QUIRKY WORLD ... A daily look at some of the world’s stranger stories
The call came in and Seattle police responded. The reported crime — assault on a chihuahua.
When they got to the scene this week, the dog’s owner filled them in. She alleges a man in her block of flats had spat on her small dog from an upper balcony.
On their website, police reported they tried to contact the suspect at his flat but no one came to the door. The official police report noted the dog was not seriously hurt. The officer could not resist adding that the animal “declined to speak with officers”.
Swiss customs authorities said they had arrested a bird specialist who smuggled the eggs of protected parrots in his underwear and travelled the globe trading in rare species.
The customs service said in a statement that the man, whom it did not identify, was thought to have trafficked over 150 eggs from endangered parrots that are protected by international law, as well as rare pheasant species.
The man, a Swiss citizen who was also a legal bird trader, was busted at Zurich Airport in 2010 with 25 eggs hidden in his underwear as he returned from Brazil.
The customs service explained that it was only revealing details of the case now because of the secrecy surrounding the probe.
Investigators managed to establish that thanks to a solid international network of contacts, the man managed to smuggle more than 150 eggs to buyers in Indonesia, Thailand, and Mexico.
The total value of the contraband eggs was €54,000, the customs service said, adding that it had not been possible to establish where they came from.
Investigators said the man also had an aviary of several hundred birds, including endangered species.
The Swiss veterinary service also seized seven rare parrots from an accomplice.
The two men face a heavy fine for trafficking in endangered species.
A western Ohio woman charged with petty theft for allegedly stealing $2.87 (€2.10) from a courthouse fountain says she took the change to buy food.
A police report alleges she stole the change on Oct 7 from the Logan County Courthouse fountain in Bellefontaine, and an officer found change in her pocket.
The woman says she worries she’ll end up in jail for taking money that she says didn’t belong to anyone. She says she has no job, is on the verge of losing her apartment and was trying to feed herself and her four cats. The city’s safety director says officials hope to resolve the case before the November trial.
Police have said no charges will be filed against a grieving man who sprinkled some of his fiancee’s ashes near an eyewear store, causing a Florida shopping centre to be evacuated for two hours.
Sarasota police spokesman Pat Ledwith said the man sprinkled some of the ashes in places that were special to the couple. Officials said the woman had a connection to LensCrafters in the Westfield Southgate Mall which was why he sprinkled ashes there on Tuesday.
To workers and passers-by, it was unclear what the white powdery substance was. Police and hazardous substance crews responded, and the shopping centre was shut. Police said the mall and the fire department could seek to recover civil costs from the unnamed man.
The average person uses some form of internet-connected device 34 times a day, according to research.
More than half of smartphone owners turn to their phone rather than have “downtime”, and more than one in three check their phone when there is a lull in conversation, the report from the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) said.
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