Shopping - how about adopting a snake

With the conflict between man and animal getting more intense as man enters more and more into the habitat of wild animals, there is greater contact with wild animals and that can literally scare people, and it is right of people to get scared when they have such encounters, since wild animals can be unpredictable and can badly injure or kill you depending on the circumstances. For example, if you come across a 12 feet long snake while searching for a shopping basket, the snake could be venomous or non-venomous, could be aggressive or could be scared of people; most people are not expert enough to figure out. The right thing to do is to call experts such as happened in this case (link to article):

A cart attendant at a Walmart outlet in Texas received a huge scare when he found a large snake in a shopping cart. The employee was collecting shopping carts from the supermarket's return area when he saw the snake. His "loud scream" drew the attention of a cop standing on the opposite side of the parking lot, the Northeast Police Department said in a Facebook post. According to the post, the snake was identified as a nonvenomous rat snake. Found entangled between two shopping carts, it was removed with the help of a man whom the police identified as a "snake charmer" - John Heckaman.

Weird news - Shark drops from the sky onto a golf course

Imagine that you are on a golf course, enjoying a quiet game of golf on a beautiful green course, concentrating on making the next shot that could give you a good score. And then suddenly you see an obstacle that you would never have predicted, a shark falls from the sky nearby. Now, a shark can be a very scary animal for most people (except for those who work with the shark as part of their work) and even though this is a 2 foot long shark, it is still a shark. The only solace for you is that the shark is not in water and is only 2 foot long.
However, since the shark was still alive, a concerted effort was made to save its life, first by placing it into a bucket that contained salt water (prepared for trying to keep the shark alive) and then a worker at the golf course took the shark to the ocean that was about 4 miles away. And there it seemed that all the effort made to save the shark was in vain, since the shark did not make any movement initially when the shark was placed in the water, but within a few seconds, the shark recovered and swam away, making all the efforts worth while.
So how can a shark drop out of the sky ? Well, there are birds who are capable of picking up the shark from the ocean and taking it for a meal, and small wounds on the shark seemed to suggest the same, although no one actually saw the bird carrying the shark. Refer this article (link to article):

"I thought he was dead," Stizer told the Dispatch. "When I dropped him into the water, he just lied there for a few seconds, but then he did a twist and shot off into the water." The shark, which reportedly had two bleeding wounds near its dorsal fin, is thought to have been dropped over the golf course by a predatory bird, though no one is known to have actually seen the shark fall. Julianne Steers, chief aquarist at the Ocean Institute near the golf course, told the Dispatch that there are ospreys and peregrine falcons in the area that could have snatched the shark from shallow waters before losing hold of it.

Weird news - Man bites and kills snakes in revenge after snake bit him

In areas that have forests or green land nearby and the temperature is more tropical, there are snakes to be found. And given the increased presence of humans in such areas (and especially with activities such as agriculture where there is a lot of disturbance of the ground), there is bound to be more interaction between humans and snake. And when these snakes are poisonous, when the snake feels threatened by some activity of the human, snake bites happen, which in turn can be dangerous. These cause a large number of people to die by snake bite in such regions, especially when these regions can be away from medical facilities that can provide the anti-venom.
But there are far fewer cases of humans attacking the snake after the snake has bit, such as in this case where the farmer who was bit by the snake (a non-poisonous one) got angry and got after the snake, biting it to death (which is not at all a common reaction after being bit by a snake) (link to article):

A Nepalese farmer who was bitten by a venomous snake took revenge by sinking his teeth into the reptile and killing it, police said on Thursday. Mohamed Salmo Miya was farming near his village 200 kilometres (125 miles) southeast of Kathmandu when he encountered the deadly common cobra, district police chief Uma Prasad Chatrubedi told AFP. "A farmer in Bardanga village has killed a white cobra with his teeth out of anger," he said. "The snake bit him while he was working in his paddy field on Tuesday evening and the man chased it and killed it."

