Aug. 20, 2026

Jimothy the raccoon gives back!

Show Notes
Transcript

Edinburgh’s Hilda Houseplant Hospital, created by Rosanna, treats struggling indoor plants through diagnoses such as repotting, trimming, pest treatment, quarantine, and even liquid drips, plus tips like watering by pot weight and moving plants from direct sun during heat waves. Julie, Portugal’s last circus elephant, begins retirement at the Pangeia Elephant Sanctuary after Portugal’s wild-animal circus ban took full effect in 2024; the sanctuary aims to eventually house about 35 elephants and expects Kariba to join later this year. Viral Seattle raccoon Jimothy inspired artist Ryan Henry Ward to auction a painting for $6,543.21 and donate 100% to Ballard Food Bank. In Salzburg, over 200 Mozart statuettes were stolen from a 320-piece display. In Ohio, a truck overturned and spilled thousands of pickles, closing Route 316; the driver wasn’t injured.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/5-good-news-stories-happiness-and-fun--5747537/support.

5 Good News Stories is a daily podcast with five positive, uplifting news stories to brighten your day. New episodes every day. Follow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. Part of the Caloroga Shark Media network

John also hosts Daily Comedy News

Unlock an ad-free podcast experience with Caloroga Shark Media! For Apple users, hit the banner which says Uninterrupted Listening on your Apple podcasts app.

Subscribe now for exclusive shows like 'Palace Intrigue,' and get bonus content from Deep Crown (our exclusive Palace Insider!) Or get 'Daily Comedy News,' and '5 Good News Stories’ with no commercials! Plans start at $4.99 per month, or save 20% with a yearly plan at $49.99. Join today and help support the show!

Get more info from Caloroga Shark Media and if you have any comments, suggestions, or just want to get in touch our email is info@caloroga.com

WEBVTT

1
00:00:03.120 --> 00:00:09.119
Caloroga Shark Media. Hi there, I'm Johnny Mack with five

2
00:00:09.160 --> 00:00:12.119
good news stories. In Edinburgh, they've opened the first hospital

3
00:00:12.199 --> 00:00:16.559
dedicated entirely to house plants. Yes, it is called the

4
00:00:16.679 --> 00:00:20.399
Hilda Houseplant Hospital. It was created by Rosanna to help

5
00:00:20.440 --> 00:00:23.480
people rescue struggling into our plants without having to become

6
00:00:23.519 --> 00:00:27.280
gardening experts themselves. She explained, you bring your plant in

7
00:00:27.359 --> 00:00:29.679
and we take a patient history, essentially find out how

8
00:00:29.719 --> 00:00:31.440
long they've had it, what they think might be wrong,

9
00:00:31.480 --> 00:00:33.600
and what they want to happen with it. Depending on

10
00:00:33.640 --> 00:00:37.240
the diagnosis, the plants may be repotted, trimmed, treated for pests,

11
00:00:37.280 --> 00:00:39.840
or placed in quarantine to prevent insects from spreading. I

12
00:00:39.920 --> 00:00:43.039
love this. Some plants even receive liquid drips to help

13
00:00:43.079 --> 00:00:45.320
nurse them back to health. Once the treatment is complete,

14
00:00:45.640 --> 00:00:48.119
the plant gets a final cleaning and then the owner

15
00:00:48.159 --> 00:00:50.840
is told, hey, come pick up your plant. Rosanna said,

16
00:00:50.840 --> 00:00:52.759
I had this idea from when I first got into houseplants,

17
00:00:52.799 --> 00:00:54.799
because that was what I wanted. The feedback was that

18
00:00:54.799 --> 00:00:57.719
people wanted to drop off a few people wanted to

19
00:00:57.799 --> 00:00:59.280
learn how to do it themselves. That's why we were

20
00:00:59.320 --> 00:01:02.079
run workshops. The majority of people wanted it done for them.

21
00:01:02.560 --> 00:01:04.719
She also has some tips for anyone trying to keep

22
00:01:04.719 --> 00:01:06.799
house plants healthy. Let me pay attention here as I

23
00:01:06.840 --> 00:01:08.959
read this to you. Instead of watering on a strict

24
00:01:08.959 --> 00:01:11.439
weekly schedule, you mean like the guy that does it

25
00:01:11.480 --> 00:01:14.400
every Sunday. Huh. She recommends simply lifting the pot if

26
00:01:14.400 --> 00:01:17.319
it feels light, it's probably time to water. During heat

27
00:01:17.359 --> 00:01:19.239
waves and we're having more and more of those, folks.

