Jimothy the raccoon gives back!

0:03 Caloroga Shark Media. Hi there, I'm Johnny Mack with five good news stories. In Edinburgh, they've opened the first hospital dedicated entirely to house plants. Yes, it is called the Hilda Houseplant Hospital. It was created by Rosanna to help people rescue struggling into our plants without having to become gardening experts themselves. She explained, you bring your plant in and we take a patient history, essentially find out how long they've had it, what they think might be wrong, and what they want to happen with it. Depending on the diagnosis, the plants may be repotted, trimmed, treated for pests, or placed in quarantine to prevent insects from spreading. I love this. Some plants even receive liquid drips to help nurse them back to health. Once the treatment is complete, the plant gets a final cleaning and then the owner is told, hey, come pick up your plant. Rosanna said, I had this idea from when I first got into houseplants, because that was what I wanted. The feedback was that people wanted to drop off a few people wanted to learn how to do it themselves. That's why we were run workshops. The majority of people wanted it done for them.

1:02 She also has some tips for anyone trying to keep house plants healthy. Let me pay attention here as I read this to you. Instead of watering on a strict weekly schedule, you mean like the guy that does it every Sunday. Huh. She recommends simply lifting the pot if it feels light, it's probably time to water. During heat waves and we're having more and more of those, folks. She suggests moving plants away from direct sunlight to avoid scorched leaves, and keeping an eye out for pests that may enter through the windows. She says, we're not trying to make it over complicated or make people feel like they have a whole new degree in science to understand. Good news for Julie the elephant. She is Portugal's final circus elephant. She has now begun her retirement. She has arrived at the Pangaea Elephant Sanctuary in Portugal, becoming the first resident of the country's sanctuary created specifically for former working elephants. Julie spent nearly forty years performing in circuses after being captured in the wild as a calf back in the eighties. She began appearing under the Big Top in nineteen eighty eight. In twenty eighteen, Ortugal passed legislation banning the use of wild animals and circus performances. The band took full effect in twenty twenty four, leaving Julie without a permanent home. Yeah, there's that part of it.

2:10 The Pangaea Elephant Sanctuary contacted her former owner and planned out the relocation. On June thirtieth, Julie made the three hour journey by track to her new home. The sanctuary says she settled in almost immediately, exploring the grounds and investigating one of the property's watering holes. Kate Moore is the managing director and says our focus is now to give Julie the best possible quality of life in her time ahead. The sanctuary hopes they can eventually provide a home for about thirty five elephants rescued from circus, zoos and other working environments. Julie is expected to be joined later this year by Kariba. Kariba was also captured on the wild decades ago and is currently living alone at a zoo in Belgium. Have you seen Jimithy the Raccoon online?

2:53 You probably have. Jimothy has captured the internet's attention because of his unusually round shape, leave to be the results of a rare congenital spinal condition. Despite his appearance, wildlife observers say Jimothy's healthy, active and continues to roam Seattle neighborhoods like any other raccoon. Seattle artist Ryan Henry Ward decided to turn the viral moment into something that could help the community. Ward created a painting of Jimothee and auctioned it off. Every dollar raise benefits the Ballard Food Bank. On a social media post, Road wrote, Jimothy the hero we needed. I've decided to give one hundred percent of the money made from this painting in a Ballard Food Bank, a place that helped me through some of my artist times. The winning bids six five hundred, forty three dollars and twenty one cents. It's Angela who purchased the artwork. Ward donated the full amount to the bank within twenty four hours.

3:41 Not sure this is good news, but it's weird news. More than two hundred gold statuettes of Mozart were stolen, leaving a tribute to Mozart on his two hundred and seventieth birthday kind of messed up. The Mozart Diem Foundation unveiled three hundred and twenty statuettes on July fifteen. They were all about twenty inches high, showing Mozart with his dog. Within two weeks, more than eighty had disappeared. By the middle of last week, two hundred and ten were missing. The artist said, the worst thing for an artist is when his work dissolves. He believes it was an organized theft. Now, the plan was when the exhibition ended, he was going to sell them for about one hundred euros, which is one hundred and fourteen dollars or so depending on your currency exchange. So it's not like the thieves got rich. Anyway, whatever's left of the statues, you can go see them until August thirtieth. All right, John, why were you late for work this time? Well? Yeah, see, boss, I was there on Ohio State Route three sixteen in Pickaway County and it was an overturned truck. Everybody's okay, you know how the show works. I don't do sad news like that.

4:44 But the truck lost its load of pickles, covering the highway in pickles and they had to close down the highway. The Ohio Department of Transportation posted on social media there was quite a pickle on the highway. They wanted us to know. The driver was not injured, but the pickles, however, are speared. Traffic backed up while cleanup crewis removed both the truck and the thousands of pickles. Those are your five good news stories for today. If you'd like this program without commercial interruption, if you're on the Apple podcast app, click that banner that says uninterrupted listening. It'll walk you through how that works. Short version five bucks a month, first thirty days free. And don't forget. I host a podcast that's called Daily Comedy News about comedians in the comedy industry. It's a nice way to wake up in the morning. Twelve minutes or so. I keep it light, kind of like this show, but you know, comedy, all right, have a great day.