Weird news - Dog dedicated to master, stays by his grave for 6 years

They say that a dog is devoted to human, called man's best friend. There have been many cases where a dog has put in his best efforts to save the human, and other cases where a dog has senses danger (including a fire in the house) and managed to get his owner to get out of danger. A dog is also the prime leader for many blind people, leading them around safely and acting as their eyes.
This devotion to their human masters is a well deserved reputation, such as when you consider the following case where the devotion of the dog to its master went well beyond the life of the master, and it seems wonderful how the dog could detect where its master was buried, since the death took place in a hospital and the dead body was then taken to the burial ground to be buried. After this, even though the family wanted to take the dog to the house, he came back to the burial ground (link to article):

The dog called Capitan, a German Shepherd, had disappeared from his home in the small town of Villa Carlos Paz in the centre of Argentina following the death of his owner, Miguel Guzman, in March, 2006. Nobody in Guzman’s family noticed the absence of the dog for days, until the members visited Miguel’s grave at a municipal cemetery. “Damian (Guzman’s son) started to shout that it was Capitan and the dog came toward us barking, as if he were crying,” the New York Daily News quoted Guzman’s wife, Veronica Moreno, as telling the La Voz del Interior.

Weird news - Dog saves himself by calling the emergency number

Well, no one is going to say that the dog actually called the emergency number through the phone by intention, but it happened that way. It seems very weird when you read the news, but the actual fact is that the dog somehow got his neck entangled in the long wire of the landline telephone, and through the twisting while trying to get away from the wire, managed to press the emergency number (999) which is the emergency number of the United Kingdom.
This managed to get the emergency services to the home, but they were looking for some human who was injured or in an emergency condition, but it was a neighbor who came to the house and who managed to detect the dog in a choking condition and helped the dog get away from the wire (link to article):

The operator at the other end could only hear heavy breathing and gasping. Sensing an emergency situation, the operator alerted the police, who rushed to the empty home of driving instructor Steve Brown and daughter Lydia. The police team began searching for an aged or injured person in the house, located in South Hiendley, West Yorkshire.
It was only when a neighbour, Paul Walker, walked into the living room that George was found choking — with the phone wound tightly round his neck.

Weird news - Cat willed 10 million pounds, but won't get it

From time to time, you hear of rich people bypassing any relatives they have, and donating sizable sums of money to some of their pets, and you can wonder about the significance of such wills, since you are leaving money (which is a creation of man) to non-humans. An animal has no knowledge of money, how to handle it, or any other item related to money (except that if they live in a rich house, they get used to more luxury, food at regular intervals, and so on).
In another case, an Italian lady left a huge fortune of 10 million pounds to her cat, a stray that the lady had adopted since she loved animals. The lady had no close relatives, so this decision was all the more easy, and unlikely that you would get relatives stepping up to challenge such a decision (link to article):

Believe it or not, an Italian cat has inherited a fortune of £10 million after her owner died aged 94, reportedly making her the third richest pet in the world.
Maria Assunta died last month and according to lawyers entrusted with her estate, she left the fortune in property to Tommasino, a stray cat she had found and looked after because of her love for animals, the 'Daily Mail' reported.

However, as per Italian law, the gift cannot be made directly to the animal, and hence there is a hunt for animal rights organizations.

Weird news - Burglars rob a house, kill the witnesses (goldfish)

It is one of the most common conceptions, that goldfish have one of the shortest memories of all animals, with the memory level supposed to be that of a second. This is apparently a misconception, with the scientific belief being that goldfish can remember things for 3 months. However, when you combine this with the strongly held belief by some burglars that they need to get rid of all witnesses, the consequences were tragic for the goldfish.
Some teenagers robbed a house, and being young and enthusiastic, and having probably seen too many episodes of CSI, they were worried about being identified and caught, and hence decided to eliminate any possible witnesses to the crime, which in this case, were only some poor goldfish in the tank (link to article):

An Illinois teenager is facing residential burglary and cruelty to animals raps after killing a trio of potential witnesses to an Arlington Heights burglary - three goldfish. On 24 January, the unnamed 16-year-old and two accomplices, aged 15 and 17, targeted an apartment in a block which had been evacuated following a fire on 19 January. Police say they "pried open a door and stole a video game system, CD player, 30 video games, 30 DVDs, a BB gun, jewelry and a safe".
When the residents returned, they discovered "hot sauce, mustard, ketchup and spices had been poured into their fish tank and three goldfish floating at the top", the local Daily Herald reports.

