Tuesday, August 04, 2015
Brave police officer rescued young skunk with head stuck in yogurt pot
Police officer Merlin Taylor from Rochester in Michigan could have just kept on driving.
He could have called in animal welfare workers. He could have procured a hazmat suit or a telescopic tool of some sort to keep him out of harm's way.
Instead, he walked right into the danger zone with a single rubber glove. There would be no gushing, grateful pet owner at the end his uncommonly courageous act. Just the confused stare of a young skunk.
Taylor spotted the frantic skunk on West Third Street in Rochester on Sunday morning. It had its head stuck in a yogurt pot. Exhibiting no initial signs of fear of being sprayed, Taylor walked right up to the animal.
YouTube link.
The skunk then began running in circles until the officer snatched the pot off its head and nimbly hopped away from the range of fire. The police department released the video via its Facebook page on Monday, noting that Taylor was lucky it was a young skunk, less likely to have the firepower of an adult.
Instead, he walked right into the danger zone with a single rubber glove. There would be no gushing, grateful pet owner at the end his uncommonly courageous act. Just the confused stare of a young skunk.
Taylor spotted the frantic skunk on West Third Street in Rochester on Sunday morning. It had its head stuck in a yogurt pot. Exhibiting no initial signs of fear of being sprayed, Taylor walked right up to the animal.
YouTube link.
The skunk then began running in circles until the officer snatched the pot off its head and nimbly hopped away from the range of fire. The police department released the video via its Facebook page on Monday, noting that Taylor was lucky it was a young skunk, less likely to have the firepower of an adult.
Woman claims to have photographed fabled Lizard Man
A fabled swamp creature known as the Lizard Man, of Bishopville in Lee County, South Carolina, appears to have surfaced again on Sunday afternoon.
Sarah, a Sumter woman who says she went to church with a friend on Sunday morning, stepped out of the sanctuary to see the Lizard Man running along the tree line.
So she took a picture with her phone. "My hand to God, I am not making this up," she said. "I'm so excited!" She says they were just a mile or so from Scape Ore Swamp, the area where most of the Lizard Man sightings over the last 30 years have been focused. The first sighting was in the summer of 1988.
Known as the Davis sighting for the witness Christopher Davis, the then-17-year-old Davis stopped on a road bordering the Scape Ore Swamp to change a flat tyre at 2am. He heard noises, turned to see a 7-foot beast charging at him, so he ran for the safety of his car. The Lizard Man jumped on the roof as Davis tried to drive away. There were scratch marks on the roof and one of the side mirror had been damaged.
Since then the Lizard Man sightings have trailed off. One of the last alleged encounter with the Lizard Man came in 2011 when a Bishopville couple reported their car had been mauled overnight. There were teeth marks in in the metal and saliva coating several discarded parts. There have been plaster casts of the mythical beast's claw. There have been million-dollar rewards to capture the Lizard Man alive. But the creature has not been seen in more than a decade - until now.
So she took a picture with her phone. "My hand to God, I am not making this up," she said. "I'm so excited!" She says they were just a mile or so from Scape Ore Swamp, the area where most of the Lizard Man sightings over the last 30 years have been focused. The first sighting was in the summer of 1988.
Known as the Davis sighting for the witness Christopher Davis, the then-17-year-old Davis stopped on a road bordering the Scape Ore Swamp to change a flat tyre at 2am. He heard noises, turned to see a 7-foot beast charging at him, so he ran for the safety of his car. The Lizard Man jumped on the roof as Davis tried to drive away. There were scratch marks on the roof and one of the side mirror had been damaged.
Since then the Lizard Man sightings have trailed off. One of the last alleged encounter with the Lizard Man came in 2011 when a Bishopville couple reported their car had been mauled overnight. There were teeth marks in in the metal and saliva coating several discarded parts. There have been plaster casts of the mythical beast's claw. There have been million-dollar rewards to capture the Lizard Man alive. But the creature has not been seen in more than a decade - until now.
Crowds flock to see religious wall sign
Thousands of people in Mali's capital, Bamako, are flocking to see what it believed to a religious sign on a wall that suddenly appeared last weekend.
