News of the Weird - this just in!

[Nereus]

PETA hits out after woman bites camel's testicles 'in self defence'

https://au.news.yahoo.com/peta-his-out- ... 50984.html

PETA has hit out at a truck stop famous for exotic animals after a woman bit a camel on the testicles in ‘self-defence’.

Casper the camel is the main attraction at the Tiger Truck Stop in Iberville Parish and greets travellers as they pass through the US state of Louisiana.

As Gloria and Edmond Lancaster were passing through, they decided to pull up and unleash their pet dog.
In Iberville Parish Sheriff’s Office documents obtained by local newspaper The Advocate on Monday, the couple is accused of then throwing treats into Casper’s enclosure, enticing the deaf dog to enter.

When the camel reportedly attacked the dog, Mrs Lancaster, 68, and her 73-year-old husband crawled under the double barbed wire fence to try and retrieve their pet.

According to police reports, the camel then sat on Mrs Lancaster she felt she had no choice but to bite the camel on the testicles to free herself.

“Mr Lancaster stated that his wife bit the camels (sic) private parts in desperation to get the camel off of her as it bit him on the left elbow," the affidavit obtained by The Advocate said.

"After the camel stood up his wife was able to get free, grab their small dog and get back outside of the fenced in barbed wire fence."

The truck stop manager Pamela Bossier said a veterinarian prescribed Capser with antibiotics as a precaution after checking the “gentle giant” over.

“It was just crazy,” Ms Bossier told the Washington Post on Monday,
“Why would somebody do that?”

Iberville Parish Deputy Louis Hamilton Jr. told The Advocate, "The camel did nothing wrong".
"They (the couple) were aggressive, the camel was just doing its normal routine,"he said.

Video footage reportedly showed the couple continuing to shove the camel after Mrs Lancaster had freed herself.

Animal activists PETA said the story is “everything that’s wrong with keeping animals as roadside attractions”.
The rest stop is known for keeping exotic animals to entertain visitors, and in 2017 the owner was forced to euthanise Tony the tiger who had spent 17 years in a cage at the location.

The owners of the truck stop posted on Facebook that Tony had been exhibiting “typical signs that death was imminent”.

The Tiger Truck Stop are currently trying to gain permission to house a new tiger at the location.
PETA’s website states that the owner of the petrol station believes having exotic animals is a necessity for his businesses to thrive.

“He apparently still believes that you can’t sell gasoline and slushies without enslaving and abusing animals, so he acquired Caspar as well as a miniature horse, a coatimundi, and a baby kangaroo,” PETA wrote on their website.

Ms Bossier told the Washington Post in 30 years of operation there had never been any incidents involving its animals.

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[handdrummer]

PETA: People Eating Tasty Animals.

[Nereus]

Watch out Japies!
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
5 metre python chases tourists to their car while on safari

https://www.news.com.au/travel/world-tr ... c40a690e39

If snakes aren’t your thing, spare a thought for this group of wildlife watchers who came face-to-face with a giant python while on safari.

A group of tourists on safari in South Africa have met their match while driving through a remote part of the country in their Land Rover.

While wildlife-spotting on a dirt road near Durban, a group of tourists were filmed jumping into their cars and trying to flee when a giant 5m-long python made its way on to the bonnet of the car.

In the video, the ordeal starts when a man spots the reptile sitting underneath a boat which appears to be bogged on the dirt road.
After attempts to move the snake by grabbing its tail, the python slithers towards the white Land Rover and mounts the bonnet.

The driver in the 4WD tries to reverse away from the giant snake, which falls off the car, but instead of retreating — the python follows the fleeing vehicle.

Despite the size of the snake, the African Rock Python is a non-venomous snake of sub-Saharan Africa. As the country’s largest snake, this species is one of the six largest snake species in the world.

The African rock python kills its prey by constriction and often eats animals up to the size of antelope, occasionally even crocodiles. The snake reproduces by egg-laying and, unlike most snakes, the female protects her nest and sometimes even her hatchlings.

While the size of the snake does scare people, it very rarely kills humans.

