[0072] Invasive Species
└ posted on Monday, 29 June 2009, by Novil
This is not actually true. There are no raccoons in New Zealand.
- Anchorman: It is assumed that several dozen raccoons live in New Zealand by now. They presumably descended from animals which escaped from an illegal private enclosure some years ago.
- Woo: Woo! Go, masked ones, go, go, go!
- Sandra: That’s not something to be happy about, Woo. Those raccoons will cause major havoc in New Zealand’s ecosystem.
- Woo: What about another point of view: Raccoons, the winners of evolution!
- Sandra: Don’t be so selfish! There’s more than enough space for raccoons in America.
- Woo: Hmpf.
- Furniture mover: Good morning, Mr. North. Is everything packed and ready to go?
- Richard: ???
![[0072] Invasive Species](/comics/2009-06-29-[0072]-invasive-species.png "[0072] Invasive Species")
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Yes, there are no raccoons in New Zealand. And thank you, New Zealand, for having one of the strictest importation policies in the world regarding non-native species. You’ve learned the lessons of ecological history a lot better than the United States.
I have a feeling I know what the next strip will contain, and I really hope I am wrong, wrong, wrong. If I am, I will apologize.
When did Woo get pockets?
I second Zaiki’s question, though it gave me a good giggle.
No, we have possums instead, which are worse
The pockets for Woo reminded me of an old “BC” comic where one of the cavemen caught one of the clams running off on feet. Since then, it’s been a staple joke on that strip. Am thinking the same will hold true for our raccoon friend.
And if everyone is jumping to the conclusion that the move is to New Zealand, look at the truck. It clearly said “United States – Europe.” Since our cartoonist is from Germany, it might be a more logical shift for the characters. This way, there will be no comments such as “I’ve been to X and that’s not what it looks like.”
And what about the three ?s over his head?
I just assumed that he was putting his paws on his hips and teh skin/fat was bunching up.
Rule34 of Sandra and Larisa.
Make it so, rule35!
Oh, come on. It’s obvious that his is one of those “revenge” jokes. Don’t know what all the confusion is about. I thought the joke was masterfully done.
And as for pockets, didn’t Bugs Bunny have pockets? I mean, people, it’s a cartoon! Enjoy it!
Raccoons have amazing amounts of loose skin all over their bodies- it’s actually very helpful in defense against predators, who’ll get a chunk of it and not the actually raccoons. They can almost roll completely over inside their own hide, believe it or not.
Therefore, he just shoved his adorable little paws in his loose skin flaps. ^_^
i think i’ve figured out what exactly i love so much about this strip. it’s not high fantasy, it’s not a geek-fest (yes i like those) , it’s not dense, philosophical plot and character development. it’s got that intangible quality that i liked so much about calvin and hobbes, after i grew too old to admit to enjoying the humor of it. the “us against the world, and whatever we happen to put in our own way while we’re at it” mindset, with enough childish wonder and mischief to make me grin. kudos and keep on writing my good man, my inner child thanks you.
I think this would fall under “choosing your words carefully”, wouldn’t it?
Bodypockets!!
What’s going on here? Why would movers come unexpectedly?
Nice one.
Tom Flapwell: Woo called the movers.
As you can see, it’s an America-to-Europe moving company. That way, Woo is telling them that humanity itself didn’t do better than those raccons who travelled to New Zealand (in the strip) – European people went to America “cause[d] major havoc” in its ecosystem.
Heehee, the invasion continues. 😀
Timmah:
Rule 73. This is neither the place nor the subject to invoke rules 34 or 35.
Previous:
That’s a good catch, I got that Woo called the movers but I didn’t get that whole social commentary bit before.
Timmah, not everyone appreciates Rule 34 quite as men like us do. Thus, go to #35 on the rule34 website and demand it there. Check back with the lulz.
I love that Woo has pockets!!
