An appeal has gone out to find the owners of a tortoise in Devon – after it travelled nearly 435km in the back of a lorry to Norfolk.
Workers at a paper recycling plant in Kings Lynn were surprised to see the tortoise buried under a pile of newspapers which were just about to be pulped. They think the animal travelled on a lorry after being picked up from a recycling depot in Silverton, Devon.
A Mid Devon Council spokesman said: “It would appear that the tortoise must have been hibernating in a black box among paper put out for recycling.”
Girl, 13, is youngest up Everest
A social charity says that the 13-year-old daughter of poor Indian farmers has become the youngest girl to climb Mount Everest.
Malavath Poorna says she and a team of Nepalese climbing guides reached the summit on May 25 from the northern side in Tibet.
The smiling youngster told reporters in New Delhi that she faced extreme cold, difficult terrain, personal fear and dead bodies on her journey up the world’s tallest mountain.
But she “shed joyful tears” when she reached the top and saw “mighty mountains and morning sunlight” all around.
A 13-year-old boy has climbed Everest previously.
Superhero prices for comics
A man’s comic book collection with first issues of Superman, Batman and the Flash has fetched $1.5 million in an online auction.
John Wise, of Paducah, Kentucky, collected the valuable superhero comics over 30 years.
A comic from 1940 with the first appearance of Flash claimed the top individual price of $182,000. First issues of Superman and Batman from the same era sold for $172,000 and $137,000 in the offerings. His issue of the first-ever comic from Marvel sold for $95,000.
Wise said the exploding popularity of superheroes in films and TV made it a good time to sell. He now plans to buy a house and send his grandchildren to college with the profits.
Glorious mud for park keeper
A safari park keeper has been using his workplace as an unusual training ground for a tough assault course.
Graeme Alexander, 24, has been crawling through the rhinos’ mud wallow, practising pull-ups in the elephant house and heaving hay bales as he prepares for the event later this month.
The Blair Drummond Safari Park worker, who is taking part in the Tough Mudder event at Dalkeith Country Estate on June 15 to raise money for the charities Tusk and Help for Heroes, said the rhinos “were quite interested because I was covered head to toe in mud and they came over to have a look”.
Tree huggers bid for world record
More than 2,000 people, mostly students wearing school uniforms, gathered in Nepal’s capital in a bid to set a world record for the largest tree hug.
Parliament members, office workers and even Buddhist monks also took part in the attempt, joining the students at the National Martyrs and Peace Park on the northeast edge of Katmandu. The participants attempted the record to celebrate World Environment Day by spreading awareness about the importance of trees.
The previous Guinness World Record was 936 people in Portland, Oregon, last July.
Fake cop pulls over genuine one
Police say a man impersonating an officer faces charges after signalling a real detective to pull over on a road in Florida.
St Johns County authorities said 20-year-old Matthew McMahon activated a red and blue light while driving behind an unmarked sheriff’s car. Detective Chance Anderson pulled over and was shocked to see an unknown face behind the wheel of the other car. McMahon is charged with impersonating an officer and unlawfully displayingblue lights.