Wednesday, September 03, 2014
Meanwhile in El Salvador
A dog rides pillion on a motorcycle through the streets of Sensuntepeque.
YouTube link. Alternative video.
YouTube link. Alternative video.
Mother unhappy about police chief decapitating her young son's pet chicken
A Minnesota woman has filed a formal complaint against the Atwater Police Chief for trespassing on her property and killing her young son’s pet chicken, leaving the hen’s decapitated head just feet from the backyard chicken coop.
Ashley Turnbull said she knows she violated the city’s ordinance that prohibits fowl and acknowledges she was told Aug. 7 by police to remove the three chickens and two ducks.
But she said Police Chief Trevor Berger went too far when he came onto her property about a week later, when nobody was home, and clubbed, killed and decapitated a small red hen, which belonged to her five-year-old son, Phoenix, with a shovel.
“The chicken was like a puppy dog to my son,” said Turnbull. “You wouldn’t do that to a puppy.”
Berger said he was simply enforcing the city ordinance that has been on the books since 1960 and was responding to a “frustrated’ neighbour’s repeated complaints, including a report on Aug. 16 that one of Turnbull’s chickens was running loose in the residential area near the elementary school. “I’m sorry it had to happen that way,” said Berger, adding that he didn’t intend to leave the severed chicken head in the yard to send a message to the homeowners. Berger said he thought the head was still attached to the chicken when he carried the carcass away. Berger said killing the chicken was justified. “It’s against city ordinance for a chicken to be in the city and running around in people’s yards,” he said.
Turnbull said Berger didn’t handle the situation professionally. “I still feel he owes my son an apology and he owes us a chicken, said Turnbull, who filed a written complaint with the Atwater Police Commissioner on Aug. 20. Berger said when he got the call on Aug. 16, he saw the chicken in a yard next to Turnbull’s house. He said he tried for 10-15 minutes to catch the chicken or chase it back into the pen. “I feel like I made a good effort to get it back in,” he said. But when the other two chickens and two ducks in the fenced pen started to get out, Berger said he closed the door that he’d opened, grabbed a shovel leaning against Turnbull’s garage and “dispatched” the chicken. Since there were children playing in the adjacent yard, Berger said he didn’t want to use his gun to kill the chicken and the shovel was the “safest way to dispatch it.”
When asked why it was necessary to kill the young chicken instead of letting it be, Berger said the family was “not supposed to have them in the first place” and that he wanted to give the aggrieved neighbour “some results.” It was the same process he would use if there was a report of a skunk, he said. “I guess I don’t regret it, because it’s like taking care of any rodent in town,” he said. Turnbull said she doesn’t understand that logic. “I couldn’t perceive a chicken being a threat to anybody,” she said. Turnbull’s neighbour, Jason Shoutz, said he saw Berger walk up to the chicken by the coop and swing the shovel “up and down.” His young daughter was in the yard at the time and saw the officer kill the chicken. Berger said he left no note on the door and although he intended to initiate contact the family after killing the chicken, he did not. Turnbull has not yet heard a response, but the issue is expected to be addressed on Wednesday during the Atwater City Council meeting when, ironically, Berger said he intends to present a proposed ordinance to allow chickens in the city, that the council asked him to prepare earlier this year.
Berger said he was simply enforcing the city ordinance that has been on the books since 1960 and was responding to a “frustrated’ neighbour’s repeated complaints, including a report on Aug. 16 that one of Turnbull’s chickens was running loose in the residential area near the elementary school. “I’m sorry it had to happen that way,” said Berger, adding that he didn’t intend to leave the severed chicken head in the yard to send a message to the homeowners. Berger said he thought the head was still attached to the chicken when he carried the carcass away. Berger said killing the chicken was justified. “It’s against city ordinance for a chicken to be in the city and running around in people’s yards,” he said.
Turnbull said Berger didn’t handle the situation professionally. “I still feel he owes my son an apology and he owes us a chicken, said Turnbull, who filed a written complaint with the Atwater Police Commissioner on Aug. 20. Berger said when he got the call on Aug. 16, he saw the chicken in a yard next to Turnbull’s house. He said he tried for 10-15 minutes to catch the chicken or chase it back into the pen. “I feel like I made a good effort to get it back in,” he said. But when the other two chickens and two ducks in the fenced pen started to get out, Berger said he closed the door that he’d opened, grabbed a shovel leaning against Turnbull’s garage and “dispatched” the chicken. Since there were children playing in the adjacent yard, Berger said he didn’t want to use his gun to kill the chicken and the shovel was the “safest way to dispatch it.”