I think I’ve worked it out. Since Sandra said ‘Theres enough room here’ Woo decided to get al of the raccoons back from Europe and move them in. I only really mention this because the comments people seem confused (Except for Timmah, who seems to know exactly what he/she/it wants).
Also I want to mention that raccoons have got nothing on humans when it comes to migration. Think about what they’re doing to New Zealands ecosystem with all of their sheep and Hollywood movies.
yay Woo speaks again, I do hope the contents of that truck wont be messing up the house
waffle911: rule8
I think there’s a possem bobbin about, right now. Saw it last night…fearlessly not 15 feet away.
Maybe it’s as simple as, “There’s not enough room for the both of us here!” There may be enough room for all the raccoons, but maybe Woo is pissed off enough to think something like that at the moment (the mover seems to want to load the truck after all).
POCKETS
Maybe he keeps spare food in them.
@Ra: But he’s saying loading in. Surely, if he was loading stuff onto the truck, he would say loading on.
Perhaps… could be a regional thing if that’s the case, where I am we would say “load things in” when packing a truck, not on.
Here anyway, we both load into or onto a vehicle, depending on the type of vehicle and which word comes to the tongue first. With that sort of truck, you generally load things into it, not onto it, but either will work. “Onto” has a slight chance of making somebody think you’re putting stuff literally on top of the truck rather than into it, but that particular misunderstanding isn’t likely to happen unless you’re talking to a joker like me. 🙂
Also, I don’t know about other regions, but in the US we never “load” anything into or onto a house. We load vehicles and carts and such, but never buildings. We might “unload into” a building, or simply “unload” a vehicle. In the context of moving, we might “move in” or “unpack”. The only use of “load” that I can think of which would involve unloading a truck would be to load a dolly in order to transport things into the house. Doesn’t seem like that’s what he’s talking about though.
The only meanings I can see are that he is intending to move them back to Europe, OR he misspoke and had intended to say “ready for moving in” and has brought a tuck full of critters from Europe. The first seems more likely.
As for invasive species, we in the Great Lakes State have to deal with purple loostrife, zebra mussels, English Sparrows, Starlings, gobies, Eurasian Ruffe, Phragmites, Giant Hogweed, and Emerald Ashborers–among others.
Of course Woo has pockets. He needs someplace to keep his keys.
Hm… isn’t this a way for Dad to find out Woo can speak?
Anyway, Woo’s pockets are totally adorable, and I immediatelly thought of the loose skin… remembered the only live raccoon I ever saw…
This is good stuff.
@Rocket_T_Coyote:
Nice to know English Sparrows are thriving somewhere. They’re rather rare in England now (Thanks to a government plan to save the Sparrowhawk).
I wish we had racoons in New Zealand, they would be cool
MrGBH–We have Kestrels/Sparrowhawks here, but it’s the Cooper’s Hawks what snaps them away from my sister’s bird feeder–to her cats’ amazement.
lots of people seem to think they’re acctualy moving, but, i find it rather obvious this is a ploy of woo’s
we didn’t get to see what happens about the lemonade T.T
go NZ!!!
…when did new zealand move to europe?
@ Timmah:
Why, I wonder, did you pick this strip in particular to make this request? It’s not exactly provocative. Larissa’s not even in it.
@ waffle911:
I’ve never heard of this rule 73. I’ve heard of 63 though…
New zealand isn’t in europe.
@ Zaiki:
artistic license gave them to him!
@ MrGBH:
One problem about getting the racoons back from Europe: New Zealand isn’t in Europe.
What about the New Zealand Flatworm? Invasive to Europe, native to NZ.
That’s what the raccoons would like you to think.
It is kind of odd that they never made it to Europe during the Ice Age, except that they might not cope well on open tundra crossing, as you had to go via the land bridge through Siberia. Yet Squirrles made it, marmosets, pikas, badgers, exct. It is a mystery.
I’m a decade late, but fun fact, due to a popular anime based on Rascal, racoons have become an invasive species in Japan.