Weird news - Cat called for jury duty, owner tries to get exemption

In the United States, the jury system is the backbone of the judicial system, whereby people are governed by a jury made of their peers; so, for a trial, a jury is selected out of all the eligible population, with very few people exempt. So, people are called for jury duty, and are then selected by the lawyers for both sides; it is not easy to get an exemption from this jury duty, and the law looks unfavorably at any attempts to try to evade this duty.
But, sometimes, the officialdom that make up any system can get trapped into their red tape and processes, and lead to some hilarious situations, which get reported as weird situations. What can you call a situations where a cat is called for jury duty and the owner is running around trying to make the judicial system understand that this is an animal, not a human being (link to article):

Mrs Esposito had included a letter from her vet confirming that the cat was "a domestic short-haired neutered feline".
Tabby Sal had been entered by Mrs Esposito under the 'pets' section of the last census. "When they ask him guilty or not guilty? What's he supposed to say - miaow?" She said.
"Sal is a member of the family so I listed him on the last Census form under pets but there has clearly been a mix-up."

Weird news - Hero dog accidentally put to sleep (death)

When something like this incident happens, you wonder about how such things can happen. Imagine a dog who saved soldiers in Afghanistan by attacking a soldier bomber and preventing harm to the soldiers in such a manner. And, when finally the stray dog is adopted and brought back to the United States, and then runs away from the adoptee's house. She was found and sent to a animal shelter, where an employee of the shelter euthanized the dog, not knowing how famous the dog was (the dog had even been featured on CNN for saving around a dozen soldiers).
And now there is really nothing that can be done, given that the hero dog is now dead (with the family that adopted her being heart-broken); the only thing that could be done was that the person who did the actual deed was placed on administrative leave (link to article)

The dog, Target, was recently brought over from Afghanistan by a soldier who had returned from his tour of duty. Target was featured by CNN for heroism after saving dozens of soldiers from a suicide bomber on February 11. "She got her name because the Afghans we lived with were constantly trying to off her. She's been shot in the leg. ... The Afghans actually ran over her," Sgt. Christopher Duke said, who helped care for Target in Afghanistan and has adopted her packmate Rufus. "There's no killing this dog for sure. She's pretty much been through it all, " he said upon their reunion in July in Georgia.
Target's new owner, Army Sgt. Terry Young whose life was saved by the stray, helped bring the 2-ish-year-old from Afghanistan to her new home in Arizona. She disappeared from Young's home on Friday. Facebook postings requested help in finding her.

Weird news - Man charged with sex with a horse, especially for the second time

Having sex with animals is regarded as a crime, with specific laws against it. In some cases, people who have been charged with this crime have been also listed as sex offenders and placed on a watchlist. In this case, there are further problems where the owner of the animal with which the alleged crime has taken place is highly confused by the behavior of the animal and tried to find out what had happened, especially since the same thing had happened earlier. The owner was shocked to find the same man doing the same thing, especially since the problem was reported some years back and the person had been charged (link to article);

Kenley said she noticed several weeks ago her 21-year-old horse Sugar was acting strange and getting infections again. She noticed things in the barn had been moved around – dirt piled up and bales of hay stacked near the horse's stall at her Lazy B Stables in Longs, about 20 miles northeast of Myrtle Beach. "Police kept telling me it couldn't be the same guy," Kenley said Wednesday. "I couldn't believe that there were two guys going around doing this to the same horse."
Kenley didn't call police because she was certain the man would come back to the stable, and she wanted to make sure he was arrested. So she staked out the barn and caught Vereen inside Monday night, chasing him to his truck and holding him with her shotgun until police came. "He said he wasn't there to do anything, and I said, 'I know you were. I have you on tape.' And then he said he was sorry if he hurt me," Kenley said.