When asked why it was necessary to kill the young chicken instead of letting it be, Berger said the family was “not supposed to have them in the first place” and that he wanted to give the aggrieved neighbour “some results.” It was the same process he would use if there was a report of a skunk, he said. “I guess I don’t regret it, because it’s like taking care of any rodent in town,” he said. Turnbull said she doesn’t understand that logic. “I couldn’t perceive a chicken being a threat to anybody,” she said. Turnbull’s neighbour, Jason Shoutz, said he saw Berger walk up to the chicken by the coop and swing the shovel “up and down.” His young daughter was in the yard at the time and saw the officer kill the chicken. Berger said he left no note on the door and although he intended to initiate contact the family after killing the chicken, he did not. Turnbull has not yet heard a response, but the issue is expected to be addressed on Wednesday during the Atwater City Council meeting when, ironically, Berger said he intends to present a proposed ordinance to allow chickens in the city, that the council asked him to prepare earlier this year.
Bear with airbag stuck on head finally freed
A bear nicknamed “The Bucket Bear” has been rescued in Clarion County, Pennsylvania.
The bear has been roaming around the Perry Township area for several weeks with a bucket-like airbag stuck on its head. This weekend, a group of people headed out to see if they could find the bear and help free it from the airbag.
Dean Hornberger, Jeff Kriebel, Kaitlyn Lakin, Eric Kriebel and Shawn Balcita searched the woods and brush for two hours before spotting the young black bear along a road.
YouTube link. Facebook link.
They hopped into action to help save the bear. Balcita held the bear down while Jeff and Eric started sawing away at the airbag. It took them 30 to 40 minutes to eventually free the bear. After being cut free, the bear promptly ran back off into the woods.
The bear has been roaming around the Perry Township area for several weeks with a bucket-like airbag stuck on its head. This weekend, a group of people headed out to see if they could find the bear and help free it from the airbag.
Dean Hornberger, Jeff Kriebel, Kaitlyn Lakin, Eric Kriebel and Shawn Balcita searched the woods and brush for two hours before spotting the young black bear along a road.
YouTube link. Facebook link.
They hopped into action to help save the bear. Balcita held the bear down while Jeff and Eric started sawing away at the airbag. It took them 30 to 40 minutes to eventually free the bear. After being cut free, the bear promptly ran back off into the woods.
Robin Hood monkey showered people with stolen banknotes
A monkey in the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh has rained down banknotes on people.
Surprised people in the pine forest of Shimla, the state capital, ran around, collecting the falling notes for nearly an hour on Sunday, eyewitnesses said.
Reports said the simian stole 10,000 rupees ($165; £100) from a nearby home.
The monkey had entered the house to look for food, but when it did not find anything to eat, it took the money. There are some 300,000 monkeys in the state and Shimla has long been a haven for the animals. Macaque monkeys are considered sacred by Hindus, who often feed them. But in recent years, the animals have been coming increasingly in conflict with humans, destroying crops, attacking people for food and biting children.
And authorities in Himachal Pradesh have declared monkeys a menace. The cash-dispensing simian was first spotted sitting on a tin roof with a bundle of currency notes before it playfully started throwing them down one-by-one. As people began collecting notes of various denominations, the monkey moved on to a tree. But as it continued to distribute money, many people rushed there to pick up the falling notes.
"Surprised by the attention it was attracting, the cash loaded monkey then decided to move into the thick pine trees. But as it continued to shower notes, the money collectors naturally followed it," said Amit Kanwar who witnessed the entire scene. This is the second such incident in Shimla this year. In February, a monkey stole a wad of currency notes from a home and distributed it among people on a crowded street.
The monkey had entered the house to look for food, but when it did not find anything to eat, it took the money. There are some 300,000 monkeys in the state and Shimla has long been a haven for the animals. Macaque monkeys are considered sacred by Hindus, who often feed them. But in recent years, the animals have been coming increasingly in conflict with humans, destroying crops, attacking people for food and biting children.
