A snapping turtle native to Canada and the US has been re-homed after being abandoned in a suburban British street.

A member of the public who found the reptile in a box at the side of a road in Dartford, Kent, described it as a “type of dinosaur”.

Animal charity Artisan Rare Breeds has now taken in the 36cm male turtle and it will live there for life. The centre’s director, Wayne May, said: “It’s really unusual to see one of these on the loose. They can be quite dangerous as pets – you don’t just buy one of these.”

Charity quids in after selfies bungle

Women posting bare-faced selfies online have donated to Unicef by mistake – after texting the wrong keyword.

The craze has featured soaring numbers of women posting pictures of themselves wearing no make-up on social media sites and nominating their friends to do the same.

Cancer Research UK, which did not start the campaign, said the #nomakeupselfie trend had resulted in an “unprecedented increase” in donations after it received £8 million in six days.

But it has emerged that some people intending to donate to the charity sent their cash to Unicef in error, by texting the keyword ‘DONATE’ rather than ‘BEAT’.

It’s a lot of dough for a loaf of bread

Supermarket chain Asda has apologised to a customer who was charged £450 for a loaf of bread while using a debit card at a self-service check-out.

Warehouse worker John Brown only noticed the store’s error when he checked his bank statement three days after buying two loaves of bread, a pot of jam and a box of eggs. Asda has now fully reimbursed Mr Brown, who had kept his receipt for the over-the-odds transaction at its superstore in Jack Hayward Way, Wolverhampton.

Executed dictator’s furniture sale

It is furniture fit for a dictator and now it is up for sale. Twenty-five years ago, the Communist Party politburo ordered a bespoke set of intricately carved rosewood, walnut and cherry wood furniture as a birthday present for former Romanian leader Nicolae Ceausescu.

But he never received the gift. He was executed during the 1989 anti-communist revolt, a month before his 72nd birthday, the Politburo was disbanded and the furniture was never paid for.

Now IMAR, a Romania firm that has been making furniture since 1890 and once made pieces for Romanian kings, is selling off the three tons of wooden pieces as it is insolvent.

The starting price is €50,000. IMAR said it had had inquiries about the furniture from singer Sir Elton John and from wealthy people in Arab countries and Russia, but until now had decided not to sell the pieces, considering them to be national heritage.

Girl Scout’s cookies crunch record

A US girl who says she asks everyone she meets to buy Girl Scout cookies has broken the organisation’s decades-old sales record by a margin about the size of a Thin Mint.

Katie Francis, of Oklahoma City, sold 18,107 boxes in seven weeks The previous mark was set by Elizabeth Brinton, who sold about 18,000 one year in the 1980s.

Sixth-grade student Katie told The Oklahoman newspaper that there were only three ingredients needed to rack up large sales: a lot of time, a lot of commitment and asking everyone she met to buy.

Her troop receives a share of the proceeds from the fundraiser and intends to donate to breast cancer research.

You’re kidding! Goats are so smart

Goats are much smarter than they might appear at first glance, a study has shown.

The animals quickly learn how to solve complex tasks and have “excellent” long-term memories, say scientists. Researchers trained a group of goats to retrieve food from a box by pulling on a lever and then lifting it.

On average, the goats figured out the multi-step solution within 12 attempts.

Ten months later, it took them less than two minutes to remember how they did it.