Weird News: Man charged with trying to have sex with a sheep in New Zealand

In law, it is illegal for humans to try to have sex with animals, although occasionally people are caught on this charge, and such types of videos are also found on porn sites. Such cases also shock people who cannot believe as to why somebody would think about trying to have sex with other animals rather than with humans. Consider this case from New Zealand where he was seen by somebody else when he was trying to force himself on the sheep, and was charged with the crime. One of the prime objectives of his lawyer was to try to ensure that any information about the name of the man or his identity was concealed (link to article):

He was remanded on bail on one charge of attempting to commit an act of indecency with a sheep. The lawyer representing the man applied for a suppression order prohibiting the publication of his name, occupation and address after the Herald on Sunday started making inquiries about the incident.
It is understood a woman jogging saw the alleged incident on the outskirts of a small town, about an hour away from Christchurch, and reported it to police.

Imagine hiding from police dressed up as sheep, after escaping from a prison

How often would you have heard of stories of people taking on animal disguises to escape from police ? Not very often, right ? These are mostly part of comics or fiction, but normally you would consider that the physical structure of humans is very different from those of animals, and to consider that a human being could wear an animal outfit and hide from people seems to be a difficult concept to accept. Yet, you have these convicts escaping from a high security prison by wearing outfits in the shape of sheep (which are very different physically from humans) and managing to escape from the police who were looking for them (link to article):

Maximiliano Pereyra and Ariel Diaz stole the sheep hides from a ranch after fleeing from an Argentinian maximum security prison a week ago, The Sun has reported.
The duo managed to evade 300 policemen on their trail by disguising themselves as sheep. Locals have seen them running through farmland at night.
"They were wearing grey clothes but had full sheepskins, including the sheep's heads, over their heads and back," a farmworker was quoted as saying.

Bear does the job of army, kills militants in Indian Kashmir

The Indian territory of Jammu and Kashmir, has seen an insurgency with a conflict between the Indian Government and Islamic militants, backed by Pakistan. The fight between them has been going on now for almost 2 decades, and can be pretty brutal.
The cat and mouse game between these 2 covers many parts of the territory of Kashmir; and given that Himalayas pass through the territory, there is a lot of mountainous region. Given that the region is also heavily forested, there are also many animals in the region.
In this case, the militants were hiding in a cave in a high-up region, and were attacked by a bear that claimed the cave for itself (link to article):

The militants had assault rifles but were taken by surprise - police found the remains of pudding they had made to eat when the bear attacked. The militants had made their hideout in a cave which was actually the bear's den, said police officer Farooq Ahmed.
The dead have been identified as Mohammad Amin alias Qaiser, and Bashir Ahmed alias Saifullah.
News of the attack emerged when their injured comrade went to a nearby village for treatment.
"Word spread in the village that Qaiser had been killed by the bear," another police officer said.

Eating a burger made with camel meat

Restaurants all over the world serve exotic meals, but how often have you seen a traditional food item becoming exotic. Burgers are famous for chicken or beef patties, and in countries such as India, having vegetarian patties. But to use meat that is something that most of us would not associate with traditional food, to eat camel meat, can be pretty strange (link to article):

A new fast food sensation has hit the Emirates' culinary scene. Right now, Dubai diners can't seem to get enough of the "camel burger." "It's a sensation," Ramesh, restaurant manager at "Local House" the restaurant chain behind the burgers told CNN. "Everyone's bored of beef and chicken. So, as soon as the word got out, we had queues of customers eager to give it a try."
"Not only are they super healthy, but the flavor is amazing," he told CNN of the centuries-old Bedouin delicacy they have given a 21st century twist. Instead of the familiar sesame bun, they serve the burgers with freshly-baked "khameer" -- a popular and yeasty regional read.