Many believe the white image on the outside wall of a toilet shows a man praying, interpreting it as a message from God.
Riot police have been deployed to keep an eye on the crowd as people queue day and night to see the mark. Most southern Malians are Tijani Muslims, a moderate sect of Sufi Islam. ''We believe it is a vision of our prophet,'' Aliou Traore, who lives in the compound, said.
''People have come from Senegal to see it and several Malian government ministers and religious leaders have paid us a visit,'' he said. Mr Traore said the mark has been changing shape since it first appeared. "Sometimes the white apparition leaves the wall altogether and moves around the compound. Then it goes back,'' he said.
People do not have to pay to see the mark, which has the appearance of a drying patch of cement in the shape of a standing woman, but are leaving money in a bucket, which the Traore family say they will give to the local mosque. "It's a miracle, I've seen it," schoolteacher Aboubakar Diarra said after looking at the wall. " It's obviously true. It's a sign from God to Mali that our nation is great." Followers of Tijani sect, who are mostly found in West Africa, are known for respecting "miracle" signs.
Riot police have been deployed to keep an eye on the crowd as people queue day and night to see the mark. Most southern Malians are Tijani Muslims, a moderate sect of Sufi Islam. ''We believe it is a vision of our prophet,'' Aliou Traore, who lives in the compound, said.
''People have come from Senegal to see it and several Malian government ministers and religious leaders have paid us a visit,'' he said. Mr Traore said the mark has been changing shape since it first appeared. "Sometimes the white apparition leaves the wall altogether and moves around the compound. Then it goes back,'' he said.
People do not have to pay to see the mark, which has the appearance of a drying patch of cement in the shape of a standing woman, but are leaving money in a bucket, which the Traore family say they will give to the local mosque. "It's a miracle, I've seen it," schoolteacher Aboubakar Diarra said after looking at the wall. " It's obviously true. It's a sign from God to Mali that our nation is great." Followers of Tijani sect, who are mostly found in West Africa, are known for respecting "miracle" signs.
Man stole neighbour's dog and dumped it miles away because it wouldn't stop barking
A businessman's wish for peace and quiet made him steal a constantly barking dog and dump it nearly 30 kilometres (18 miles) away.
David John Belcher, from Manawatu, New Zealand, was at the end of his tether when he drove the dog from Colyton to Woodville, the Palmerston North District Court heard on Monday.
Belcher, 57, had pleaded not guilty to stealing the dog at an earlier appearance, but changed his plea on Monday. According to a police summary of facts, Belcher was at his shrub business in Colyton, Manawatu, on April 24 when he heard the dog barking at a neighbouring property. At 11am he went on to the property, unchained the dog and drove it to Woodville, which is on the other side of the Tararua and Ruahine ranges. He took the dog's collar off and dumped the dog.
A Tararua District Council animal control officer found the dog, and a test of its microchip revealed where it belonged. Belcher told police he had taken the dog because he was sick of it barking all day. Defence lawyer Marina Anderson said the dog had been barking all day, every day. Belcher's employees were getting frustrated and he called the council six times, she said. "He left messages, but got no response. He was fed up. He now knows he can ring the SPCA for things like this."
The dog was chained up in a small area and in obvious distress, Anderson said. Belcher told Judge Gregory Ross the dog was about 30 metres away from his business. "It is quite a mongrel, your honour." Police prosecutor Sergeant Chris Whitmore said police may consider diversion, as Belcher had no convictions since 1998. A restorative justice conference could shed more light on the situation, he said. The judge did not enter a conviction and remanded Belcher until mid-August to see if restorative justice could take place.
Belcher, 57, had pleaded not guilty to stealing the dog at an earlier appearance, but changed his plea on Monday. According to a police summary of facts, Belcher was at his shrub business in Colyton, Manawatu, on April 24 when he heard the dog barking at a neighbouring property. At 11am he went on to the property, unchained the dog and drove it to Woodville, which is on the other side of the Tararua and Ruahine ranges. He took the dog's collar off and dumped the dog.
