Okay, we know New Yorkers like exotic animals (Antoine Yates, anyone?), but are we really at the point where we've got kangaroos living in apartments? Because videos of a man with a kangaroo at a Third Avenue pet store—seems like the Upper East Side Unleashed by Petco—appeared on YouTube and it's pretty crazy. A man who was at the store with his dog filmed it and sounds pretty amazed by the sight of the adorable marsupial (his dog, though, is more interested in a fellow canine). more ›

The Health Department announced that a 41-year-old Brooklyn woman had tested positive for the West Nile virus. This is the first reported case of West Nile in the city this year. The woman was hospitalized on August 25th, after suffering symptoms like fever, headache, fatigue, weakness and muscle pain. more ›

If you live in Washington Heights, you'll want to stay indoors tonight. The Health Department will be spraying pesticide as a preventive bid against the West Nile virus. The Post reports that the spraying (of Anvil 10+10) will be at Trinity Cemetery between 8PM and 6AM. more ›

Better make sure you've got your insect repellent ready: The Department of Health has found mosquitoes with West Nile virus in Flushing. more ›

Thank you, Michael Wolff, for giving us a blast from the past. Wolff has an article about Rudy Giuliani's craziness, Crazy for Rudy. Wolff recalls arguing with the late Jack Newfield about the former mayor: When Newfield says, "He's just insane!" Wolff thinks Giuliani's "hysteric nature was part of what enabled him to appear so reassuring on 9/11: When everyone is crazy, he, being actually crazy, is calm. When everyone is stunned, he's expressive." more ›

Well, given how nuts the debate over whether dogs should be allowed off their leashes in parks, it's no surprise that the last public hearing about the matter would be fraught with accusations of wrongdoing. more ›

Brian at New York Daily Photo took this picture of an albino Burmese python in Central Park. Apparently its owner was showing him (?) off, perhaps trying to harness some of the snake fever that's gripping the nation...okay, the Internet. But a Burmese python? We saw one at the American Museum of Natural History's Lizards & Snakes: Alive! exhibit, and they are insanely deadly! They are supposedly very popular to be bred for captivity, but not to be total narc, but we think the Health Code prohibits Burmese pythons.
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noisy pitbulls known for chomping on body parts. Occasionally they let 'em run around the hallways and up and down the stairs unleashed. more ›

After the display of a Santa Claus holding a decapitated doll's head in front of his East 18th Street townhouse, it's not surprising to think of Joel Krupnik as a wacky and/or eccentric neighbor. However, chasing a 13 year-old girl and attacking her with dog poo that her Chihuahua left in front of his house is pretty much going into new territory in terms of bad neighbors. The Post reports that the 13 year-old's 4 pound dog pooped on the sidewalk - and did not scoop. That's a fine-able offense! Unfortunately Krupnik didn't make a citizen's arrest - he just chased her to her apartment building and smeared dog poop in her hair and on her CATHOLIC SCHOOL UNIFORM. The girl's mother claimed the daughter didn't see the dog poop near a tree and said, "She's just a baby. She's scared and afraid. He's the creepiest person in the neighborhood. He's not friendly at all. He's scary looking." Then why walk the dog in front of his house? We would imagine Krupnik is peering out of his windows, waiting for someone to pull stunts like that. Krupnik was arrested for "criminal mischief and menacing" and was "expected to spend the night in custody." more ›

Who knew it was illegal to have an iguana in New York? Not Gothamist. But that's what we learned while reading about a four foot iguana found stranded in Brooklyn. Animal Care & Control had to remove an iguana from a tree in Midwood - it ran up there when the police arrived (maybe it was afraid of getting a summons). The Post says the iguana was first seen on the street last week, with some residents thinking it might be an alligator. AC&C think it was someone's pet and will try to locate its owner. And, since both the Daily News and Post referenced it in their headlines, it's a good time to catch up on your Tennessee Williams and read The Night of the Iguana. more ›

Gothamist Health wants to wish everybody a happy World Tuberculosis Day 2005! And when you go out tonight to celebrate, you can eat, drink, and be merry knowing that tuberculosis rates have reached an historic low with only 1,039 cases reported in New York City in 2004. This is a 73% decline since the peak of TB in NYC in 1992. Although the decline is something for our friends at the NYCDOH to be proud of, NYC still has about double the national rate of TB. NYC is the very definition of an immigration melting pot and, unfortunately, TB disproportionately affects immigrants. Sixty-eight percent of all cases of TB were found in foreign-born New Yorkers and most were from either China, Ecuador, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Mexico, or India. TB is passed from person-to-person via micro-droplets exhaled from people infected with TB and usually requires prolonged exposure in enclosed spaces. more ›

The Smoking Gun got a hold of the Department of Health's inspection of Rocco's, which ultimately had six violations. The Post and Daily News detail the violations as well, with the DN mocking how the "pretty-boy chef from Queens" had a "greasy spoon violation" to add to his new restaurant woes. more ›