Foolhardy: Getting mauled by a lion after climbing into its cage

Wild animals are called wild for a certain reason. Their behavior is unpredictable, they can be aggressive if they feel that they or their young ones are threatened, or if their territory is being encroached upon. Further, for many of them, their nature is such that they can be aggressive; but that does not deter people from trying out some crazy and wild stunts. What would you call a person who gets into a lion cage in a zoo and is then saved from serious damage by the keeper of the cage ? Such a person was inviting trouble, and it is only prompt action that saved him (link to article):

A travel writer was lucky to escape with minor injuries after his venture into a lion's den turned ugly. British journalist Charles Starmer Smith visited the South African wildlife park to "play" with one-year-old lion Mapimpan — whose name translates to "little baby".
Finally the handler was able to corner the cat in the pen's corner, allowing the journalist to calmly make his escape. He could be seen bleeding from his leg through his shredded torn pants and required stitches for his relatively minor injuries.

Rat eating plant found in Phillipines

Not many people know that there are plants that eat meat as well. Say again ? Plants that eat meat ? Yes. There have plants such as the pitcher plant and sundew that eat meat. But humans need not be worried as yet. In a recent discovery by scientists, a plant that can eat rats has been found on Mount Victoria in Palawan, central Philippines. The plant has been named in honour of Sir David Attenborough. The plant has a pitcher which attracts insects and rats, and then takes nutrition from these animals (link to article):

The new discovery measures up to 30 centimeters in diameter and is formed by a tendril which inflates into a large cup-shaped trap. McPherson told CNN: "Around the mouth of the pitcher are secretions of nectar which attracts insects and small animals. The rim has lots of waxy downward-pointing ridges which help prey fall directly into the pitcher.
"These plants grow in really harsh areas where soil quality is very poor -- often pure gravel or sand. Catching insects allows the plant to augment nutrients that it otherwise wouldn't have access to." "These plants have evolved to catch insects. But on rare occasions they do catch rats and mice. The first reports of these plants catching rats was made in the 19th century by a British explorer called Spenser St John," McPherson said.

This is very interesting for those people who see a very clear separation between vegetarian and non-vegetarian food. If a plant can itself eat meat, then that separation starts to wither away.

Humour: Kenyan offers animals for Chelsea Clinton

Chelsea Clinton's (wikipedia) dowry: 40 goats and 20 cows.
Now if you have finished laughing, this was actually a proposal made by a Kenyan man (Godwin Kipkemoi Chepkurgor). Giving livestock for gaining the hand of a girl in marriage is apparently proper in Kenya, and this offer was first made 9 years ago when the then President Clinton had visited Kenya. He renewed the offer when President Clinton's wife, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Kenya, and she was told of the offer in an open session. What makes the offer even more interesting is that the man is already married, but it would be legal for him in Kenya to get a second wife. However, it would be quite apparent that he would have to wait for quite some time for Chelsea to agree to this proposal.
Maybe the man felt emboldened since now President Obama has kin in Kenya, and this would have made Godwin seem bolder. A secretary of state cannot be rude or be forcefully direct, so Hillary took the most politically correct answer in terms of stating that this would be Chelsea's decision. :-) (link to article):

CNN's Fareed Zakaria, the session's moderator, commented that given the economic crisis at hand, Chepkurgor's dowry was "not a bad offer." However, Clinton said her daughter was her own person. "She's very independent," she said. "So I will convey this very kind offer."
In Kenya, a man proposes with dowry for the prospective bride, Chepkurgor explained. He said he stands by his initial livestock offer until someone makes a counteroffer. Chepkurgor, now 39, first made his intentions known when all three Clintons visited East Africa in 2000. He wrote a letter to the former president, offering himself as his only child's suitor. He said he had not expected the secretary of state to address the issue during her visit to Kenya this week.