28
00:01:19.239 --> 00:01:22.000
She suggests moving plants away from direct sunlight to avoid

29
00:01:22.000 --> 00:01:24.280
scorched leaves, and keeping an eye out for pests that

30
00:01:24.400 --> 00:01:26.840
may enter through the windows. She says, we're not trying

31
00:01:26.840 --> 00:01:28.640
to make it over complicated or make people feel like

32
00:01:28.680 --> 00:01:30.879
they have a whole new degree in science to understand.

33
00:01:31.319 --> 00:01:35.319
Good news for Julie the elephant. She is Portugal's final

34
00:01:35.400 --> 00:01:38.200
circus elephant. She has now begun her retirement. She has

35
00:01:38.319 --> 00:01:42.519
arrived at the Pangaea Elephant Sanctuary in Portugal, becoming the

36
00:01:42.560 --> 00:01:46.640
first resident of the country's sanctuary created specifically for former

37
00:01:46.799 --> 00:01:51.359
working elephants. Julie spent nearly forty years performing in circuses

38
00:01:51.400 --> 00:01:53.959
after being captured in the wild as a calf back

39
00:01:53.959 --> 00:01:56.560
in the eighties. She began appearing under the Big Top

40
00:01:56.599 --> 00:02:01.400
in nineteen eighty eight. In twenty eighteen, Ortugal passed legislation

41
00:02:01.640 --> 00:02:04.840
banning the use of wild animals and circus performances. The

42
00:02:04.879 --> 00:02:07.719
band took full effect in twenty twenty four, leaving Julie

43
00:02:07.719 --> 00:02:09.719
without a permanent home. Yeah, there's that part of it.

44
00:02:10.159 --> 00:02:13.919
The Pangaea Elephant Sanctuary contacted her former owner and planned

45
00:02:13.919 --> 00:02:17.000
out the relocation. On June thirtieth, Julie made the three

46
00:02:17.039 --> 00:02:21.280
hour journey by track to her new home. The sanctuary

47
00:02:21.280 --> 00:02:23.759
says she settled in almost immediately, exploring the grounds and

48
00:02:23.800 --> 00:02:27.080
investigating one of the property's watering holes. Kate Moore is

49
00:02:27.120 --> 00:02:29.039
the managing director and says our focus is now to

50
00:02:29.080 --> 00:02:31.080
give Julie the best possible quality of life in her

51
00:02:31.120 --> 00:02:34.800
time ahead. The sanctuary hopes they can eventually provide a

52
00:02:34.840 --> 00:02:38.800
home for about thirty five elephants rescued from circus, zoos

53
00:02:38.840 --> 00:02:42.360
and other working environments. Julie is expected to be joined

54
00:02:42.439 --> 00:02:45.599
later this year by Kariba. Kariba was also captured on

55
00:02:45.639 --> 00:02:48.120
the wild decades ago and is currently living alone at

56
00:02:48.120 --> 00:02:53.800
a zoo in Belgium. Have you seen Jimithy the Raccoon online?

57
00:02:53.919 --> 00:02:57.560
You probably have. Jimothy has captured the internet's attention because

58
00:02:57.599 --> 00:03:00.960
of his unusually round shape, leave to be the results

59
00:03:01.000 --> 00:03:05.360
of a rare congenital spinal condition. Despite his appearance, wildlife

60
00:03:05.400 --> 00:03:08.439
observers say Jimothy's healthy, active and continues to roam Seattle

61
00:03:08.439 --> 00:03:12.599
neighborhoods like any other raccoon. Seattle artist Ryan Henry Ward

62
00:03:12.719 --> 00:03:15.080
decided to turn the viral moment into something that could

63
00:03:15.120 --> 00:03:17.599
help the community. Ward created a painting of Jimothee and

64
00:03:17.599 --> 00:03:21.759
auctioned it off. Every dollar raise benefits the Ballard Food Bank.