A Tararua District Council animal control officer found the dog, and a test of its microchip revealed where it belonged. Belcher told police he had taken the dog because he was sick of it barking all day. Defence lawyer Marina Anderson said the dog had been barking all day, every day. Belcher's employees were getting frustrated and he called the council six times, she said. "He left messages, but got no response. He was fed up. He now knows he can ring the SPCA for things like this."
The dog was chained up in a small area and in obvious distress, Anderson said. Belcher told Judge Gregory Ross the dog was about 30 metres away from his business. "It is quite a mongrel, your honour." Police prosecutor Sergeant Chris Whitmore said police may consider diversion, as Belcher had no convictions since 1998. A restorative justice conference could shed more light on the situation, he said. The judge did not enter a conviction and remanded Belcher until mid-August to see if restorative justice could take place.
Men arrested after shooting barramundi in hotel lobby pond with spear gun
A man who allegedly took a spear gun into a luxury hotel and shot a barramundi swimming in a pond in the lobby has been charged.
The 18-year-old and two friends allegedly went to the Hilton Double Tree in Cairns, Queensland, Australia, last Wednesday and shot the metre-long fish. Police say the trio then took the fish to a house where they cleaned and filleted it.
But it's believed they didn't get the chance to eat the fish, which police say had been living in the fresh water pond for years. The shooter allegedly returned the following day and was recognised by hotel staff who called police.
The two other men were located on Thursday afternoon and the trio were each charged with one count of trespass and unlawfully injuring an animal by night. The three are due to appear in the Cairns Magistrates Court on August 21.
The 18-year-old and two friends allegedly went to the Hilton Double Tree in Cairns, Queensland, Australia, last Wednesday and shot the metre-long fish. Police say the trio then took the fish to a house where they cleaned and filleted it.
But it's believed they didn't get the chance to eat the fish, which police say had been living in the fresh water pond for years. The shooter allegedly returned the following day and was recognised by hotel staff who called police.
The two other men were located on Thursday afternoon and the trio were each charged with one count of trespass and unlawfully injuring an animal by night. The three are due to appear in the Cairns Magistrates Court on August 21.
Italy cracks secret sheep code to arrest Mafia henchmen
Italian police on Monday arrested 11 suspects linked to the fugitive head of the Sicilian mafia, including a former boss who ran a secret message system for the mobster using a sheep-based code.
Matteo Messina Denaro, 53, who has been on the run since 1993, used a farm in Mazara del Vallo to communicate with his henchmen via the aged-old method of "pizzini", paper containing messages often written in cipher, police said.
Among those arrested was former boss Vito Gondola, 77, whose job it was to call the clan members to alert them to each new message, which was placed under a rock in a field at the farm and often destroyed on the spot after reading.
"I've put the ricotta cheese aside for you, will you come by later?" he would say on the telephone - a phrase investigators said had nothing to do with dairy products. "The sheep need shearing ... the shears need sharpening" and "the hay is ready", were among other code phrases used to alert the gang to a new message hidden in the dirt. The police investigation, which followed the passing of messages between 2011 and 2014, used hidden cameras and microphones around the farm near Trapani in western Sicily to follow the movements of the clan - and discover Denaro's fading glory.
Gondola is caught in one conversation telling another mobster that Denaro - once a trigger man who reportedly boasted he could "fill a cemetery" with his victims - was losing control over the latest generation of criminals, who "disappear without saying anything". Three of those arrested were over 70 years old. The only known photos of Denaro date back to the early 1990s. He is believed to be the successor of the godfathers Toto Riina and Bernardo Provenzano, who are both serving life sentences, but less is known about him. The 11 suspects arrested "were the men who were closest to Denaro right now," said police official Renato Cortese, adding that it was "too early to say" whether the sting would help investigators close in on the fugitive.
