A bloated turkey buzzard, gorging itself all day on the rotting carcass of a cow near the road, was unable to get enough height crossing the road and collided with a motorcyclist Aug. 11 on Interstate 25 near Glendo in Platte County.

"As the guy came by, the turkey buzzard schmucked him in the face," Wyoming Highway Patrol Trooper Chuck Bloom told the Platte County Record-Times. "It slobber-knocked him - that's the only word for it."

Rodney E. Mason of El Paso, Texas, was able to keep his 1994 Harley Davidson motorcycle upright for a few hundred feet as he slowed down before sliding to a stop.

"The only thing that saved him from having a shattered face was that he had a full-face helmet on," Bloom said.

Mason's fiancee was following on another motorcycle and was "sprayed with putrid meat from the bird" after the collision, Bloom said.

Lander cops arrest crazed gunman

Lander had its own one-man Waco on Aug. 26 when a crazed resident living in a trailer opened fire on a neighbor's house, his own pickup truck and shot up his own home before surrendering to police.

Seven Lander police officers and five Fremont County sheriff's deputies responded in full force, surrounding the area and evacuating nearby homes once they were able to determine the source of the shooting, writes the Lander Journal.

"He appeared to be paranoid and hallucinating," Lander Police Chief Dave Hockett said. "(Officers) suspect he was under the influence of a controlled substance, and he also smelled of alcohol."

The 50-year-old man finally surrendered unarmed, but screamed at officers that he was defending himself against "the people with the laser lights," and warned that there were additional gunmen inside his house. After obtaining a warrant, police found he was the only occupant.

The man was involuntarily committed for medical, mental and drug testing. Property damage is estimated at $2,000.

Rock Springs cat suffers arrow wound

An apparent stray cat was shot with an arrow north of Rock Springs recently, piercing the animal's shoulder blade but missing its vital organs, reports the Rock Springs Daily Rocket-Miner.

Mary Buhman, a local veterinarian, was called in to save the cat.

"I had to cut the arrow in half to get it out of the cat, and tubes were put in the holes for drainage," Buhman said.

The cat is an orange, neutered male 7 to 10 years old and did not have a collar or identification.

Rattlesnake den startles Riverton

A den of angry rattlesnakes broke loose on a Riverton trailer park Aug. 24 after a man moved his trailer and exposed their lair, writes the Riverton Ranger.

Animal control officer Debbie Hays said when she arrived at the scene, she was unable to find any snakes, but residents were already on edge.

"I was swarmed by people who were all carrying shovels and bats," Hays said. "One man said a snake went into his dog pen and bit his St. Bernard."

Apparently five of the snakes had been killed by the residents, but more snakes were suspected to have escaped and were thought to be hiding in weeds or ditches.

No traffic light for Shoshoni

The Wyoming Department of Transportation has decided not to install traffic control devices at the busy intersection at Second and Idaho streets in Shoshoni, according to the Shoshoni Pioneer.

Vic Strube told the town council that although traffic numbers are high, there have only been four injuries from crashes since 1995 and no fatalities. Traffic flow seems to be working and doesn't need to be changed, Strube said.

Citizens are concerned by the thousands of vehicles that stop at the intersection each day and the speed of traffic pouring through their town. The town council voted to lower the speed limit from 30 to 20 mph and looked at installing crosswalks.

Police blotter

Perp pockets 100-pound anvil: A Powell woman reported to police that someone stole a 100-pound iron anvil from the bed of an old Jeep parked on her property sometime since July 4, tells the Powell Tribune.

Husband will pull through accident: A 35-year-old Gillette woman called 911 in a panic to tell police she thought she had just run over her husband, writes the Gillette News-Record. The 32-year-old man had run up to his wife's 1996 Ford Taurus on Aug. 28 as she was leaving to remind her to get something from the store, but he tripped and rolled into a ditch. He was not hurt.

Assistant state editor John Morgan can be reached at (307) 266-0614 or john.morgan@casperstartribune.net.