Friday, September 05, 2014
Horse-drawn carriage drivers robbed by boys riding bicycles
Teenage boys riding bicycles robbed two female drivers of horse-drawn carriages in St. Louis, Missouri, on Sunday night at two separate locations.
Five or six boys surrounded a carriage and nearly knocked a female driver off of it when they grabbed her purse from underneath her, says Jerry Kirk, the owner of the Brookdale Farms carriage company.
Kirk says the ordeal is very unusual. “We’ve been there seven nights a week for 35 years and never had an issue with anything,” he said.
“This is the first time that we’ve ever had an incident this way, and I’m not aware that there’s ever been an incident like this ever before.” Police arrested one suspect on Sunday, and another was arrested on Monday allegedly trying to sell a carriage driver’s stolen cell phone at a kiosk.
Five or six boys surrounded a carriage and nearly knocked a female driver off of it when they grabbed her purse from underneath her, says Jerry Kirk, the owner of the Brookdale Farms carriage company.
Kirk says the ordeal is very unusual. “We’ve been there seven nights a week for 35 years and never had an issue with anything,” he said.
“This is the first time that we’ve ever had an incident this way, and I’m not aware that there’s ever been an incident like this ever before.” Police arrested one suspect on Sunday, and another was arrested on Monday allegedly trying to sell a carriage driver’s stolen cell phone at a kiosk.
School building caught fire during fire drill
A routine school fire drill in Cincinnati turned into the real thing on Tuesday evening.
The Fire Department said one of its ladder companies was finishing up the drill with students at God's Bible School and College at around 7:30pm when one of the firefighters saw black smoke coming from the roof.
The firefighters went inside and found smoke on the the third floor and called for a full fire response. The fire was found and brought under control within 15 minutes of the discovery.
The cause of the fire was an electrical problem in a bathroom exhaust fan on the third floor. Damage was estimated at $5,000. No injuries were reported.
The Fire Department said one of its ladder companies was finishing up the drill with students at God's Bible School and College at around 7:30pm when one of the firefighters saw black smoke coming from the roof.
The firefighters went inside and found smoke on the the third floor and called for a full fire response. The fire was found and brought under control within 15 minutes of the discovery.
The cause of the fire was an electrical problem in a bathroom exhaust fan on the third floor. Damage was estimated at $5,000. No injuries were reported.
Genet riding buffalo caught on camera
When Zoë Luhdo and the team at conservation group Wildlife ACT checked on camera traps in South Africa's Hluhluwe Game Reserve, they didn't expect to see a genet riding a buffalo.
"I can only speculate as to why this genet decided that hitch-hiking was a good idea, but can confidently say that this is fantastically bizarre.
"We are all wondering if this was a once-off occurrence or if this genet will be making a habit of dropping in and catching a lift with strangers in the dark," she says.
Wildlife ACT uses camera traps as a non-invasive form of wildlife monitoring on a few of the Zululand Game Reserves where we are stationed. The camera traps are placed strategically and usually in hard to navigate areas. They are triggered by movement and use a flash at night that doesn’t irritate the animals as is evident in this series of images.
"I can only speculate as to why this genet decided that hitch-hiking was a good idea, but can confidently say that this is fantastically bizarre.
"We are all wondering if this was a once-off occurrence or if this genet will be making a habit of dropping in and catching a lift with strangers in the dark," she says.
Wildlife ACT uses camera traps as a non-invasive form of wildlife monitoring on a few of the Zululand Game Reserves where we are stationed. The camera traps are placed strategically and usually in hard to navigate areas. They are triggered by movement and use a flash at night that doesn’t irritate the animals as is evident in this series of images.
Suspected burglar claimed he was trying to buy a ferret
A suspected intruder claimed he was trying to buy a ferret when he was arrested as he walked out through the broken door of a burgled house.
John Acres said he went to the home of a fellow country sports enthusiast to get a ferret rather than to try to raid his gun cabinet, Exeter Crown Court was told.
