Strange title? Yup, but it you are a child of the 1960’s you might remember this catchy phrase because my home town had the ONLY mongoose in the United States. Citizens of Duluth lobbied hard both the Secretary of the Interior, Mo Udall, and Senator Hubert Humphrey in an attempt to save our mongoose, Mr. Magoo! This small mammal had arrived illegally in America via an Indian sailor on a grain vessel. Given mongooses (mongeese??) reproduce rapidly and kill small birds and other rodents, the American government did not want any mongooses in the U.S.A.

Fast forward many years and this morning I watched a mongoose search for breakfast in Hawaii’s Lava Tree State Park. Anyhow, I am happy to tell you that citizens’ of Duluth’s efforts were successful and Mr. Magoo was saved. I hope you enjoy my images and video … and a blast back to the past. Our mayor at the time, George Johnson, was invited to appear on the TV Show, “To Tell the Truth”. His part of the episode about Mr. Magoo starts at the 8 minute mark of the YouTube Video (video link for email subscribers). My media is below the YouTube video of “To Tell the Truth”

Lava Tree State Park Mongoose (video link for email subscribers)