Down in Florida there was a young man who developed an abnormal fondness for aquatic mammals. He was fairly wealthy and had a rather large swimming pool which he kept filled with seawater. He kept several species of sea life in his pool but was frustrated by the lack of dolphins or porpoises. He knew it would be illegal to keep either in his pool but he longed to fill his pool that way.

It happened one day, as he was driving along the beach he came across two beached porpoises and they seemed a little ill--rather than push them back in to the sea he got them in the back of his truck, covered them with wet blankets and drove them swiftly back to his home where he put them in the pool.

The swam around listlessly. What to do? He knew, from his research, that porpoises, when ill, prefer "exotic" food such as baby sea birds.

He went back on the beach and found a nest of baby terns and took them home. Sure enough the finny friends ate them up and seemed more lively.

This caused him to go further down the beach to find more young gulls. For three or four days this went on, then he was forced one day to drive further down the beach than ever--he drove for about an hour and it was dark by the time he found enough baby terns to feed his aquatic booty.

Earlier that day the circus had come to the outskirts of town and begun to set up. By accident the cage to old "Fang" the toothless and very old lion was left open. Fang saw this as a possible opportunity and wandered off. He didn't get far when sleepiness overtook him and he fell asleep, right in the middle of the road.

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Our young man, with the cab of his pickup truck filled with terns, came speeding along the road and inadvertently ran right over poor old Fang.

The FBI was on the spot and arrested him at once.

Violation of the Mann Act was the charge:

"Transporting immature gulls across a sedate lion for illegal porpoises."

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