He was allegedly caught red-handed as he left the Exeter home of farm worker Kenneth Andrews after police were alerted to a raid in progress by an anonymous call.
Householder Mr Andrews told a jury he had not invited Acres to his home and had not kept ferrets for at least ten years. Acres, aged 43, of Exeter, Devon, denies burglary. He says he arrived at the house to find a panel in the door smashed and went inside to check on Mr Andrews’ welfare. Miss Bathsheba Cassel, prosecuting, said police were called to the house in February by an anonymous call and found a large hole in a panel of the double-glazed front door.
She said:”We say the defendant was caught red handed during the course of the burglary. He was stopped as he left found with bags which could have been used to carry loot and clothing which may be worn by a burglar including a balaclava and gloves. “When police spoke to him he said he had gone there to collect a ferret. The most concerning aspect of this case is that Mr Andrews was a licensed firearms keeper and we say the firearms were deliberately targeted by the burglar.
“We say he burgled the house and this is shown by the evidence along with his quite ridiculous story about the ferret.” PC Ian Freestone said he arrested Acres coming out of the house and was told: ”I only went there to buy a ferret. That’s the last time I try to help anyone.” Mr Andrews said he had gone ferreting with Acres 15 to 20 years ago but had not kept ferrets for at least ten years or had any contact with Acres for two years or more.
Householder Mr Andrews told a jury he had not invited Acres to his home and had not kept ferrets for at least ten years. Acres, aged 43, of Exeter, Devon, denies burglary. He says he arrived at the house to find a panel in the door smashed and went inside to check on Mr Andrews’ welfare. Miss Bathsheba Cassel, prosecuting, said police were called to the house in February by an anonymous call and found a large hole in a panel of the double-glazed front door.
She said:”We say the defendant was caught red handed during the course of the burglary. He was stopped as he left found with bags which could have been used to carry loot and clothing which may be worn by a burglar including a balaclava and gloves. “When police spoke to him he said he had gone there to collect a ferret. The most concerning aspect of this case is that Mr Andrews was a licensed firearms keeper and we say the firearms were deliberately targeted by the burglar.
“We say he burgled the house and this is shown by the evidence along with his quite ridiculous story about the ferret.” PC Ian Freestone said he arrested Acres coming out of the house and was told: ”I only went there to buy a ferret. That’s the last time I try to help anyone.” Mr Andrews said he had gone ferreting with Acres 15 to 20 years ago but had not kept ferrets for at least ten years or had any contact with Acres for two years or more.
Body hanging from billboard was art
Emergency services called to reports of a body hanging from a billboard in Peterborough arrived to discover the "victim" was an artist's dummy.
Laura Keeble created the work featuring a life-like model of a graffiti artist suspended from a billboard as part of an art trail around the city.
After a caller informed police a body was hanging near Mayor's Walk, officers and paramedics attended. Miss Keeble's work, created in conjunction with poet Mark Grist, asks "what's an artist worth?" and features a sculpture of a hooded graffiti artist suspended from the billboard as he paints it. She installed the work on Saturday but within hours both the East of England Ambulance Service and Cambridgeshire Police had been called by a concerned member of the public.
A police spokesman said they were called to reports of "a body hanging from a structure". The ambulance service was informed "a patient was in arrest due to hanging". The rescue drama was captured on a camera Miss Keeble had put on a tree to record "public interaction" with her work. "I imagined images of people poking the sculpture or even applying their own marks to the billboard wall - not on any level the response from the emergency services that we see in the images," she said.
"I am obviously concerned that someone was worried enough to call the services, although if they had gone to see if the 'person' was OK they would have very clearly seen the sculpture was made from expanding foam, sellotape, plaster and spray paint." Both the police and ambulance service said they "occasionally get calls that turn out to be false alarms, as in this case". The police spokesman said while they encouraged people to call 999 for life-threatening emergencies, he added: "They should try and get as much information as possible before they call." The model has been removed from the billboard "to prevent further calls or distractions", he said.
