|
Mark Bonokoski - June 20 2009 |
|
|
|
|
Air Date:
|
|
June 20, 2009 |
|
|
|
|
Transcript:
|
|
If you are planning to go into the woods today, in the Bruce Peninsula or around southern Georgian Bay, then perhaps you should re-consider wearing your shorts and your sneakers.
Forget the black flies and the mosquitoes.
They're nothing when you compare their bite to the bite of the Massassauga rattler, the only poisonous snake in Ontario.
Yes, there are rattlesnakes aplenty up in those neck of the woods, but not anti-venom.
In other words, get bitten and, as the old joke goes, you're going to die.
Yes, you know the joke I'm talking about, and don't tell me you don't.
The recession has hit everything and, as the hospital in Parry Sound recently warned, it has only enough anti-venom to treat two severe rattlesnake victims — not the 10 cases it usually has to deal with during a normal summer season.
The reason? Well, depending on how deep the Massassauga rattler has sunk its fangs and its poison, individual treatments run anywhere from $20,000 to $80,000, and our provincial government has refused to renew its funding for the anti-venom drug.
So, if you voted for McGuinty, and you're the third to get bitten near Parry Sound, you're McToast.
The good news is that the Massassauga rattler is considered rather docile.
But there are 10,000 of them out there.
Shorts and sneakers? I don't think so.
|
|
|
|
|
Links:
|
|
Toronto Sun
Moose Country |
|
|
|
|
Download:
|
|
odjradio.com_mark_bonokoski_09_06_20.mp3 (Right click and select "Save As" to download.) |
|
|
|
|
Play:
|
|
Get the Flash Player to see this player.
|
No one has commented on this article. |