And authorities in Himachal Pradesh have declared monkeys a menace. The cash-dispensing simian was first spotted sitting on a tin roof with a bundle of currency notes before it playfully started throwing them down one-by-one. As people began collecting notes of various denominations, the monkey moved on to a tree. But as it continued to distribute money, many people rushed there to pick up the falling notes.
"Surprised by the attention it was attracting, the cash loaded monkey then decided to move into the thick pine trees. But as it continued to shower notes, the money collectors naturally followed it," said Amit Kanwar who witnessed the entire scene. This is the second such incident in Shimla this year. In February, a monkey stole a wad of currency notes from a home and distributed it among people on a crowded street.
People power lifted bus off trapped motorcyclists
A crowd of more than 50 people came together in Pune, India, on Friday to lift a bus and free two students who were trapped underneath.
The speeding bus ran over the two students who were on a motorcycle, and then collided with a traffic signal post before coming to a stop.
In the ensuing commotion, over 50 onlookers rushed to the spot and realised that the two young men were still trapped underneath the bus. The onlookers lifted the bus with their bare hands and extricated them. Fire brigade officials rushed to the spot, and lifted the bus using a crane. The bus was moved to the Shivajinagar Police Station, while the injured were rushed to the Poona Hospital in Sadashiv Peth. The students have been identified as Ashwin Doshi and Siddharth Dudu. Both are said to be out of danger.
The driver of the bus, identified as Manik Waghmode, 51, said, "There was a brake failure, and I lost control of bus. I have done five trips on the route and was on my sixth trip when accident occurred." Police Inspector Hiraman Shirsath of the Shivajinagar Police Station, confirmed that a brake failure was the likely cause of the problem. "The air pressure on the gauge was showing, but things can only be confirmed once we finish our investigation.
YouTube link.
"We have sent the driver for a medical test to check whether he was drunk at the time of the incident," Shirsath said. Waghmode has been booked under sections 279 (rash driving on a public way), 337 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others), 339 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) of the Indian Penal Code, and also the Motor Vehicle Act 184.
There's a raw video of the incident here.
In the ensuing commotion, over 50 onlookers rushed to the spot and realised that the two young men were still trapped underneath the bus. The onlookers lifted the bus with their bare hands and extricated them. Fire brigade officials rushed to the spot, and lifted the bus using a crane. The bus was moved to the Shivajinagar Police Station, while the injured were rushed to the Poona Hospital in Sadashiv Peth. The students have been identified as Ashwin Doshi and Siddharth Dudu. Both are said to be out of danger.
The driver of the bus, identified as Manik Waghmode, 51, said, "There was a brake failure, and I lost control of bus. I have done five trips on the route and was on my sixth trip when accident occurred." Police Inspector Hiraman Shirsath of the Shivajinagar Police Station, confirmed that a brake failure was the likely cause of the problem. "The air pressure on the gauge was showing, but things can only be confirmed once we finish our investigation.
YouTube link.
"We have sent the driver for a medical test to check whether he was drunk at the time of the incident," Shirsath said. Waghmode has been booked under sections 279 (rash driving on a public way), 337 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others), 339 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) of the Indian Penal Code, and also the Motor Vehicle Act 184.
There's a raw video of the incident here.
Radioactive wild boar are roaming the forests of Germany
Twenty-eight years after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, its effects are still being felt as far away as Germany in the form of radioactive wild boars.
Wild boars still roam the forests of Germany, where they are hunted for their meat, which is sold as a delicacy.
But in recent tests by the state government of Saxony, more than one in three boars were found to give off such high levels of radiation that they are unfit for human consumption.
They are believed to be a legacy of the Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986, when a reactor at a nuclear power plant in then Soviet-ruled Ukraine exploded, releasing a massive quantity of radioactive particles into the atmosphere. Even though Saxony lies some 700 miles from Chernobyl, wind and rain carried the radioactivity across western Europe, and soil contamination was found even further away, in France.
Wild boar are thought to be particularly affected because they root through the soil for food, and feed on mushrooms and underground truffles that store radiation. Many mushrooms from the affected areas are also believed to be unfit for human consumption. Since 2012, it has been compulsory for hunters to have wild boar they kill in Saxony tested for radiation. Carcasses that exceed the safe limit of 600 becquerels per kg have to be destroyed.
