A wildlife park has released ‘enchanting’ CCTV footage of the birth of three tiger cubs.
Staff at Yorkshire Wildlife Park in Doncaster watched the birth of the Amur tigers live on camera on March 29. The footage shows four-year-old mother Tschuna giving birth to the cubs before cleaning and feeding her new offspring.
Kim Wilkins, carnivore team leader at the park, said: “We watched the birth as it happened on the CCTV camera, as Tschuna had hidden herself away in the peace and quiet of the cubbing den. It was a very special moment and an incredible privilege.”
Dark arts dedicated to Beckett
A play performed entirely in the dark will be one of the highlights of an annual arts festival dedicated to Irish writer Samuel Beckett.
The line-up of the festival in County Fermanagh includes Drop the Dead Donkey star Neil Pearson and theatre director Sophie Hunter, who is married to Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch.
Hunter, an actress and award-winning director, is putting on a production of Phaedra which was written by composer Benjamin Britten shortly before his death. The festival’s artistic director Sean Doran said it would take place in the grounds of a ruined castle.
Titanic burial cash request
A letter from the owners of the Titanic to the family of a dead officer asking for a large sum of money to return his dead body to England has been uncovered 103 years on from the tragedy.
The letter, dated May 7, 1912, was sent from White Star Lines to Christopher Moody, the brother of 24-year-old officer James Moody, who died after the Titanic hit an iceberg on its maiden voyage the previous month.
The company asks for a £20 deposit – the equivalent of £2,100 today – to return his body to England and state that Moody will also have to meet the remaining costs from there. The letter is due to be sold at Henry Aldridge & Son in Devizes, Wiltshire, and is expected to fetch between £20,000 and £25,000.
Edible insects a booming business
An increasing number of ‘entopreneurs’ are launching businesses to feed a growing appetite for crickets, mealworms and other edible insects. They are trying to persuade more Americans to eat bugs, which can be produced with less land, food and water than other sources of animal protein.
The UN has been promoting edible insects as a way to improve nutrition, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and create jobs in insect production. At least two billion people worldwide already eat insects as part of their diet, according to the 2013 report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation.
Cheese smuggler caught in Israel
When Israeli health inspectors spotted a mail truck crossing into Israel from the West Bank, something didn’t smell right. Further examination led to the source of their suspicion – cheese.
The agriculture ministry says the truck contained 300 kilograms of cheese stuffed into cans, bottles and other unsanitary containers. The driver, a Palestinian in his 40s from east Jerusalem, was arrested. He is an employee of Israel’s postal service and admitted to smuggling the cheese in the hope of reselling it.
Jersey’s beach debris is revealed
The Jersey shore’s 127 miles of beaches are famous for their beauty and natural wonder. And once a year, they’re also famous for the disgusting debris either left behind by beachgoers or washed up with the tides from points unknown.
The Clean Ocean Action environmental group has released its annual list of rubbish picked up by volunteers during spring and autumn clean-ups last year. Items included a whoopee cushion, a parking meter, bra padding, a wig and a stun gun. Also found were a clay sculpture of baby Jesus and a bag full of loose arcade tickets.