Prime Minister Matteo Renzi thanked the investigators, saying "onwards all, to finally capture the super-fugitive boss," insisting "Italy is united against organised crime" despite a recent slew of corruption scandals in the country. "The state wins, the Mafia loses," Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said. Gondola, who despite his age rose every morning at 4am to tend to his flock, is believed to have once been a right-hand man to Riina. In the 1970s he belonged to a gang used by the Mafia to carry out kidnappings, according to Italian media. The Sicilian Mafia, known as "Cosa Nostra" or "Our Thing", was the country's most powerful organised crime syndicate in the 1980s and 1990s, but has seen its power diminish following years of investigations and mass arrests. It also faces fierce underworld competition from the increasingly powerful Naples-based Camorra and Calabria's 'Ndrangheta.
"I've put the ricotta cheese aside for you, will you come by later?" he would say on the telephone - a phrase investigators said had nothing to do with dairy products. "The sheep need shearing ... the shears need sharpening" and "the hay is ready", were among other code phrases used to alert the gang to a new message hidden in the dirt. The police investigation, which followed the passing of messages between 2011 and 2014, used hidden cameras and microphones around the farm near Trapani in western Sicily to follow the movements of the clan - and discover Denaro's fading glory.
Gondola is caught in one conversation telling another mobster that Denaro - once a trigger man who reportedly boasted he could "fill a cemetery" with his victims - was losing control over the latest generation of criminals, who "disappear without saying anything". Three of those arrested were over 70 years old. The only known photos of Denaro date back to the early 1990s. He is believed to be the successor of the godfathers Toto Riina and Bernardo Provenzano, who are both serving life sentences, but less is known about him. The 11 suspects arrested "were the men who were closest to Denaro right now," said police official Renato Cortese, adding that it was "too early to say" whether the sting would help investigators close in on the fugitive.
Prime Minister Matteo Renzi thanked the investigators, saying "onwards all, to finally capture the super-fugitive boss," insisting "Italy is united against organised crime" despite a recent slew of corruption scandals in the country. "The state wins, the Mafia loses," Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said. Gondola, who despite his age rose every morning at 4am to tend to his flock, is believed to have once been a right-hand man to Riina. In the 1970s he belonged to a gang used by the Mafia to carry out kidnappings, according to Italian media. The Sicilian Mafia, known as "Cosa Nostra" or "Our Thing", was the country's most powerful organised crime syndicate in the 1980s and 1990s, but has seen its power diminish following years of investigations and mass arrests. It also faces fierce underworld competition from the increasingly powerful Naples-based Camorra and Calabria's 'Ndrangheta.
City centre drug dealers fled after mistaking stray labrador for police sniffer dog
A stray labrador scared off suspected drug dealers in Manchester's Piccadilly Gardens after officers took it for a walk and they feared it was a sniffer dog.
The dog had been handed in the force’s city centre pod after being found by a member of the public who was concerned that it had been abandoned. But when they decided to take it for a stroll through the gardens, well-known for dealers peddling cannabis, they spotted a couple of people making a quick getaway.
Inspector Phil Spurgeon, from the city centre policing team, said: “After being handed in to us, the staff at the pod took it for a walk. Quickly after setting off, they saw a couple of lads scurrying off thinking it was a sniffer dog. The dog has now been passed on to our contracted team of vets who will now send it on to a dogs home.”
Inspector Spurgeon added: “We do take the drug issue in Piccadilly Gardens seriously and are still making arrests and getting results in court for people who push drugs in the area. But staff are doing it day in day out so they have to have those little moments of irony or farce that keep them smiling while working in a challenging area.”
The dog had been handed in the force’s city centre pod after being found by a member of the public who was concerned that it had been abandoned. But when they decided to take it for a stroll through the gardens, well-known for dealers peddling cannabis, they spotted a couple of people making a quick getaway.
Inspector Phil Spurgeon, from the city centre policing team, said: “After being handed in to us, the staff at the pod took it for a walk. Quickly after setting off, they saw a couple of lads scurrying off thinking it was a sniffer dog. The dog has now been passed on to our contracted team of vets who will now send it on to a dogs home.”
Inspector Spurgeon added: “We do take the drug issue in Piccadilly Gardens seriously and are still making arrests and getting results in court for people who push drugs in the area. But staff are doing it day in day out so they have to have those little moments of irony or farce that keep them smiling while working in a challenging area.”