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[Nereus]

Couple discovers 'insane' reason behind car's burning smell

https://au.news.yahoo.com/pennsylvania- ... 25179.html

Squirrelling away supplies for winter took on a whole new meaning for a couple in the United States after they discovered their car’s bonnet was full of walnuts and grass.

Holly Persic was driving to a library in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, when she noticed there was something wrong with her car.

"My wife called me from Northland Library and said that her car smelt like it was burning, and was making a weird sound," Chris Persic said in a Facebook post that has since gone viral.

Holly opened the hood to find an engine full of walnuts neatly packed in grass, presumably stored there by squirrels at the weekend when the vehicle had been parked in the open.

Chris spent almost an hour cleaning out "over 200 (not an exaggeration) walnuts and grass from under the hood", he continued in the post.

The couple seemed to take the incident in their stride.
"There's definitely an angry squirrel wife right now wondering where all the nuts went,” Chris said.

One man commented on the situation was “insane”.

“Y’all need some squirrel repellant under the hoods,” he said.
“This made me check under my hood. Thanks for the tip,” another said.

According to animal rights organisation PETA, squirrels often bury nuts and seeds to survive harsh winters.
“Squirrels don’t always remember where they stored their supply of seeds and nuts for the winter,” it says on its website.

“Because squirrels often fail to reclaim the buried food, abandoned seeds and nuts often take root, establishing trees and other plants in new locations.”

The walnuts and grass caused a burning smell in the car. Source: Reuters/Holly and Chris Persic

[Nereus]

Missed this:

In autumn 2019 the clocks will go back on 27 October at 2am:

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[PeteC]

The wild west still exists, in Indiana!

3 Indiana judges suspended for drunken brawl at White Castle in which 2 were shot

(and one judge is a woman )

Video, photos and full story, which is rather long, at link.

https://www.wsbtv.com/news/deep-viral/3 ... 1008663590

[Nereus]

OOPS! Wasn't me:

Rio Tinto investigates after employee crushes own work ute with haul truck

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-11-22/ ... e/11728944

Rio Tinto says it is investigating an incident involving a loaded haul truck and a stationary light vehicle in Western Australia's Pilbara.

Rio Tinto has confirmed no one was injured in the incident.

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[handdrummer]

I'm sure his insurance was paid up and he wanted a new truck.

[Nereus]

'This is very rare': Woman dies after being attacked by wild pigs

https://au.news.yahoo.com/woman-in-rura ... 43417.html

The killing of a woman by wild pigs outside a rural Texas home where she worked as a caretaker was a rare deadly attack by the animals, authorities say.

Christine Rollins, 59, was attacked early on Sunday in the small town of Anahuac, about 65km east of Houston.

Chambers County Sheriff Brian Hawthorne said on Monday (local time) that the attack happened around 6am when it was still dark outside.

When Rollins didn't enter the home where she worked at the usual time, the 84-year-old woman she cared for went outside and found Ms Rollins in the yard, the sheriff said.

She was lying between her own vehicle and the front door of the home, he said.

Deputies arrived to find Ms Rollins dead with multiple injuries. Because there were different sizes of bites on her body, investigators think more than one pig attacked her, Sheriff Hawthorne said.

"This is a very rare incident," the sheriff said, adding that the coroner said Ms Rollins bled to death after the attack by feral pigs.

Experts say that attacks on humans by feral pigs are rare, and fatalities even rarer.

A 2013 study by John J. Mayer of the Savannah River National Laboratory looked at attacks by wild pigs around the world from 1825 to 2012.
The study found only four fatal attacks in the US, and three of those were from animals that were wounded while being hunted.

Mike Bodenchuk, the state director of Texas Wildlife Services, said that while attacks are rare, the pigs, which are more active in the dark, are equipped to do damage, with sharp tusks that cause slashing injuries.

Victim remembered as ‘amazing woman’

Tony Sandles Junior said on Tuesday (local time) that his mother-in-law, Ms Rollins, was like family to the people she cared for.

He said she'd been a caretaker for about 40 years – cooking, cleaning, housesitting and keeping those she cared for company. He said their homes became like her own.

