Monday, July 14, 2014
Customs officials found two live parrots inside Elmo doll
Two live parrots were found hidden inside an Elmo doll by customs agents when a Californian couple tried to enter the United States from Mexico at San Luis, Arizona.
Customs and Border Protection had referred the couple for an intensive agriculture inspection. During the inspection, a CBP agriculture specialist first located a bag of mangos with seeds, which are prohibited.
Another agriculture specialist then asked to inspect one of the passenger’s Elmo doll. An x-ray of the doll indicated an anomaly was present inside it, and the specialists cut it open, revealing the two parrots. By law, all birds imported into the United States from all countries except Canada, as distinguished from poultry or unaccompanied birds, must be quarantined for 30 days at a USDA bird quarantine facility.
The importer is responsible for making necessary quarantine arrangements, as well as obtaining health certificates in the country of origin. Birds, including pet birds, may also be subject to US Department of Interior, Fish and Wildlife Services regulations. Pet birds are regulated since they can carry viral and bacterial diseases of concern including Avian Influenza, Exotic Newcastle Disease and Psittacosis, CBP officials said.
The prohibited birds and fruit were seized under the Animal Health Protection Act and the Plant Protection Act. The couple were fined $300, which they agreed to pay via mail, and were released without further incident. The seized birds were placed in a quarantine isolation crate and transferred to a USDA-Veterinary Services bird holding facility. The seized mangos were destroyed on site in accordance with United States Department of Agriculture approved destruction methods.
Another agriculture specialist then asked to inspect one of the passenger’s Elmo doll. An x-ray of the doll indicated an anomaly was present inside it, and the specialists cut it open, revealing the two parrots. By law, all birds imported into the United States from all countries except Canada, as distinguished from poultry or unaccompanied birds, must be quarantined for 30 days at a USDA bird quarantine facility.
The importer is responsible for making necessary quarantine arrangements, as well as obtaining health certificates in the country of origin. Birds, including pet birds, may also be subject to US Department of Interior, Fish and Wildlife Services regulations. Pet birds are regulated since they can carry viral and bacterial diseases of concern including Avian Influenza, Exotic Newcastle Disease and Psittacosis, CBP officials said.
The prohibited birds and fruit were seized under the Animal Health Protection Act and the Plant Protection Act. The couple were fined $300, which they agreed to pay via mail, and were released without further incident. The seized birds were placed in a quarantine isolation crate and transferred to a USDA-Veterinary Services bird holding facility. The seized mangos were destroyed on site in accordance with United States Department of Agriculture approved destruction methods.
Mystery chunks of meat on road upset motorists
Police don’t know how chunks of rotting meat wound up on Aviation Road in Queensbury, New York, on Thursday afternoon, closing part of the road for nearly two hours.
And while the mess was amusing to some, to those who drove through it, and those whose cars stink of rotting meat because of it, the situation was not very funny.
Saratoga Springs resident James Teele had the misfortune of meeting the meat on Thursday afternoon as he drove home from work. He said he quickly realized what the ramifications were. “I immediately took my car to a car wash but it was too late,” he said. “My vehicle still smells like rotting meat. Flies are swarming on my vehicle at my office.” Teele said he believed the material was chicken fat.
Without a criminal complaint or major environmental issue or cleanup, State Police are not actively investigating where the meat came from. Dozens of chunks appeared on the road in front of the mall during the late afternoon. It was cleaned up by the state Department of Transportation. Shortly after 5pm, turkey vultures were spotted flying over the area. Police said it appeared it fell off a truck that was transporting the material, possibly from a farm or slaughterhouse to a rendering plant.
But no one came forward claiming responsibility. Matt Phillips, one of the managers of Hoffman Car Wash in Queensbury, said the influx of dozens of sullied vehicles on Thursday night forced the business to have them pre-washed to clean off much of the meat before going through the automated wash. He estimated the car wash was visited by as many as 35 customers whose vehicles were dealing with decomposing material.
Saratoga Springs resident James Teele had the misfortune of meeting the meat on Thursday afternoon as he drove home from work. He said he quickly realized what the ramifications were. “I immediately took my car to a car wash but it was too late,” he said. “My vehicle still smells like rotting meat. Flies are swarming on my vehicle at my office.” Teele said he believed the material was chicken fat.
Without a criminal complaint or major environmental issue or cleanup, State Police are not actively investigating where the meat came from. Dozens of chunks appeared on the road in front of the mall during the late afternoon. It was cleaned up by the state Department of Transportation. Shortly after 5pm, turkey vultures were spotted flying over the area. Police said it appeared it fell off a truck that was transporting the material, possibly from a farm or slaughterhouse to a rendering plant.