Rare white wallaby spotted in Northamptonshire
A rare white wallaby has been spotted hopping around the Northamptonshire countryside.
The wild mammal, which hails from Australia, was spotted by horse riders in some fields at Salcey Forest, near Roade, on Friday afternoon.
One of the shocked riders was Caroline Phillips, who owns the fields where the albino wallaby was seen.
And coincidentally, Caroline is actually from Australia herself.
"It was extremely bizarre especially with me being Australian," she said.
"We all thought it was very surreal but felt so privileged as well."
Describing the sudden turn of events while out with her friends riding horses, Caroline, 41, said: "My friend Florence was riding her stallion in one of our fields at around 3.30pm, when she came back telling me there was a white kangaroo in the field. She didn't seem excited at all when she told me, she may as well have told me she saw a blade of grass she was so calm. Needless to say, I had thought she was obviously mistaken or crazy ... so I thought I'd humour her and go back with her to see the 'mysterious creature'". Heading out into the unknown, Caroline said the first thing she saw was a 'white thing' at the very bottom of her 16 acre field.
"I walked towards it for ages and had still thought it was probably a bit of plastic stuck on the hedge," she said. "Florence was adamant it was a kangaroo, I was sure it wasn't. I come from Australia where most Australians don't see kangaroos in the wild so it was not likely to happen in England was it? Especially a rare white one. I then decided to go back to the stables and get my phone and my husband. In Australia, when someone's sanity is in question there is a saying .. 'They've got Kangaroos in the top paddock'. My husband always thought I did. We headed back with our phones and the 'white thing' was still in the same place - surely a bit of plastic.
YouTube link.
"We walked towards it and when we got close enough we could see it was an animal of some sort, I still didn't think I was going to find a kangaroo. Then it hopped away. Luckily I was filming. We got quite close to it and stayed in the field watching for at least hald an hour. We had thought it may be an escaped pet but apparently there have been sightings of wild wallabies before, but as far as I know no one has ever photographed a white one though." Caroline added: "Thankfully we filmed it or no one would believe us." In the UK there are small colonies of wallabies living in rural areas of the British countryside, including the Lake District, parts of the Peak District and around Loch Lomond in Scotland. However, white wallabies are very rare indeed.
Describing the sudden turn of events while out with her friends riding horses, Caroline, 41, said: "My friend Florence was riding her stallion in one of our fields at around 3.30pm, when she came back telling me there was a white kangaroo in the field. She didn't seem excited at all when she told me, she may as well have told me she saw a blade of grass she was so calm. Needless to say, I had thought she was obviously mistaken or crazy ... so I thought I'd humour her and go back with her to see the 'mysterious creature'". Heading out into the unknown, Caroline said the first thing she saw was a 'white thing' at the very bottom of her 16 acre field.
"I walked towards it for ages and had still thought it was probably a bit of plastic stuck on the hedge," she said. "Florence was adamant it was a kangaroo, I was sure it wasn't. I come from Australia where most Australians don't see kangaroos in the wild so it was not likely to happen in England was it? Especially a rare white one. I then decided to go back to the stables and get my phone and my husband. In Australia, when someone's sanity is in question there is a saying .. 'They've got Kangaroos in the top paddock'. My husband always thought I did. We headed back with our phones and the 'white thing' was still in the same place - surely a bit of plastic.
YouTube link.
"We walked towards it and when we got close enough we could see it was an animal of some sort, I still didn't think I was going to find a kangaroo. Then it hopped away. Luckily I was filming. We got quite close to it and stayed in the field watching for at least hald an hour. We had thought it may be an escaped pet but apparently there have been sightings of wild wallabies before, but as far as I know no one has ever photographed a white one though." Caroline added: "Thankfully we filmed it or no one would believe us." In the UK there are small colonies of wallabies living in rural areas of the British countryside, including the Lake District, parts of the Peak District and around Loch Lomond in Scotland. However, white wallabies are very rare indeed.
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