Festival celebrating roadkill

Food festivals are different the world over, with different cultures all over the world, and different cuisines. Let me ask you this - how many of you have heard of roadkill ? You know, the case where animals such as deer, snakes, squirrels, possums, get killed by speeding vehicles and can be found on the side of roads. How do you combine the two ? Ugh - what a prospect. But there is a food festival where the food is essentially supposed to be based on roadkill, and this festival is so popular that hotels and motels are booked in the city when it is supposed to happen (link to article):

Thousands of people converge on the small town of Marlinton, West Virginia, each fall for a feast whose main ingredients were unlucky enough to crawl, slither or lurk too close to a speeding car. "There are some that are better than others, but I've never really had anything that I really didn't like," Cain said. "But there was one year they cooked a rattlesnake in some kind of stew, and ... there was no way I could taste that one."
About 10,000 people from all over the country came to last year's gathering, Cain said. All dishes featured in the festival must have animals commonly found dead on the side of the road -- such as deer, squirrels and snakes -- as their main ingredient. But the meat doesn't have to be actual roadkill.

I certainly don't want to be the judge for such an event, but it does seem to be incredibly popular.

Cuddly giant panda attacks human, again !

Giant pandas would probably we counted as among the most cute and cuddly looking animals on earth, so cute in fact, that they are the symbols of the World Wildlife Fund. However, the giant panda is a wild animal, and like any other wild animals, must be approached with caution. Here is a gentleman who thought that a panda was all cute and cuddly, and suffered quite serious bites as a result:

Gu Gu is not your typical soft and cuddly giant panda. Zhang Jiao was attacked by Gu Gu the panda when he fell into the pen at the Beijing Zoo on Wednesday. For the third time, he's tasted the flesh of an unwitting intruder in his pen at the Beijing Zoo. His most recent victim was 28-year-old Zhang Jiao, who told CNN he fell into the panda pen Wednesday while trying to catch a small toy thrown by his young son.
The 240-pound giant panda sunk his teeth into Zhang's left leg before moving on to the right leg. "The panda is a national treasure, and I love and respect [him], so I didn't fight back," Zhang said. "The panda didn't let go until it chewed up my leg and its mouth was dripping with my blood." Zookeepers needed to use tools to pry open Gu Gu's jaws.

However, there is no end to the stupidity of man. This happened in the enclosure of a seemingly cute animal, but people have been known to step in the enclosures holding dangerous animals such as tigers, lions, crocs, etc.

Woman leaves mother covered with cats (to keep warm)

As people get older, they need more care. In winter, having adequate facilities and heating is an important part of that need. So what do you think about a lady who took her 84 year old mother out of a nursing home, and put her in a home alone where there was no one to take care of her, where the toilet facilities were not working, where there were a huge number of animals and the old lady was depending on the heat from the huge number of cats to keep warm:

NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. -- About 50 cats, 20 ducks and 15 turkeys were taken from a New Smyrna Beach home, and a woman was arrested after her 84-year-old mother told authorities that she kept warm by covering herself with the animals, according to Volusia County sheriff's deputies. Mary Bosket, 54, was arrested on a charge of neglect to the elderly after her mother was found on Thanksgiving Day at the Glencoe Road home, which was in deplorable conditions and did not have a working heater, deputies said.
In one of the bedrooms, the deputy said he found caged turkeys, although one was wandering freely around the room. In another bedroom, ducks were found, along with an empty kid's swimming pool. A dog was in a third bedroom, where its feces had piled up, according to the Volusia County Sheriff's Office. Several geese, ducks and chickens were found in the back yard, deputies said. The only toilet in the home did not work and the sinks would not drain water, deputies said.

The lady could not answer questions as to why she had taken her mother out of the nursing home, and kept her this way, and was eventually arrested. It was good that deputies found the old lady, else there was a good chance that she could have died.