http://www.nydailynews.com/news/us_world/2009/06/25/2009-06-25_wallabies_in_tasmania_australia_getting_high_on_poppy_plants_creating_crop_circl.htmlSome whacked-out wallabies from Down Under are giving new meaning to the phrase "party animal."
The manic marsupials have been getting high on opium in poppy fields, then hopping in circles flattening the plants in the Australian state of Tasmania.
"We have a problem with wallabies entering poppy fields, getting as high as a kite and going around in circles," Attorney-General Lara Giddings told The Mercury, a Tasmanian newspaper. "Then they crash."
Tasmania is the world's largest producer of legally grown opium for the pharmaceutical market.
Other animals, including sheep and deer, have also been known to consume the poppy plants and exhibit bizarre behavior.
"There have been many stories about sheep that have eaten some of the poppies after harvesting and they all walk around in circles," Rick Rockliff, an industry spokesman, said.
Wallaby is an informal catch-all name given to any of roughly 30 species of Macropods, meaning "large foot." The Macropodiae family also includes kangaroos.
Sun Jun 28, 2009 11:21 pm
