Registered: Oct 2001
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Strange cargo found in forest

Stumped officials try to find out who dropped off 55 gallons of goat semen in Cook County preserve

Wednesday, May 1, 2002

By Jennifer Martikean

Staff writer

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It wasn't nearly as much fun as a barrel full of monkeys, but the barrel firefighters found was just as weird. It was full of goat semen.

"We're still in disbelief," said a firefighter who did not want to be identified. "I have never heard of anything like this ever happening. We have no idea who did this."

The mysterious barrel was discovered Monday night by a passerby at the Arie Crown Woods near Countryside, Cook County Forest Preserve Lt. Michael Albrecht said.

When the police came out to take a look, they found a white, 55-gallon container with a black plug on top and hazardous materials markings on the outside.

They called in the hazardous materials team from Pleasantview Fire Protection District.

"The firefighters came, they saw the barrel, and the cleared out the area," Albrecht said.

Firefighters spent some time trying to figure out what kind of substance they were dealing with. All they knew was the barrel had some liquid in it.

After a careful inspection, firefighters found a phone number on one of the stickers. They radioed the number to dispatchers, who traced it to an Iowa company called Swine Genetics.

The company ships pig and boar semen in canisters, which in turn are placed in large drums filled with liquid nitrogen. The liquid nitrogen keeps the semen at the optimal temperature so it can be shipped long distances and used for artificial insemination.

No one has any idea how the semen ended up at the forest preserve.

"We get calls about illegal dumping all the time, but never anything like this," Albrecht said.

The police department "properly disposed" of the semen, but declined to say how.

There was some conflicting information about what kind of semen was in the canister. Albrecht said police believe it was goat semen, but Swine Genetics only deals in pig semen. A worker at the company said the barrels are expensive, costing as much as $1,100, and they are often reused by farmers to ship other types of semen.

Pleasantview firefighters were a little embarrassed about the big fuss. They were still laughing about it Tuesday and could hardly comment.

"It is just so bizarre that that would be out there," a firefighter said. "We've had all kinds of guesses at the station all day. But I'm not going to tell you what they were."

A worker at Swine Genetics said the company hasn't had any reports of missing semen, and police said no one has reported anything like it missing.

The company ships internationally out of O'Hare International Airport, so it is possible one of the barrels could have come from the airport, he said.

Jennifer Martikean may be reached at jmartikean@dailysouthtown.com or (708) 633-5962.

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: zanzibar
Posts: 10477

This is one of those stories where you are almost compelled to email the author.

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: A New England
Posts: 9187

On the advice of my legal counsel...

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Registered: Nov 2001
Location: Rio de los Brazos de Dios
Posts: 3876

Mugtoe, no one is going to post on this thread.
To be an expert on this situation would be embarassing and to plead ignorance would suggest you were lying. This is a "no win" case.

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oxsan


Don't kick until yer spurred.

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Registered: Oct 2001
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I have one big question: Once they determined where the barrel came from, and were relatively certain about what it contained, and maybe even determined scientifically that it was generically semen of some sort, why in the hell did they need to figger out that it was the product of a goat and not a swine? And what did that process entail?


And who the hell needs 55 gallons of it? That's enough goats to repopulate the Earth!

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Registered: Apr 2001
Location: Denver
Posts: 2532

quote:

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Originally posted by oxsan
Mugtoe, no one is going to post on this thread.
To be an expert on this situation would be embarassing and to plead ignorance would suggest you were lying. This is a "no win" case.

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Registered: Nov 2001
Location: Rio de los Brazos de Dios
Posts: 3876

Is there any report of black helicopters in the region?

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Location Location
Posts: 26420

quote:

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Originally posted by Mugtoe
I have one big question: Once they determined where the barrel came from, and were relatively certain about what it contained, and maybe even determined scientifically that it was generically semen of some sort, why in the hell did they need to figger out that it was the product of a goat and not a swine?

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: seattle-ish
Posts: 11408

I seem to be missing a shaven and oiled 12 year old girl.

goatboy?

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Registered: Mar 2002
Location: Ljusdal, Sweden
Posts: 196

quote:

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Originally posted by Mugtoe
...
And who the hell needs 55 gallons of it? That's enough goats to repopulate the Earth!

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Registered: Aug 2001
Location: Berkeley, California
Posts: 830

quote:

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I just can't stop thinking about the poor man/woman who had to collect all that semen. I imagine someone given a latex glove, a bucket and rows after rows of goats. I guess/hope that's not how they do it though.

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Location Location
Posts: 26420

See my wierd jobs thread...

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Registered: Mar 2002
Location: Ljusdal, Sweden
Posts: 196

quote:

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Originally posted by morgasm


When horses are artificially inseminated (as i butcher the spelling) they get the semen by making the stallions mate with a dummy horse...

I kid you not.

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Registered: Jan 2001
Location: library
Posts: 19584

"The police department "properly disposed" of the semen, but declined to say how. "

Banner day at the local soup kitchen.

-m

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Registered: Mar 2001
Location: Minnesota
Posts: 2451

Why would a genetics company store 55gallons of semen? It seems that from a scientific point of view you would want to keep samples from different goats seperate so you can know which animals the new animal comes from. It seems a genetics company would want to keep track of that so that they can get better at determing which traits make male animals better breeders and hence offer better semen to the consumer. Obviously 55 gallons of semen don't come from the same animal, so all I want to know is why the mixing of samples? It seems as silly as mixing together blood samples from 20 different people, mixing them together and then trying to tell individuals what they do or don't have.

ludicrous.

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Registered: Sep 2001
Location: ........
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quote:

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Originally posted by geaeslore
It seems a genetics company would want to keep track of that so that they can get better at determing which traits make male animals better breeders and hence offer better semen to the consumer.

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Registered: Oct 2001
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"Banner day at the local soup kitchen"


EEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!

Dude, I spit up coffee thru my nose.

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Registered: Nov 2001
Location: Rio de los Brazos de Dios
Posts: 3876

Get real guys! There couldn't have been fifty five gallons of semen there. Breeding semen is stored in cryogeic barrels with the outside layer like a vacuum bottle to keep ambient heat out, then a cylindical layer of liquid nitrogen way down close to absolute zero (minus 273 degrees F) then a cylindrical rack of glass threads each filled with maybe 5cc of semen then an inner core once more of liquid nitrogen. Most cryogenic barrels that I have seen were about the size of a ten gallon barrel and only held about 40 threads of bull semen. If you put any kind of semen in a barrel loose it would lose its viability in a matter of hours. Semen is a fragile substance.

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location: I don't fukn' know!
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quote:

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Originally posted by geaeslore
Why would a genetics company store 55gallons of semen?

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