Do you recall last year when I reported on the Rushford-Peterson (MN) high school basketball team that was returning from a tournament and forced the bus driver to pull over so they could retrieve a dead trophy-sized deer laying along side the road? CLICK HERE.
Well, now news comes from North Dakota where the Carrington High School wrestling team had a similar animal encounter…but this time the results were a bit different and more controversial. Check this out:
A raccoon ended Carrington’s bid for a fourth consecutive championship in the North Dakota Region 2 dual high school wrestling tournament…
…“We (school administrators) found out as the tournament was going on that while our students were on the way to the event, they were exposed to a raccoon,’’ Carrington school superintendent Brian Duchscherer said…
“Once we found that out, we didn’t know if there was the potential of spreading anything, if the raccoon had rabies or not, so we decided to bring our kids home…’’
…Grafton police Sgt. Anthony Dumas said the raccoon was found somewhere on the Carrington team’s trip to the tournament, and it was stowed in the storage area of the bus.
“They thought it was dead, so they picked it up,” he said. Duchscherer said the Carrington coaches were aware of the raccoon.
In Grafton, Dumas said, the storage area was opened, and it became clear the raccoon was still alive. Dumas said no one was scratched or bit by the animal. “It just trotted away,” he said…
Needless to say the students, parents and fans are a bit upset by what some are describing to be an over reaction by school and health officials because there was no evidence any student was either scratched or bit. Still, this encounter in a politically correct world caused this team to lose a shot at defending their championship status.
Lesson learned from these two incidents: ONLY pick up dead critters on your school bus when you are RETURNING HOME from the big athletic event.
©2011 Jim Braaten. All Rights Reserved. No Reproduction without Prior Permission.
Filed under: Nature (General), Outdoor Potpourri
This is just a little trailer of a movie out this week called Win Win about highschool wrestling! http://bit.ly/fwCSDq