"She was the most amazing woman that you could ever meet," Mr Sandles said.
Mr Sandles said his mother-in-law wouldn't have gotten out of her car if she had known the pigs were near.
"She's very, very cautious," he said.

Attacks from feral pigs are extremely rare. Source: Getty, file photo

[handdrummer]

Maybe those pigs read Animal Farm.

[Nereus]

Police horse refuses to get out of bed until he has a cup of tea

https://au.news.yahoo.com/police-horse- ... 42780.html

A police horse has unwittingly found fame after video emerged of him struggling to wake up on a cold morning.
Merseyside Police’s mounted unit posted a video of Jake the steed to Twitter being given a cup of tea in his stable before he gets ready for work.

“Jake refuses to get out of bed until he is brought a warm cup of Tetley tea,” the mounted unit said.
“Once he has drank this he is ready for the day.”

The video shows the mug being placed on the ground of his stable before he sucks out the contents with his long tongue.

The heart-warming footage has been retweeted more than 1000 times, with people comparing it to their own Monday mornings.

“We are all Jake,” one commented.
“So funny. Does Jake take his tea black or a spoon of sugar?” another joked.

Others suggested he needed biscuits to go with the beverage.

Police horses still play an integral part in modern-day policing, providing specialised support to frontline police, assisting in crowd control at protests, sporting events and major occasions like New Year’s Eve.

The Mounted Branch has the skills to reach spots that are hard to access, and has assisted police in both urban and rural searches for missing persons and has helped in the past with searches related to evidence gathering.

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[PeteC]

There used to be a lot of different type planes on top of restaurants or motels in the US, not many these days. No story or link, just a photo and some facts......

"Airplane Diner, Penndel, PA (Lockheed L-1049E Super Constellation) (N1005C)
For many years this fomer Cubana (CU-P573) and Capitol (N1005C) Super Connie sat atop a restaurant in Penndel, PA."

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[pharvey]

Perhaps should be in "News of The Sick"...... Seriously, WTF??!!

Amazon Withdraws 'Disturbing' Christmas Ornaments Bearing Images of Auschwitz

"Amazon has been forced to withdraw "disturbing" Christmas ornaments bearing images of Auschwitz.

The Auschwitz Museum condemned the online shopping giant for selling death camp-themed decorations and novelty bottle openers.

Officials from the museum, which preserves the site of the former German Nazi Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp, said the products were "disrespectful" and called on the online retail giant to remove them from sale.

On Sunday afternoon Amazon confirmed it had removed the Auschwitz-themed products from sale.

The retailer had received multiple complaints about the items, including negative reviews on its site and more than 2,000 messages on Twitter.

Items include star and bell-shaped Christmas tree baubles featuring photographs of the death camp.

There is also a magnetic bottle opener featuring a scene from the camp described as "the former Jewish district in Krakow"."

Full Article: - https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/1 ... ng-images/

[handdrummer]

Why would Amazon think it was a good idea to promote Auschwitz? What's next for Xmas, the Gulag, the Baatan Death March, maybe the Twin Towers in NY, falling down?

[lindosfan1]

An artwork of an overripe banana duct-taped to a wall that sold for $120,000 (£91,000) has been eaten by a separate performance artist.

The artwork, titled Comedian, by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, was on display at the international gallery Perrotin at Art Basel in Miami.

Three buyers bought the limited-edition pieces of the banana art this week.

But performance artist David Datuna pulled it from the wall, peeled it and devoured it on Saturday.

"Art performance by me. I love Maurizio Cattelan artwork and I really love this installation. It's very delicious," Mr Datuna posted on Instagram.

Despite the initial anger of a member of staff, the banana was swiftly replaced and no further action will be taken.

The art reportedly comes with a certificate of authenticity, meaning owners can replace the banana.

"[Datuna] did not destroy the art work. The banana is the idea," Lucien Terras, a director at the gallery, told the Miami Herald.

Police were later deployed to guard the replacement banana.

Art Basel is one of the world's most high-profile contemporary art fairs.