Daily News

[Jimbuna]

Elephant escapes circus, wanders through Montana traffic

An elephant escaped from a traveling circus in Montana and went wandering through traffic in Butte.

Silver Bow County Chief Executive J.P. Gallagher said the female elephant, named Viola, escaped from the Jordan World Circus on Tuesday and went walking down the middle of Harrison Avenue amid heavy traffic.

Sheriff Ed Lester explained that Viola had fled the circus when she was spooked by a passing vehicle.

Shocked residents captured photos and videos of Viola's time on the loose.

"My coworker pointed out, 'There's an elephant!' Started jumping up and down, pointing out the window," Civic Center Town Pump co-manager Josh Hannifin told NBC Montana. "We ran out the door and finally caught a video of the elephant coming through the lot here. Pretty exciting."

Gallagher told CBS News that the runaway elephant caused minor damage to a storage area at the Civic Center, but "we are grateful that everyone remained unharmed."

The pachyderm pursuit ended with Viola being caught by her handlers and safely returned to the circus.

Animal rights groups PETA and PAWS reported in separate statements that Viola had escaped from the circus before in 2010 and 2014.
https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2024/04...9061713365417/

[Jimbuna]

New Zealand: Ram killed by police after elderly couple found dead in paddock at their home near Auckland

A ram believed to be responsible for killing an elderly couple has been shot dead by New Zealand police.

The pair, in their 80s, were found dead by their son in a paddock attached to their home in Waitakere, rural West Auckland, the New Zealand Herald reported.

He had grown concerned after not hearing from them in the morning, a family spokesperson said.

Police attended the scene at 7.30am local time and confirmed the ram was in the paddock at the time of their visit.

The country's force said in a statement: "Another party at the scene suffered a minor injury after being attacked by this ram."

It added that its officers were "confronted and approached" by the ram.

After assessing the situation, they shot the ram dead.

Dean Burrell, a relative, told the Herald the couple had "both lost their lives in a tragic accident".

"They're good people. They're over 80. They don't deserve this," Mr Burrell said.

"Everyone's in shock as to what's happened. They're very upset. I feel like I was dreaming it actually, it was a bit of shock, being told what had happened and I just didn't believe it."

People caught 'forcing' antlers off Richmond Park deer, police say
Bird 'confuses' police officers by mimicking siren sound

Mr Burrell's father had phoned him to tell him the news and he came to the scene to "support [his] cousins and the wider family".

An investigation into the deaths is under way and a post-mortem is expected.
https://news.sky.com/story/new-zeala...kland-13117771

[Moonlight]

UK won't take back asylum seekers from Ireland, Downing Street says

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-68918250

Its only fair as France wont take them back either, there's no need for a Rwanda deal then is there?, just ship all the thousands of migrants over to N Ireland and wave them goodbye over the border. Now the migration boot is on the other foot the EU don't like it, well that's Tough so I say to Ireland, send them back to France where they first came from.

[Jimbuna]

Tourist fined for getting too close to Walrus in Norway

A tourist has been fined NOK 12,500 Norwegian Kroner (£900) for approaching a walrus in the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard.

The authorities said the man went out onto an ice floe on Wednesday and "disturbed a walrus that was lying on the ice".

They said members of the public saw him approach the mammal and reported him to the local governor, and that "parts of the incident were also observed by the governor's employees".

There is a law in Svalbard which stipulates people must conduct themselves in a way which does not lead to unnecessary disturbance of wildlife.

The tourist was subsequently brought to the governor's office, where he accepted the fine.

"The governor encourages everyone to keep a good distance from walruses so that they are not disturbed and so that no danger to people occur," his office said in a statement.

Walruses were hunted practically to extinction in the Svalbard Archipelago up until they were protected by law in 1952, according to the government's Norwegian Polar Institute.

Despite decades of protection, the number of walruses in the region is still low and they remain on the Norwegian National Red List, which identifies species at risk of going extinct in Norway.

