Extreme Victoria: The Running of the Goats

Those of you who think Victoria is a stuffy, staid provincial city should know that life here can be wild and wooly if you know where to go. Here's a glimpse of a perilous adventure I had recently, risking my person and equipment to bring you this rare footage of the dangerous traditional goat stampede in Victoria's notorious Beacon Hill Park. Fasten your seatbelts folks, this is EXTREME VICTORIA!

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The Running of the Goats takes place every day during the summer at the Beacon Hill Park Children's Zoo. Check their website for times and seasonal hours.

Beauty and Beast?

I went to the Beacon Hill Park Children's Zoo yesterday to photograph the Running of the Goats, a daily event patterned after the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona, Spain. I got sidetracked, however, by these two birds, both so strikingly shaped and colored yet calling forth such different human reactions. So far as I know there is no useful purpose to the decorative aspects of these birds beyond attracting mates and I am sure the turkey cock attracts female turkeys as ably as the peacock attracts peahens. Yet for most of us, the turkey is repulsive and the peacock is beautiful. Hmmm. As for the goats, they ran admirably but I misjudged the shutter speed/aperture combination required to capture the savage splendor of their morning stampede, so I'll be going back soon. It's no hardship since the Children's Zoo is one of my favorite places.

Viruses, Trojans, Browser Hijackers, Rogues

I mentioned I had a touch of the flu the other day. I recovered but my computer seems to have caught it: a kind of malware called "go.google" that redirected any search result I clicked on to a spam site. Then I found that my anti-virus software was unable to connect to its own website for updates. And all my attempts to connect to other anti-virus or antispyware websites were equally thwarted. The browser simply reporting that it was unable to contact those websites though it allowed me to look at other websites. Now this is a pretty cunning program - it not only takes over your browser but it prevents you from obtaining any assistance. I gave up on Firefox and tried Safari, Internet Explorer and even the new Google browser called Chrome with the same results on all.

Well, after fussing around all day I think I have it beat, but my post for today will have to be archival. However, I'm sure you'll agree it's a nice donkey, photographed in the Beacon Hill Children's Zoo earlier this year.

Kids and Kids - Beacon Hill Park Children's Zoo 2

Most of the animals in the Children's Zoo are in the "look but don't touch" category, but children can have some first hand experience with the goats, who are endlessly patient and patronizing and allow themselves to be petted, stroked and combed with delightful placidity. No slavish fawning here, they simply tolerate little humans good naturedly. There are lots of brushes around for children who want to do a little goat grooming.And, when you get a little older, if you're really lucky and volunteer at the zoo, the goats will even climb on you. These young girls were so cool and blasé while the kids perched on their backs....If you're in Victoria, don't miss "The Running of the Goats" when the goats are released from the barn every morning (10 am) and stampede through the pathways at the children's zoo to reach their daytime paddock. Look out Pamplona!

Beacon Hill Park Children's Zoo

The Muscovy DuckAnother visit to the Beacon Hill Park Children's Zoo, which I visited previously to photograph the alpaca. We went to see the new litter of Vietnamese Potbellied Pigs, just about the cutest little critters ever. However I failed to get a good picture of them so you'll have to be satisfied with this Muscovy Duck which, despite its name, has nothing to do with Moscow. It was domesticated by Native Americans before Columbus arrived on these shores and, while it swims and feeds like other ducks, it also often chooses to roost in trees like a chicken. Stay tuned, I want to introduce you to the goats tomorrow.

Do you ever feel like this in the morning?

Well, it looks like it hurts but it's really just a burp or a cough from this friendly alpaca I photographed today at the Children's Zoo in Beacon Hill Park.These delightful creatures are recent additions to the zoo. It's not really a zoo in the sense of having a wide range of wild animals. It has some goats who put up with endless petting from many children, a Vietnamese potbellied pig, some chickens and ducks, peacocks, a few sheep and some miniature horses. While we were there this morning one of the goats was giving birth before an admiring and awestruck bunch of children and their parents.Alpacas are usually very wooly. The zoo alpacas have been shorn so they don't get too hot in our summer weather.