."
My response, naturally, was "What in the heck is a Zorse?!"
Well, apparently it's a zebra/horse. Yeah. Weird. So I said okay, and headed out to check on the Zorse escape they [supposedly] heard over the police scanner.
So I'm driving through this neighborhood with HUGE houses, thinking the whole time, "Surely I'm in the wrong place! This is like, a regular neighborhood. Where would somebody keep a zorse?"
Well I finally get to a gravel road. I drive down it in my little Scion TC, and end up in front of a gate. The gate has barbed wire in some places, apparently to keep large animals out, but I don't notice this until later.
It's locked, so I call the newsroom and one of the reporters tells me to climb over, or through, the gate to get to the house (aka mansion) up the driveway past the gate.
At this point I'm like, okay, well, I'm the intern and hence need to "prove myself." It's either get this story or leave, right?
So I chose to check things out. I wiggled my way through a BARELY big enough space in the fence. Yes, at this point I'm officially trespassing. haha
Well the sight I see when I get through this fence gives me a serious shock. Standing not 20 or so feet in front of me are zebras. Like, real-life, true-blue, zebras! And you got it... a zorse! A 6 ft. tall zorse no less!
To my left is this HUGE, well, watering hole I suppose you'd call it in this situation. With these beautiful palm trees everywhere, wide open spaces on all sides, and a gorgeous mansion up the road. Except, standing in front of me are 5 zebras and a zorse... all very wild animals. I am now faced with two choices: Turn around and crawl back through the fence, or get the video I was asked to get and the interview I need by somehow meandering up to and past the wildlife standing in between me and my destination.
I chose option 2.
Zoe the Zorse. Yes, it's legit.
So here I go, slowly and cautiously, walking up the driveway. As I got closer the zebras ran off a little ways, but the zorse didn't move until I was pretty close.
Well as I carefully tread up the driveway I heard hooves behind me... close behind me!
I turn around to see...
a donkey. hahaha He's just meandering along, following me up the road like, "Hey, let's be pals!" Yeah. Awkward!
I finally make it to the house. I knock and ring the doorbell a couple of times and no one's home. Bummer, all that for nothing. As I turn around to walk back I glance over at some bushes and I see this horn. That's right, a huge horn sticking out of the bushes.
I thought to myself, "Of course. Why wouldn't there be a disturbingly long horn sticking out of the bushes? I mean seriously, zebras, zorses, donkeys... why not?"
As I cautiously move to a position where I could better get a view of what the horn belonged to, I realized it was a longhorn. A full-size long horn. He was just munching away on the grass, minding his own business.
That was the point when I thought it best to get out of there.
I got a little more video footage, and walked as fast as I could without causing any wildlife disturbance back down the driveway.
The whole time the scene in The Lion King where the wildabeasts stampeded through the gorge is going through my mind. Ha!
Well I made it back through the hole in the fence in one piece. I wasn't stampeded, and was able to witness a really cool, totally random, and very rare sight!
The story ended up not being a story, as the zorse was safe inside the gate and none of the neighbors had seen him out.
Crazy Corpus Christi folk and their wild animals...
hahaha
To check out more on Zoe the zorse, go to:
http://www.caller.com/news/2008/sep/03/rezorseful-escape-artist/
What a cool assignment! Nope, you're not in Kansas anymore...or at The Ranger!
I'm glad to hear that you don't let something like a gate and a herd of wild animals stand between you and a good story. Is it legal to have all these exotic animals in a "normal" neighborhood? Is it within the city limits?