There will be new rules for motor traffic at sea from next year specifically aimed at protecting walruses, where it will be illegal to knowingly go within 150 metres of them. The speed limit will be five knots for any motor traffic within 300 metres of them.
https://news.sky.com/story/tourist-f...orway-13124061

[mapuc]

Officers from several agencies in the U.S. Marshals Task Force were carrying out the operation in the residential area when “a subject” began firing at them and multiple officers were shot, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said in a post on X.

https://apnews.com/article/charlotte...c9ac209e0f779a

Markus

[Jimbuna]

Woman says finding 50,000 bees behind walls in toddler's bedroom was 'right out of Stranger Things'

When her daughter first started complaining about "monsters" in her bedroom, Ashley Class didn't give it too much thought, thinking her three-year-old had perhaps been imaging things after watching Pixar's Monsters, Inc.

The toddler was even given a water bottle which she was told was "monster spray", Ms Class, a home designer from Charlotte, North Carolina, told the BBC.

But months later and upon seeing swarms of bees circling around the chimney, Ms Class called in pest control and found "what nightmares are made of" - a hive home to 50,000 honeybees.

Ms Class documented her ordeal on TikTok, posting updates on her astonishing situation which have gathered millions of views.

"When your daughter has been hearing 'monsters' in the walls," Ms Class described in her first clip. "Turns out it was 50,000 bees buzzing."

The clip showed a thermal camera lighting up "like Christmas" as it pointed towards the wall where the beehive was growing.

Ms Class said the beehive had taken eight months, with the honeycomb and honey produced by the industrious "colony" weighing 100 pounds (45.3kg).

It is believed the bees got in through the chimney and a hole in a clay pipe which used to warm the rooms of the house.

But that wasn't it. Several extractions later, a whole new hive was discovered, bringing the total amount of bees in Ms Class's farmhouse to 60,000, she said on TikTok.

Beekeeper Curtis Collins, who has been removing hives from homes for six years, told Good Morning America: "I believe that may be actually the first one that I've done that was floor to ceiling."

One of the clips posted by Ms Class was captioned saying the inside wall of her 100-year home "looks right out of Stranger Things".

Replying to one of the comments, the designer said: "The whole situation haunts me."

Ms Class said home insurance won't cover the costs of the damage and she told the BBC she believes the bees have resulted in her being around $20,000 (£16,000) out of pocket.
https://news.sky.com/story/woman-say...hings-13126264

[Shadowblade]

Originally Posted by Moonlight

UK won't take back asylum seekers from Ireland, Downing Street says

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-68918250

Its only fair as France wont take them back either, there's no need for a Rwanda deal then is there?, just ship all the thousands of migrants over to N Ireland and wave them goodbye over the border. Now the migration boot is on the other foot the EU don't like it, well that's Tough so I say to Ireland, send them back to France where they first came from.

I am not surprised - they must be very happy that they dont need to care about them

[Jimbuna]

Google appears to add 'audio emoji' feature - including a fart button

Google appears to be rolling out "audio emojis" to its phone users.

Some Google Pixel phone owners are noticing an option to send a reaction while on a call.

"I was on the phone and saw a new button come up... "Audio Emoji"??? I had to call my brother to test it out!" said one X user.

An accompanying video shows the feature in action. The "audio emoji" option swipes up to reveal six familiar emojis: laughing, clapping, celebrating, a drum, crying and... the poo emoji.

When a user taps the emojis, they play a corresponding sound down the phone.

Some of the matching sounds are obvious - clapping is clapping, laughing is laughing, the drum makes a 'badum tish' sound. And, somewhat inevitably, the poo emoji makes a fart noise.

The update, which appears to just be being tested as it isn't rolled out to all users, has been met with mixed reactions.

"Did anyone ask for this? No. Am I still gonna use it? Yes," said one Reddit user. Others were less entertained.

"If you ask me, they should focus on improving things," one person posted on X.

"Imagine you are calling your friend after getting fired and talking to him about the stress you are going through, and suddenly, your friend starts playing weird audio emoji sounds," another posted on Reddit.