But no one came forward claiming responsibility. Matt Phillips, one of the managers of Hoffman Car Wash in Queensbury, said the influx of dozens of sullied vehicles on Thursday night forced the business to have them pre-washed to clean off much of the meat before going through the automated wash. He estimated the car wash was visited by as many as 35 customers whose vehicles were dealing with decomposing material.
Three-year-old boy stuck in washing machine cut free by firefighters
A young boy in eastern China had to be rescued after he found himself stuck in a washing machine.
Firefighters had to cut the three-year-old free by opening up the back of the appliance using hydraulic sheers.
The child walked away without injury.
YouTube link.
His parents said they were entertaining guests at home when the boy wandered off to the laundry room unsupervised.
Firefighters had to cut the three-year-old free by opening up the back of the appliance using hydraulic sheers.
The child walked away without injury.
YouTube link.
His parents said they were entertaining guests at home when the boy wandered off to the laundry room unsupervised.
Mother unhappy after finding dead rotting lizard in tin of baby formula
A mother in Australia has called on a leading baby formula brand to recall a batch of one of their popular product lines after she opened a tin and discovered a dead lizard rotting inside.
Artilina Castanares, a 30-year-old mother-of-two from the outer north-western Sydney suburb The Ponds, said she made the unpleasant discovery on Friday when she opened a newly purchased tin of S-26 Original Process formula.
“I opened it and there was a funny smell. Its tail was sticking up and, thinking it was a thread, I lifted it up and it was a gecko,” Mrs Castanares said. “I squealed and dropped it. I was in shock from then on,” she said. Mrs Castanares said she immediately informed “Careline”, the product's contact hotline listed on the side of the tin, about her discovery. A spokesperson directed her to return the tin with the dead lizard inside to Aspen Australia, the company’s head office, for an investigation, but was advised she would have to wait up to two months before she heard anything.
“She [the spokesperson] was very casual about it. She said ‘send it in, and well send it overseas for investigation, but be aware it will take 6-8 weeks,’” Mrs Castanares said. Mrs Castanares said this was an “unacceptable” response as “babies could be at risk.” “I’m in shock,” she said. "You don’t take any risk when it comes to our children. In the meantime, you would be recalling the product or at least that batch,” Mrs Castanares said.
Mrs Castanares said she also emailed the brand's parent company Aspen Australia with photos of the tin with the dead lizard inside, as well as photos of the batch number, but received no response. Mrs Castanares said she had been using the S-26 Original Process formula for two years but, after this experience, she would never buy the product again. “I've just been turned off formula completely. I started my daughter on cow’s milk that day,” she said. The S-26 Original Process formula is made and packaged in Singapore, which raises the possibility that the lizard was a foreign animal.
“I opened it and there was a funny smell. Its tail was sticking up and, thinking it was a thread, I lifted it up and it was a gecko,” Mrs Castanares said. “I squealed and dropped it. I was in shock from then on,” she said. Mrs Castanares said she immediately informed “Careline”, the product's contact hotline listed on the side of the tin, about her discovery. A spokesperson directed her to return the tin with the dead lizard inside to Aspen Australia, the company’s head office, for an investigation, but was advised she would have to wait up to two months before she heard anything.
“She [the spokesperson] was very casual about it. She said ‘send it in, and well send it overseas for investigation, but be aware it will take 6-8 weeks,’” Mrs Castanares said. Mrs Castanares said this was an “unacceptable” response as “babies could be at risk.” “I’m in shock,” she said. "You don’t take any risk when it comes to our children. In the meantime, you would be recalling the product or at least that batch,” Mrs Castanares said.
Mrs Castanares said she also emailed the brand's parent company Aspen Australia with photos of the tin with the dead lizard inside, as well as photos of the batch number, but received no response. Mrs Castanares said she had been using the S-26 Original Process formula for two years but, after this experience, she would never buy the product again. “I've just been turned off formula completely. I started my daughter on cow’s milk that day,” she said. The S-26 Original Process formula is made and packaged in Singapore, which raises the possibility that the lizard was a foreign animal.
Pensioner who pulled pistol on schoolboys after their football hit his fence is spared jail
A pensioner pointed a gun at at 10-year-old boy and a 12-year-old boy after ordering them to stop playing a ball game near his home.
Lionel Green threatened the two boys with a ‘lethal’ .22 Webley air pistol - fitted with a silencer - after their ball hit his fence.
Manchester Crown Court heard that the victims were playing ‘kerbie’ - where kids throw a ball across the street at the kerb and then catch it - outside Green’s home in Wythenshawe, Manchester, when their day took a terrifying turn. The 67-year-old had been drinking in his front garden when he snapped, the court heard.