In a single year, 297 out of 752 boar tested in Saxony have been over the limit, and there have been cases in Germany of boar testing dozens of times over the limit. The radioactivity causes economic problems as well. Many hunters sell the boar as game, and across Germany hundreds of thousands of euros are paid out each year out in government compensation to hunters whose kills have to be destroyed. "It doesn't cover the loss from game sales, but at least it covers the cost of disposal," Steffen Richter, the head of the Saxon State Hunters Association said. Germany's radioactive boar problem is not expected to go away any time soon. With the levels of contamination still showing in tests, experts predict it could be around for another 50 years.
They are believed to be a legacy of the Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986, when a reactor at a nuclear power plant in then Soviet-ruled Ukraine exploded, releasing a massive quantity of radioactive particles into the atmosphere. Even though Saxony lies some 700 miles from Chernobyl, wind and rain carried the radioactivity across western Europe, and soil contamination was found even further away, in France.
Wild boar are thought to be particularly affected because they root through the soil for food, and feed on mushrooms and underground truffles that store radiation. Many mushrooms from the affected areas are also believed to be unfit for human consumption. Since 2012, it has been compulsory for hunters to have wild boar they kill in Saxony tested for radiation. Carcasses that exceed the safe limit of 600 becquerels per kg have to be destroyed.
In a single year, 297 out of 752 boar tested in Saxony have been over the limit, and there have been cases in Germany of boar testing dozens of times over the limit. The radioactivity causes economic problems as well. Many hunters sell the boar as game, and across Germany hundreds of thousands of euros are paid out each year out in government compensation to hunters whose kills have to be destroyed. "It doesn't cover the loss from game sales, but at least it covers the cost of disposal," Steffen Richter, the head of the Saxon State Hunters Association said. Germany's radioactive boar problem is not expected to go away any time soon. With the levels of contamination still showing in tests, experts predict it could be around for another 50 years.
London fatberg the length of a Boeing 747 took four days to clear
A giant "fatberg" the length of a Boeing 747 jet has been removed from a sewer in west London.
It took Thames Water workers four days to clear the foul-smelling blockage from an 80-metre stretch of Shepherd's Bush Road.
The mass of festering food fat mixed with wet wipes and sanitary products threatened to send raw sewage spurting into nearby homes. High-powered water jets were used to break up the congealed mass so that wastewater could start passing through the sewer again.
Dave Dennis, Thames Water sewer operations manager, said most fatbergs are formed by people pouring cooking oil down the drain and flushing wet wipes down the toilet. "The sewers serve an important purpose - they are not an abyss for household rubbish," he said.
"Fat goes down the drain easily enough, but when it hits the cold sewers, it hardens into disgusting fatbergs that block pipes. Wet wipes cling to the fat. Fat clings to the wipes. And pretty soon your fatberg is out of control and sewage is backing up into roads, gardens and in the worst cases flooding up through toilets and into homes."
The mass of festering food fat mixed with wet wipes and sanitary products threatened to send raw sewage spurting into nearby homes. High-powered water jets were used to break up the congealed mass so that wastewater could start passing through the sewer again.
Dave Dennis, Thames Water sewer operations manager, said most fatbergs are formed by people pouring cooking oil down the drain and flushing wet wipes down the toilet. "The sewers serve an important purpose - they are not an abyss for household rubbish," he said.
"Fat goes down the drain easily enough, but when it hits the cold sewers, it hardens into disgusting fatbergs that block pipes. Wet wipes cling to the fat. Fat clings to the wipes. And pretty soon your fatberg is out of control and sewage is backing up into roads, gardens and in the worst cases flooding up through toilets and into homes."
Woman hospitalised after trying to give cat a bath
An attempt to de-flea a 10-month-old Persian cat left a woman from Shepton Mallet, Somerset, hospitalised for six days.
When Lesley Pleasant spotted flea dirt on her daughter’s cat, Oscar, she decided it was time to take action.
“I was going to put the spot-on on him, but I could see he had a lot of flea dirt in his fur,” she said.
“He doesn’t like to be groomed, so I decided I’d try to give him a bath first - I have another Persian, and a dog, and they are both fine with being bathed, but Oscar really wasn’t.
He flew up my arm, and my daughter had to ease his claws out of my skin.
I was covered in scratches, but one, on the inside of my elbow was really deep. It hurt like anything, but it didn’t bleed, so I just got on with my day.”