One Reddit user, SohipX, did have an idea of how to put the poo emoji to good use.

"The fart sound is a great idea... I could use it with scam calls!"

Sky News has approached Google for more information.
https://news.sky.com/story/google-ap...utton-13126766

[Jimbuna]

'Bring my baby back': Wally the 'emotional support' alligator goes missing in Georgia

A famed "emotional support" alligator has gone missing while on a trip with its owner after being targeted by suspected pranksters.

Distraught Joie Henney believes his 1.7m-long pet called Wally was stolen as a prank from an outdoor enclosure next to his holiday home in Brunswick, Georgia.

It was then apparently dumped outside a nearby property - before authorities came to collect it and then released the reptile "back" into the wild of a 438,000-acre swamp dozens of miles away.

Mr Henney said the alligator had helped relieve his depression for nearly a decade, and the bond between the pair has earned them tens of thousands of followers on social media.

"We need all the help we can get to bring my baby back," Mr Henney said in a tearful video posted on TikTok, where Wally has 143,000 followers.

"Please, we need your help," he added.

Mr Henney, who lives in Pennsylvania, had taken Wally with him on a trip to the port city of Brunswick last month.

The Georgia Department of Natural Resources confirmed it received a report of a nuisance alligator in the area on 21 April and a licensed trapper was dispatched to capture it.

The agency said the reptile was "released in a remote location", but stressed it did not know if the creature was Wally.

"The trapper came and got Wally and dropped him off in a swamp with about 20 other alligators that same day," Mr Henney said in a social media post earlier this week.

"The swamp is very large and the trapper said the chances of them finding Wally is slim to none."

Mr Henney has urged his followers not to risk their safety by joining his hunt for his beloved reptile and said all he wants is information.

A fundraising page set up to cover travel costs, vet bills and "potential legal costs" has so far raised more than $8,000 (£6,400).

"All we want and honestly all anyone wants is for the trapper who was doing his job to give us a location," he added.

"We would even have zero issues giving him the reward for Wally's safe return or any other licensed trapper for that matter."

It is illegal in Georgia for people to keep alligators without a special licence or permit, and the state's Department of Natural Resources says it does not grant permission for pet alligators.

Pennsylvania has no state law against owning alligators, though it is illegal for owners to release them into the wild.

Mr Henney, who describes himself as a reptile rescuer, said he first met Wally after his friend captured him in Florida and dropped him off "as a joke" in September 2015.

"But the joke's on him now," he told Sky News last year.

Wally's popularity soared last year when he was denied entry to a baseball game in Philadelphia.

Mr Henney said Wally does not bite and his food must be dead before it is handed to him.
https://news.sky.com/story/bring-my-...orgia-13127651

[Aktungbby]

An orangutan named Rakus hit a rough patch in the summer of 2022.
Researchers heard a fight between male orangutans in the treetops of a rainforest in Sumatra, Indonesia; a day later, they spotted Rakus sporting a pink wound below his right eyelid.
A chunk of flesh about the size and shape of a puzzle piece was missing. When Rakus, who is most likely in his 30s, belted out a long call, the researchers noticed another wound inside his mouth. Over the next several days, researchers followed Rakus at a distance — and saw something so surprising they wound up reporting it in great detail in the journal Scientific Reports.
According to their study, published Thursday, Rakus was observed repeatedly chewing on the leaves of a particular liana plant over several days. The climbing vine is not a typical food for orangutans, but it is known to humans as a pain reliever.
On at least one occasion, Rakus made a paste from the chewed leaves and applied it to his face. It’s the first time an animal has been seen applying medicine to a skin wound. “It’s the first documentation of external self-medication — the application of leaves, I would argue, as a poultice, like humans do to treat wounds and pains,” said Michael Huffman, an associate professor at the Wildlife Research Center at Kyoto University in Japan, who was not involved in the new study. Rakus’ wound never showed signs of becoming infected, and it closed up within a week.

