You can't spell 'criminal' without 'animal'
the true crime that's worth your time
That headline is Sarah’s brilliance, I can’t take credit — my contribution is that every story about this bear doing bear things in Northern California keeps referring to its behavior as a “crime spree.” As though this bear is rejecting the norms taught him by the folks who raised him! Come on, folks. THIS IS A BEAR.
But personification of animals is nothing new, so applying human criminal standards to beasts has a rich history. Sarah noted that this book, about a “rogue” shark that in 1916 terrified New Jersey swimmers, showed up in a book lot that was otherwise true-crime; then there’s the Medina Spirit affair, the horse who died last year of a heart attack, and was posthumously stripped of his Kentucky Derby win yesterday. The shade!
I hope that gets you started — I know that once I started thinking about this, my list of alleged animal criminals grows and grows. So, when you think about animals that are characterized as perps within the true-crime jungle, which creatures comes to mind? — EB