But at 10pm that night, Lesley woke up feeling unwell. “I’ve never felt like that before,” she said. “I had this terrible headache, and I couldn’t move my arm. I had a really high temperature, and all I could think of was that I wouldn’t be able to work in the garden in the morning if I couldn’t move my arm.” By 2am, she was feeling worse and by 3am, she couldn’t get out of bed. “About 5am, I used my mobile phone to call my daughter, who sleeps in the room next to me. I said I wasn’t feeling well and asked if she’d bring me a cup of tea and some paracetamol. My arm had swollen up and looked like one of those long, sausage balloons you get.” A swelling like this, away from the original site of injury, is a typical symptom of septicaemia, or blood poisoning. It occurs when bacteria multiply in the blood, causing widespread inflammation.
If not treated promptly, septic shock can develop, where bacterial toxins cause blood pressure to plummet. Eventually, the organs start to fail, and it results in death in more than half of patients. Bacteria can enter the bloodstream via open surgery and tooth abscesses, as well as burns - and scratches. “Once the paracetamol started to work, I felt well enough to drive myself to hospital - except that the hospital was closed. So I had to go back home and wait a few more hours for it to open.” Arriving at the hospital, she was seen quickly, before being transferred to Bath Royal United Hospital. “My friend drove me,” Lesley said. “I threw up in the car all the way there. When I arrived in A&E, they whisked me through straight away, got me into a bed and put me on a drip.”
The drip which should have helped, instead brought her out in a rash, and there was no real improvement in her condition. “Whenever anyone came to visit me, I asked them to them scratch me.” Three days later, doctors established she had a penicillin allergy, and after a change of medication, Lesley was finally back on the mend, and after six days in hospital, was allowed back home. “I was taking 16 pills a day when I got back, but now I’m back to full-health. I can’t thank the staff at Bath enough - they were just wonderful. You hear so many bad things about hospitals, but they were all lovely.” Lesley said she has now forgiven Oscar. “If I had any sense, I would have gone and got treatment right after the scratch,” she said. “But he is just himself - completely unaware of the chaos he caused. And from now on, my cats are having their flea treatments by injection - it’s so much easier.”
But at 10pm that night, Lesley woke up feeling unwell. “I’ve never felt like that before,” she said. “I had this terrible headache, and I couldn’t move my arm. I had a really high temperature, and all I could think of was that I wouldn’t be able to work in the garden in the morning if I couldn’t move my arm.” By 2am, she was feeling worse and by 3am, she couldn’t get out of bed. “About 5am, I used my mobile phone to call my daughter, who sleeps in the room next to me. I said I wasn’t feeling well and asked if she’d bring me a cup of tea and some paracetamol. My arm had swollen up and looked like one of those long, sausage balloons you get.” A swelling like this, away from the original site of injury, is a typical symptom of septicaemia, or blood poisoning. It occurs when bacteria multiply in the blood, causing widespread inflammation.
If not treated promptly, septic shock can develop, where bacterial toxins cause blood pressure to plummet. Eventually, the organs start to fail, and it results in death in more than half of patients. Bacteria can enter the bloodstream via open surgery and tooth abscesses, as well as burns - and scratches. “Once the paracetamol started to work, I felt well enough to drive myself to hospital - except that the hospital was closed. So I had to go back home and wait a few more hours for it to open.” Arriving at the hospital, she was seen quickly, before being transferred to Bath Royal United Hospital. “My friend drove me,” Lesley said. “I threw up in the car all the way there. When I arrived in A&E, they whisked me through straight away, got me into a bed and put me on a drip.”
The drip which should have helped, instead brought her out in a rash, and there was no real improvement in her condition. “Whenever anyone came to visit me, I asked them to them scratch me.” Three days later, doctors established she had a penicillin allergy, and after a change of medication, Lesley was finally back on the mend, and after six days in hospital, was allowed back home. “I was taking 16 pills a day when I got back, but now I’m back to full-health. I can’t thank the staff at Bath enough - they were just wonderful. You hear so many bad things about hospitals, but they were all lovely.” Lesley said she has now forgiven Oscar. “If I had any sense, I would have gone and got treatment right after the scratch,” she said. “But he is just himself - completely unaware of the chaos he caused. And from now on, my cats are having their flea treatments by injection - it’s so much easier.”
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)