o no Tannenbaum

Not the most wonderful time of the year: Houston tops the nation in burglaries;December worst month

Just in time for the holidays, a recent survey of government crime information has ranked Houston at the top of its list for nation's most burgled cities.

For a round-up of "insecure" urban areas, home security provider SimpliSafe combed through the FBI's Uniform Crime Report database to find that Space City easily outpaced other big city suspects like New York and Los Angeles with more than 27,000 reported break-ins.

Here's how the top six shaped up.

Houston — 27,459 burglaries
Chicago — 26,420 burglaries
Phoenix — 18,666 burglaries
Los Angeles — 17,264 burglaries
Detroit — 15,994 burglaries
New York — 15,159 burglaries

While recent rates are no where nearly as high as they were in 1988 when Houston saw 50,000 cases, crime data on the Houston Police Department's website shows that burglaries have slowly crept up since the city reached a low point of 23,000 in 1998.

Delving deeper in the HPD numbers, CultureMap discovered — to no great surprise — that December is the Bayou City burglar's favorite 31 days of the year. In 2011, for example, thieves were roughly 60 percent more likely to strike in December that they were during the typically quiet month of February.

As such, Houston police are reminding citizens to keep their homes well-lit during these dark winter nights. Also refrain from placing wrapped gifts under the "O Tannenbaum" if it's near a large window.

Click here for HPD's annual holiday safety brochure.

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weathering the storm

Houston Zoo animals frolic during historic snowstorm

Photo by Houston Zoo

Lisa the Amur leopard.

The animals at the Houston Zoo got a rare chance to frolic in the snow this week, leading to scenes of exotic adorableness.

A winter storm blanketed the Greater Houston area with as many as six inches of snowfall starting early Tuesday morning, including the highest single day snowfall recorded at George Bush Intercontinental Airport since 1973. Overall, it was the third-greatest snowstorm in Houston history, minus the 1895 storm that predates modern recording. Worries about dangerous road conditions shut most of the city down.

But at the Houston Zoo, 66 keepers stayed on site to make sure that the menagerie was well taken care of. Not only did the animals weather the, well, weather in safety, zoo keepers caught several of them frolicking in the snow.

One particularly happy resident was Teddy, the zoo's three-year-old Asian elephant. It was his first time seeing snow, and on a video shared by the Houston Zoo, he can be seen running at top speed through the powder as a keeper laughs and chases behind him. Despite being the closest living relative to the legendary wooly mammoths of the last ice age, Asian elephants rarely encounter snow even in the wild except at the extreme north of their remaining territories. Teddy's wonder is understandable.

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The zoo's California sea lions seemed to enjoy the frosty temperatures. Their usual habitat in the Galapagos exhibit has 60 degree water year round, making it a veritable oasis of relative warm compared to the snow-drenched land parts of the enclosure. Sea lions, like all sea mammals, have a thick layer of blubber that insulates them from the cold while swimming. It also kept the zoo's population lively even as the snow fell.

However, the zoo continued to take serious consideration for each animal's comfort.

"Each animal at the Houston Zoo receives specialized care tailored to their species' needs, ensuring they remain comfortable during colder months," a press release from the Houston Zoo reads. "All animal buildings, barns, and nighthouses are equipped with heaters and designed to withstand extreme weather conditions."

About the only animals who did not seem happy with the snow day was the pride of African lions. One female, Mattie, can be seen in footage gingerly walking through the snow with an expression that can only be described as "over this." Lions, like the Asian elephants, do not see much snow on the African savannah and even less in the swampy heat of Houston, and would evidently prefer to keep it that way.