After a caller informed police a body was hanging near Mayor's Walk, officers and paramedics attended. Miss Keeble's work, created in conjunction with poet Mark Grist, asks "what's an artist worth?" and features a sculpture of a hooded graffiti artist suspended from the billboard as he paints it. She installed the work on Saturday but within hours both the East of England Ambulance Service and Cambridgeshire Police had been called by a concerned member of the public.
A police spokesman said they were called to reports of "a body hanging from a structure". The ambulance service was informed "a patient was in arrest due to hanging". The rescue drama was captured on a camera Miss Keeble had put on a tree to record "public interaction" with her work. "I imagined images of people poking the sculpture or even applying their own marks to the billboard wall - not on any level the response from the emergency services that we see in the images," she said.
"I am obviously concerned that someone was worried enough to call the services, although if they had gone to see if the 'person' was OK they would have very clearly seen the sculpture was made from expanding foam, sellotape, plaster and spray paint." Both the police and ambulance service said they "occasionally get calls that turn out to be false alarms, as in this case". The police spokesman said while they encouraged people to call 999 for life-threatening emergencies, he added: "They should try and get as much information as possible before they call." The model has been removed from the billboard "to prevent further calls or distractions", he said.
Ferocious tortoise on the loose in London
A ferocious tortoise is on the loose in Catford, south east London.
Six-year-old Rex, also known as Tyrannotortoise, has been missing for 10 days after escaping from his enclosure where he was resting. Jason Cross, 43, said he painted an orange spot on his shell to help find the runaway reptile who has escaped several times.
Mr Cross said: “He’s very very feisty and is always escaping. He’s really grumpy and will nip you and to be honest he’s more like a moany old man than a tortoise.”
He added: “We miss him and want him back as soon as possible as he is a big part of our family whether he’s chewing the furniture, running around the house or escaping from his enclosure so it would mean the world to have him back to us, particularly now it will start to get cold.”
Six-year-old Rex, also known as Tyrannotortoise, has been missing for 10 days after escaping from his enclosure where he was resting. Jason Cross, 43, said he painted an orange spot on his shell to help find the runaway reptile who has escaped several times.
Mr Cross said: “He’s very very feisty and is always escaping. He’s really grumpy and will nip you and to be honest he’s more like a moany old man than a tortoise.”
He added: “We miss him and want him back as soon as possible as he is a big part of our family whether he’s chewing the furniture, running around the house or escaping from his enclosure so it would mean the world to have him back to us, particularly now it will start to get cold.”
Firefighters rescued couple trapped in bedroom after hornets nest fell through their ceiling
A Berkshire couple had to be rescued by firefighters after a hornets nest fell through their ceiling.
A crew from Slough Fire Station were called to the property in Maidenhead at 11.30pm on Tuesday night.
The weight of the nest brought it through the property's second-floor ceiling, filling the upstairs of the property with angry hornets and trapping the pair in their bedroom. Firefighters used a ladder to rescue the couple from their room.
Crew manager Martyn Sadler said he has never been called to something like this before. He described the noise as 'quite substantial' and added they 'definitely made the decision not to go up there'. "All we could see were the hornets but they were quite large," he said.
"The only other weird animal incident we have been called to was for a duck and ducklings crossing the road and one of the ducklings fell down a drain." A female resident was in the bathroom when the ceiling came down and ran into the bedroom.
The weight of the nest brought it through the property's second-floor ceiling, filling the upstairs of the property with angry hornets and trapping the pair in their bedroom. Firefighters used a ladder to rescue the couple from their room.
Crew manager Martyn Sadler said he has never been called to something like this before. He described the noise as 'quite substantial' and added they 'definitely made the decision not to go up there'. "All we could see were the hornets but they were quite large," he said.
"The only other weird animal incident we have been called to was for a duck and ducklings crossing the road and one of the ducklings fell down a drain." A female resident was in the bathroom when the ceiling came down and ran into the bedroom.
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