[JSD]

OKay, please don't get on me for MDX-abuse, but I drove through the baboon section of the Great Adventure Safari yesterday and the little darlings pulled off my rear antenna cover and yanked on the coiled antenna inside. Any idea on how much it's going to cost to replace the antenna? And for anyone thinking of driving through the safari - take that monkey by-pass road!!!

 

[JPOW]

JSD - I can't answer your question about how much it is going to cost to replace your antenna but I did want to thank-you for a good laugh (at your expense). Especially since we also visited the Great Adventure Safari with a 2 month MDX earlier this year and I was petrified. I did however take the by-pass around the monkey / baboon area since I have been thru there before and have seen what they are capable of. Last year, when we went thru, we were in an 8 year old Mercury Villager van with 128,000 miles so I didn't care what they did but we did watch them rip both antenna's off of a fairy new Lexus RX300 in front of us. Infact, we have the vidio to bring back the memories.

Sorry to hear they "violated" your DX but it will certainlly give you some good DX stories for days and years to come.

Regards;

JPOW

 

[JSD]

JPOW - you are a wise MDX owner. I went through the safari about two years ago and don't remember the baboons doing so much harm to the vehicles. I was lulled into a false sense of security this year as I cruised through the front half of the exhibit - the baboons seemed content to just sit on the cars. But near the end, we must have entered into "delinquent baboon" section and suddenly there were baboons everywhere, ripping off weather stripping, pulling lights off buses, attacking our antenna. We looked down at the ground and saw hundred of long rubber things lying on the ground - mostly rubber strips from windows and cargo racks. One jumped off my MDX with one of those strips, but so far I can't tell whether it was from the top of my MDX or someone else's car. Yikes!

 

[AtlantaMDX]

JSD,

I have to ask... Did they have signs posted that tell you the baboons (animals) may damage your vehicle? I can't imagine they wouldn't, other wise they'd have legal issues I'd think.

Anyway, sorry to hear about the little barbarians. But I have to admit I was suprised. I thought for sure some kids had attacked your 'DX and you were just calling them baboons.

 

[JSD]

AtlantaMDX,

Yes, they actually have you stop before you enter the "baboon compound" and hand you a sheet of paper that warns about their destructive behavior. I was just a little overconfident, having never been the subject of their wrath before. I had never even seen this dark side of them before!

 

[JPOW]

I personally think that they train them to do this destructive behavior. Never mind the damage, I am not to fond of anyone jumping on top of my roof or hood of my DX, partically big, hairy, destructive, mamimals. As JSD had observed, there is a ton of auto parts all over the ground as you drice thru. Maybe they collect all of these "removed" parts and sell them to a local after market auto parts store. I do agree that Great Adventure has signs posted all throughout the safari warning everyone of potential damage as well as posting employees warning just before you go thru the baboon / monkey section. Additionally, they have a by-pass that allows you to skip this section and thus avoiding the animal hazards.

JPOW

 

[AtlantaMDX]

I personally think that they train them to do this destructive behavior. .... As JSD had observed, there is a ton of auto parts all over the ground as you drice thru. Maybe they collect all of these "removed" parts and sell them ....
JPOW

Wild Animal Safari, Baboon Exhibit, Sponsored by E-bay.... for all your Automotive needs.....

 

[mdxwannabe]

Why don't you go back and smear some ex-lax on your new antenna.Now we will see who has some complaining to do.Maybe they saw planet of the apes the night before your visit.

 

[RGWomack]

Those critters can be distructive. Back in my younger days I worked as a professional stuntman in the motion picture industry. I did a lot of animal wrangling and worked a lot with apes, gators, and snakes. Baboons can pretty much destroy anything they can get their fingers on. I had big beline cages that were put together with big 1 inch bolts I ended up having to peen the ends of the bolts to keep them from unscrewing the nuts. They need a sign that says; "Auto Parts Ahead".

One of my favorite animal stories was while filming "Porky's" we had a big 8 foot gator we used in one of the scenes beside the road, after filming late at night I was taking my gator home, he was in the back of my van on the bed, his mouth was taped shut with black electrical tape and we had a blanket over him. We stopped by a late nite eatery called the Snackery on A1A in North Miami. Sitting at a table we were approached by a working girl, we said we were not interested but our buddy out in the van parked right out front would be so we sent her out there. Well she entered the van, about a minute later we hear this scream, out the door she comes spins a few circles and fainted dead away right there. We ran out the door jumped in the van and took off.
We had a good laugh. Looking back now it probably wasn't a nice thing to do, but at the time we thought it was a good idea.

 

[frankjv]

Sorry to hear about your damage, but after sitting at the computer at work all day I needed a little laugh. Hope it is not too expensive, post price if possible as I am sure others will be damaged or stolen.

 

[msu79gt82]

Amazing ...

... monkey see - monkey do!

 

[metmdx]

Porky's Story

Roger,

Great stuff....what a way to start my day. I can picture the scene. If only Clint had though of that for his "animal" movies.....


metmdx

 

[AtlantaMDX]

I kept thinking about the recent post where a .org member accidentally picked up a working girl. If only he'd had an alligator in the back (seats folded down of course), maybe she'd have gotten out a little quicker! Too funny!

 

[Yoda]

In honor of JSD

...

 

[Yoda]

 

[AtlantaMDX]

Excellent animation Yoda

 

[TheWorm]

Great work, yoda! LOL

 

[JSD]

Yoda,

Your animation was too funny! I'm glad my baboon antenna woes have brought a little humor and inspiration to you all!

Yoda, as an aside, I used to live out your way back when, as coincidence has it -Star Wars was huge. Lived in Lenexa, went to Trailridge Jr. High for a year, before moving back to northern NJ.

Thanks again for the funny stories. I will check on an antenna price with Acura tomorrow. Hopefully it won't be too painful.

 

[wmquan]

Yes, despite folks who say that humans wage war and evil, look at the sweet monkeys, they can, especially baboons, be pretty mean. Don't take a trip to Gibralter where the baboons get fed by tourists so much that they have absolutely no fear of them. Friend of my wife's was there, offered a potato chip, and of course got into a huge wrestling match for the whole bag. And they're strong buggers!

Yoda, that graphic cracked me up!

 

[JSD]

Antenna Cost

For anyone who might be interested, I called my local Acura parts department and the replacement mast for my vehicle (no navi, just touring) is $18.58 plus tax. Special order part. Silly baboons.