Zoo eyes elephant poo as energy source, from MSNBC

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The Rosamond Gifford Zoo is looking to become the first in the nation to be powered by its own animal waste… The zoo — world prominent for its Asian elephant breeding program — is studying how feasible it would be to switch to animal waste as an alternative energy source…

Sorry, I couldn’t resist the gratuitous subject line. Actually this sounds like a totally brilliant idea. But it gets better:

The study will start by evaluating elephant dung BTU… The study is being directed by agriculture waste and manure-management specialists from Cornell University.

Who knew there were manure-management specialists at Cornell? On the other hand, maybe that makes perfect sense. This reminds me of Scott’s comment:

So, how did I get to this point? Well, it’s an obvious progression from someone to mucks out horse stalls to professor.

One does feel that way on occasion.