Nov. 7, 2025

Alligator hits up The Tiki Bar

Show Notes
Transcript

A three-year-old girl named Opal, born deaf, can now hear after undergoing breakthrough gene therapy and receiving a cochlear implant in 2023. Bat populations in Wisconsin are recovering from a fungal epidemic, with increased sightings reported. Third, a police department in Florida relocated an alligator found at a tiki bar to a more suitable habitat. Fourth, a spilled load of 46,000 pounds of applesauce caused a minor traffic delay on I-57, but no injuries were reported. Lastly, a spider monkey was safely captured in South Carolina by luring it with coffee, reuniting it with its owner. Each story highlights a unique piece of good news from around the world.

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Caalaroga Shark Media. Wow, this is really great. A three

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year old girl who was born deaf can hear now

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after breakthrough gene therapy. Hi, I'm Johnny Mack with five

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good news stories. Opal underwent gene therapy injection to her

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right ear in twenty twenty three. Who was a fifteen

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minute procedure. She was under general anesthesia. They delivered a

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working copy of the otof gene into her right cochlea.

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During that same procedure, doctors placed a cochlear implant on

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her left ear. She can now hear for the first time.

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That's amazing. Her parents say she can hear normally even

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when the implant on her left ear is turned off.

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This was part of a clinical trial. They say eleven

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of the twelve patients experienced clinically meaningful improvements in hearing

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within weeks of the procedure. Good news. If you're a

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cave roosting bat, your populations in Wisconsin are recovering from

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a fungal epid. You know, I was happy this summer

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the bats were back in my yard. So sometimes if

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I go swimming at night. In olden times, the bats

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would come out of the tree. They never bother the humans.

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The bats would come down and grab a bug off

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the top of the pool and go back to this tree.

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And I used to enjoy that, and then like for

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a few years, there weren't any bats at all. This

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summer there were at least two bats. I know there

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were two because I saw them simultaneously skimming bugs. I

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was happy to see them back. I don't know if

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it was because it was a hot summer or what.

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I'm not a bats scientist. I digress. In Wisconsin, wildlife

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authorities are reporting for the third year in a row,

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the bat population seems to be rising. Numbers of little

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brown bats, big brown bats, tricolored bats, and northern long

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eared bats are estimated via citizen surveys. Each year. The

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estimates have been going up. That's great. You see bats

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hunt mosquitoes all right. Now you're into the bats exactly now.

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The fungus is rotten. The fungus wakes bats from hibernation.

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The sudden jolt of metabolic energy needed to leave the

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state of hiber nation depletes fat reserves during the winter

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and confuses the bats. They leave the cave and then

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they freeze to death. All that is called white nose syndrome.

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Bat conservationist Merlin Tuttle told Joe Rogan the average number

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of human fatalities from bats every year is one. He

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added that more people get rabies from dogs in this country,

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and our spouses kill us off by the thousands. Interesting

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perspective there. On the Rogan Show. In Florida, the police

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relocated an alligator that was hanging out at the tiki bar.

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We don't want alligators here at the tiki bar. The

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Stewart Police Department on social media said it was not

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a rowdy tourist dodging their bar tab, it was an

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actual alligator. The party seeking reptile has been relocated to

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a more suitable venue where the only cocktails are in

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the swamp and the sun never sets on a happy hour.

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There's a Jimmy Buffett song on there somewhere, all right, John,

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why we allay for work? Well, you see, boss, there

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were forty six thousand pounds of apple sauce on the highway. Yeah.

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This happened on I fifty even at mile marker seventy six,

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at around five in the morning on a Monday. No

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injuries reported in the incident. Again, I always want to

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be clear that I'm bot out to be a jerk

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on the show. It's five good news stories that don't

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tell accident stories where terrible things happen. Everybody's okay, except

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for the apple sauce. Rix Towing was summoned to the

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scene to assist with the cleanup. Rix said, about forty

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six thousand pounds of apple sauce billed on the roadway.

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That's the equivalent of one hundred and eighty four thousand

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and four ounced apple sauce containers. What was a tow

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truck guy gonna do with apple sauce? So that's what

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I want to know. And good news, We caught the monkey.

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How did we catch the monkey? Johnny Mack? Obviously with coffee.

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There was a spider monkey running loose through town in

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South Carolina. Casey was helping out at the fall Fest

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on a Saturday. She heard rumors of a monkey running

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loose through town. She connected with Mayor Brandon and Mayor

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Brandon's wife, Laura. They headed over to the area of

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the last reported monkey sighting, near the Twirl restaurant. She

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told the local paper. Sure enough, the monkey was hanging

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on the back of a vehicle by the barber shop.

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The great thing about these stories is always the details. Now,

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the monkey had a leash, Casey said. She was hollering.

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You could tell she was scared. So Casey tried an experiment.

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She placed her cup of hot coffee on the ground,

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removed the lid, and stepped back. The monkey came over

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to be like, Hey, what's this. Casey had outsmarted the monkey.

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She stepped on the leash caught the monkey. Turns out

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the monkey belongs to Ava. And those are your five

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good news stories for today. You have an awesome day.