Pointing the imitation handgun at each of them in turn, Green ordered them to stop the game. The younger of the two ‘scared’ boys later told police he believed he was going to be shot by his gun-toting neighbour. Police later recovered two airguns from his home. The pistol pointed at the young boys was test-fired by police and was capable of causing a ‘potentially lethal injury’, Gary Woodhall, prosecuting, told court.
Following his arrest Green complained that ‘shouting, screaming, rampant’ youngsters ‘running wild’ on his estate had been winding him up, but he insisted he had legally bought the weapons to deal with slugs in his garden. “He may well have had trouble on the estate, whether it was these children or others we don’t know, but nothing justifies what followed”, Mr Woodhall added. Green, 67, was given a 12-month jail sentence, suspended for two years, plus supervision and a requirement to attend an alcohol treatment course after admitting possessing an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.
Manchester Crown Court heard that the victims were playing ‘kerbie’ - where kids throw a ball across the street at the kerb and then catch it - outside Green’s home in Wythenshawe, Manchester, when their day took a terrifying turn. The 67-year-old had been drinking in his front garden when he snapped, the court heard.
Pointing the imitation handgun at each of them in turn, Green ordered them to stop the game. The younger of the two ‘scared’ boys later told police he believed he was going to be shot by his gun-toting neighbour. Police later recovered two airguns from his home. The pistol pointed at the young boys was test-fired by police and was capable of causing a ‘potentially lethal injury’, Gary Woodhall, prosecuting, told court.
Following his arrest Green complained that ‘shouting, screaming, rampant’ youngsters ‘running wild’ on his estate had been winding him up, but he insisted he had legally bought the weapons to deal with slugs in his garden. “He may well have had trouble on the estate, whether it was these children or others we don’t know, but nothing justifies what followed”, Mr Woodhall added. Green, 67, was given a 12-month jail sentence, suspended for two years, plus supervision and a requirement to attend an alcohol treatment course after admitting possessing an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.
Mysterious locked safe found buried under pond in couple's back garden
A mysterious locked safe has been found by a couple buried beneath their back garden in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear.
Heavy and rusting, the enormous safe, which is the same type as those used on the Titanic, was hidden beneath a garden pond for decades.
It was only when David Maguire spent an afternoon tirelessly shifting mounds of soil that the object finally revealed itself.
David’s wife Nikki said they can hear something is still inside from their efforts to move it across the garden and are now desperate to get in without damaging its impressive cast iron walls. “We’d seen this bit of bronze metal poking out from where the old pond used to be for a while but just thought it was part of an old pump,” said Nikki. “We were completely amazed when it turned out to be the top of a safe. The house was built in the 1920s, but this looks a lot older than that.
“Before the house was built there was flats here. I don’t know if it’s been brought up here to be buried especially when they were building the houses. We’ve just got no idea,” added Nikki. The safe is almost a metre tall and is made by Milners, an historic company that began in 1814 by Thomas Milner and became famous for developing the world’s first fire proof safes. He would wow crowds with stunts involving elaborate street bonfires to demonstrate that his safes could protect anything that was inside.
Five of them were used onboard the Titanic, which sank in 1911. On the front of the one found in the Maguires garden is a plaque which reads ‘Milners of London, Manchester and Liverpool’ and ‘Patent fire resisting special safe’. However, with no key found alongside it, its contents remain a secret. Despite its rusty appearance, the safe could date from anywhere between the mid 19th century and 1955, when the Milner company merged with the firm Chatwood, although older designs had a distinctive arch on the front door.
David’s wife Nikki said they can hear something is still inside from their efforts to move it across the garden and are now desperate to get in without damaging its impressive cast iron walls. “We’d seen this bit of bronze metal poking out from where the old pond used to be for a while but just thought it was part of an old pump,” said Nikki. “We were completely amazed when it turned out to be the top of a safe. The house was built in the 1920s, but this looks a lot older than that.
“Before the house was built there was flats here. I don’t know if it’s been brought up here to be buried especially when they were building the houses. We’ve just got no idea,” added Nikki. The safe is almost a metre tall and is made by Milners, an historic company that began in 1814 by Thomas Milner and became famous for developing the world’s first fire proof safes. He would wow crowds with stunts involving elaborate street bonfires to demonstrate that his safes could protect anything that was inside.
Five of them were used onboard the Titanic, which sank in 1911. On the front of the one found in the Maguires garden is a plaque which reads ‘Milners of London, Manchester and Liverpool’ and ‘Patent fire resisting special safe’. However, with no key found alongside it, its contents remain a secret. Despite its rusty appearance, the safe could date from anywhere between the mid 19th century and 1955, when the Milner company merged with the firm Chatwood, although older designs had a distinctive arch on the front door.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)