A seven-year-old girl in Germany got more than she bargained for when she opened the toilet seat to find an escaped boa constrictor staring back at her, police said yesterday.
The girl ran to her mother after her discovery on Saturday at their home in Hanover, northern Germany. The 39-year-old called the police, who took photos and alerted the animal rescue department of the fire brigade.
“But before the snake could be captured, it disappeared down the sewage pipe. A search proved fruitless,” police said, adding that the reptile was likely an escaped pet. (AFP)
Fishy tribute
A fish and chip shop has become possibly the first in the world to have inspired a brass band march to be written about it.
Composer Andy Norman was so moved by the generosity of the Corries Cabin takeaway in Cowes, Isle of Wight, that he decided to pen the piece of music for the shop.
The conductor of the Cowes Concert Brass Band wrote the music after the shop’s proprietor Richard Quigley donated to the group £250 collected during a fundraising event. (PA)
Toad Day Out
Australia’s annual cane toad cull was yesterday declared a success by organisers who said that more than 14,000 of the noxious pests had perished as a result.
North Queensland’s Toad Day Out saw volunteers in Townsville, Charters Towers and Cairns collect the pests in plastic bags on Saturday night, and bring them unharmed to designated areas to be euthanised. The animals are gassed in their bags and their bodies sold for skins or to make fertiliser, or used for university research.
The cane toad, which carries a poisonous sac of venom on the back of its head toxic enough to kill snakes and crocodiles, is regarded as a pest in Australia because it wreaks havoc on the environment. (AFP)
Soup strife
Proposed by-laws which would ban people handing out soup to the homeless have been attacked by a bishop as “anti-humanitarian”.
The Bishop of Ripon and Leeds, the Rt Rev. John Packer, raised the issue in the light of proposals from Westminster council to ban soup runs.The Tory-led local authority argued that handouts from the area around Westminster Cathedral kept the homeless on the streets for longer than necessary. (PA)
No time to die
A Russian who jumped from the seventh floor of his apartment building while heavily drunk miraculously survived by getting tangled in trees on the way down, Ria Novosti agency said yesterday.
The man, aged about 50, was noticed by his neighbours when he was lodged in the branches on the level of the third floor of the building in Novosibirsk, in Siberia.
The man was taken off the tree by rescue workers and taken to the hospital with several bruises and scratches.
Alcohol abuse kills around 500,000 Russians annually and greatly impacts male life expectancy, which is lower than in such developing countries as Bangladesh and Honduras, according to official figures. (AFP)
Flipping mad
A bikini-clad woman accused of running amok at a Burger King in Florida has become an internet video hit.
Kimesa Smith of Montgomery is seen hitting and throwing items at staff, jumping on to the counter and hitting someone with a large container after complaining about her food order.
She has been charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. (PA)
Slippery
A driver was so distracted by two women protesting naked in the street in Los Angeles that he crashed into a truck.
The women, animal rights activists, were showering outside a meat plant to demonstrate over how much water the industry uses.
It was part of a national campaign on World Water Day by the group Peta. (PA)