The discovery is new evidence that orangutans are able to identify and use pain-relieving plants. A growing body of research suggests other animal species also self-medicate, with varying levels of sophistication.

The researchers behind the study think that great apes’ ability to identify medicines and treat wounds could trace back to a shared ancestor with humans. The discovery was possible only because Rakus spends his days in a protected area of rainforest called the Suaq Balimbing research area, in Indonesia’s Gunung Leuser National Park.

Researchers have been observing orangutans there since 1994. Today, about 150 call the area home. Rakus, who was first observed there in 2009, is either a resident or a frequent visitor. Scientists often follow an individual orangutan in the area from early morning — when it leaves its night nest — until it builds a new night nest about 12 hours later.

“We don’t disturb the orangutan,” said an author of the new study, Isabelle Laumer, a primatologist and cognitive biologist at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior in Germany. “They completely tolerate us following them.”

Laumer said that researchers had never before observed orangutans in the area self-medicating like Rakus did and that it was not clear how he developed the behavior. It’s possible Rakus learned to treat his wound through “individual innovation,” Laumer said, after he accidentally touched a finger to a wound with the pain-relieving leaf juice. Or he may have learned the behavior culturally, from other orangutans, early in life.

Orangutans learn socially and have been shown to be capable with tools. They develop sophisticated knowledge of foods from their mothers.

“They learn a lot about, for example, what types of fruit to eat, where to find them, when to find them, when they are ripe, how to process them,” Laumer said. “Some orangutans feed on up to 400 different plants. … This is quite some intensive knowledge that they actually need to acquire.” It’s possible Rakus learned to treat his wound through “individual innovation,” Laumer said, after he accidentally touched a finger to a wound with the pain-relieving leaf juice. Or he may have learned the behavior culturally, from other orangutans, early in life.
Orangutans learn socially and have been shown to be capable with tools. They develop sophisticated knowledge of foods from their mothers.

“They learn a lot about, for example, what types of fruit to eat, where to find them, when to find them, when they are ripe, how to process them,” Laumer said. “Some orangutans feed on up to 400 different plants. … This is quite some intensive knowledge that they actually need to acquire.” Evidence of animal self-medication has mounted in recent decades.

In the 1960s, the famous primatologist Jane Goodall noticed that chimpanzees in Tanzania were eating whole leaves from a plant later identified as a type of Aspilia shrub. Decades later, Huffman wrote a paper describing how a different population of chimpanzees ate the bitter pith of a particular daisy, but only rarely and when other behaviors suggested they were sick.

Researchers think chimps developed such behaviors to treat or prevent parasites.

In the 1990s and the 2000s, a flood of research identified additional examples of self-medication.

A notable 2008 study of Bornean orangutans documented three females rubbing their bodies with a paste of chewed Dracaena cantleyi plant, which local Indigenous people use to address joint and bone pain.

Huffman said he thinks all animal species self-medicate to some degree. Researchers have even documented the practice in insects.

“It shows us that animals have control over their lives,” he said. “That they can behave in ways that are flexible, that are adaptive to certain circumstances that come down to their very survival.”

He theorized that ancient humans derived the ability to identify medicinal plants and substances from close observations of animals.

“A lot of medicine that humans have used over in our history as a species have come from our close connection with nature and looking to other animals for advice and extrapolating from what we’ve learned,” Huffman said. “I don’t know of any plant that an animal has been documented to be using as medicine that isn’t also used by humans. And I think that it’s the humans who have learned from the animals.”
Laumer said her team’s findings — in a species that is 97% genetically similar to humans — could offer insight into how ancient primates developed their inclination to pursue medicines.
“It’s possible that our last common ancestor already showed similar forms of ointment behavior,” she said.
Laumer added that the new findings also show how much can be learned from orangutans, who are considered critically endangered. The rainforests where Sumatran orangutans live are vanishing as land is converted to agriculture and climate change intensifies wildfires.

Now I know why i can apply Neosporin to all my flesh wounds!!??