65
00:03:22.240 --> 00:03:24.759
On a social media post, Road wrote, Jimothy the hero

66
00:03:24.840 --> 00:03:26.759
we needed. I've decided to give one hundred percent of

67
00:03:26.800 --> 00:03:28.560
the money made from this painting in a Ballard Food Bank,

68
00:03:28.560 --> 00:03:30.840
a place that helped me through some of my artist times.

69
00:03:31.039 --> 00:03:34.319
The winning bids six five hundred, forty three dollars and

70
00:03:34.400 --> 00:03:38.280
twenty one cents. It's Angela who purchased the artwork. Ward

71
00:03:38.360 --> 00:03:41.199
donated the full amount to the bank within twenty four hours.

72
00:03:41.719 --> 00:03:43.919
Not sure this is good news, but it's weird news.

73
00:03:44.199 --> 00:03:48.240
More than two hundred gold statuettes of Mozart were stolen,

74
00:03:48.639 --> 00:03:50.840
leaving a tribute to Mozart on his two hundred and

75
00:03:50.840 --> 00:03:56.120
seventieth birthday kind of messed up. The Mozart Diem Foundation

76
00:03:57.280 --> 00:04:00.400
unveiled three hundred and twenty statuettes on July fifteen. They

77
00:04:00.400 --> 00:04:03.199
were all about twenty inches high, showing Mozart with his dog.

78
00:04:03.240 --> 00:04:06.319
Within two weeks, more than eighty had disappeared. By the

79
00:04:06.360 --> 00:04:08.879
middle of last week, two hundred and ten were missing.

80
00:04:09.439 --> 00:04:11.159
The artist said, the worst thing for an artist is

81
00:04:11.199 --> 00:04:15.680
when his work dissolves. He believes it was an organized theft. Now,

82
00:04:15.719 --> 00:04:18.319
the plan was when the exhibition ended, he was going

83
00:04:18.360 --> 00:04:20.439
to sell them for about one hundred euros, which is

84
00:04:20.480 --> 00:04:22.759
one hundred and fourteen dollars or so depending on your

85
00:04:23.040 --> 00:04:27.120
currency exchange. So it's not like the thieves got rich. Anyway,

86
00:04:27.160 --> 00:04:29.040
whatever's left of the statues, you can go see them

87
00:04:29.120 --> 00:04:32.879
until August thirtieth. All right, John, why were you late

88
00:04:32.959 --> 00:04:35.319
for work this time? Well? Yeah, see, boss, I was

89
00:04:35.360 --> 00:04:39.000
there on Ohio State Route three sixteen in Pickaway County

90
00:04:39.240 --> 00:04:41.319
and it was an overturned truck. Everybody's okay, you know

91
00:04:41.399 --> 00:04:43.839
how the show works. I don't do sad news like that.

92
00:04:44.319 --> 00:04:47.480
But the truck lost its load of pickles, covering the

93
00:04:47.560 --> 00:04:50.279
highway in pickles and they had to close down the highway.

94
00:04:50.319 --> 00:04:53.879
The Ohio Department of Transportation posted on social media there

95
00:04:53.959 --> 00:04:56.680
was quite a pickle on the highway. They wanted us

96
00:04:56.680 --> 00:04:59.120
to know. The driver was not injured, but the pickles, however,

97
00:04:59.279 --> 00:05:03.560
are speared. Traffic backed up while cleanup crewis removed both

98
00:05:03.560 --> 00:05:06.480
the truck and the thousands of pickles. Those are your

99
00:05:06.480 --> 00:05:08.839
five good news stories for today. If you'd like this

100
00:05:08.839 --> 00:05:11.519
program without commercial interruption, if you're on the Apple podcast app,

101
00:05:11.560 --> 00:05:14.120
click that banner that says uninterrupted listening. It'll walk you

102
00:05:14.160 --> 00:05:16.360
through how that works. Short version five bucks a month,

103
00:05:16.399 --> 00:05:19.079
first thirty days free. And don't forget. I host a

104
00:05:19.079 --> 00:05:22.160
podcast that's called Daily Comedy News about comedians in the

105
00:05:22.199 --> 00:05:23.800
comedy industry. It's a nice way to wake up in

106
00:05:23.839 --> 00:05:26.000
the morning. Twelve minutes or so. I keep it light,

107
00:05:26.199 --> 00:05:28.439
kind of like this show, but you know, comedy, all right,

108
00:05:28.519 --> 00:05:29.160
have a great day.