QUIRKY WORLD ... €10,000 reward for missing homing pigeon

Police in Germany are looking for a missing pigeon, and any finder could be in line for a €10,000 reward.

Dusseldorf police said that the 6-year-old male homing pigeon, named AS 969, was stolen at some point on Saturday night from a locked aviary in the city’s suburbs.

They say the light gray bird is valued by its owner at €150,000 and police suspect the thief or thieves were “connoisseurs” as it was the most valuable in an aviary full of other homing pigeons.

The owner offered a €10,000 reward for the bird’s recovery.

Rudolph’s home

USA:

This seems to be Rudolph’s Christmas.

A post office in a tiny central Wisconsin village that shares the name with the most famous reindeer of all has seen an uptick in business this season.

Usually, the post office gets 10,000 cards for their mid-month special cancellation postmark. This year, there were 16,000.

Postmaster Becky Trzebiatowski attributed the increase to the special stamps honouring the 50th anniversary of the Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer television special. She says stamp sales are up at least 50% over last year at her post office.

Cards sent to the post office can be embossed with a special cancellation on certain days as well as an ink stamp that features a reindeer and reads: “Rudolph, Wisconsin — home of Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer.”

Emeowgency

BRITAIN:

A woman dialled 999 to report a dead cat in the road, ambulance chiefs have revealed, while another caller rang the emergency services to ask for the number for directory inquiries.

The calls are among those highlighted in a campaign called Keep The 999 Line Free For Me, by South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust. The trust said it often received 999 calls from people with minor injuries and even from those trying to get help for animals.

The campaign is running throughout the winter and encourages people to question whether they need to ring 999 or instead call the NHS 111 service or seek advice from a pharmacist or GP.

Bear necessities

USA:

Authorities called off the search Monday for a black bear that caused a stir when it was spotted running through an alfalfa field on the eastern edge of metropolitan Phoenix.

Still, officials plan to relocate the young bear to a more suitable habitat if they come across it in the future. “The best-case scenario is that we tranquilise it and move it,” said Amy Burnett, a spokeswoman for the Arizona Game and Fish Department.

The encounter in Mesa marks a rarity for an urban area that officials say has a bear sighting once every two years. Phoenix and its suburbs are considered a poor food source for bears.

TV news helicopters that captured video of the bear running across rows of green fields had helped push the animal toward a game warden bearing a tranquiliser gun. However, the warden wasn’t able to get a good shot.

In the end, the animal proved elusive. He ran into a former General Motors test site that contained fields, shrubbery and trees and is too big of an area to track.

Wildlife officials warned that the bear is a wild animal but also said that it wasn’t acting aggressively.

Liquor store legless

USA:

Who took the leg lamp belonging to Ralphie’s ‘old man’ from a New York store’s annual tribute to A Christmas Story?

The owner of the Yankee Spirits liquor store in North Tonawanda says his annual window display honouring the holiday classic includes memorabilia from the 1983 film, including several versions of the now-iconic leg lamp.

The store’s surveillance video shows a man in a gray hoodie and sunglasses walking into the store and glancing around before he grabs a large leg lamp and leaves.

Store owner Gary Brennan told Buffalo’s WIVB-TV even his customers are angry about the theft.

In the movie, Ralphie’s father wins a prize that turns out to be a garish lamp in the shape of a woman’s leg in a fishnet stocking. Ralphie’s mother “accidentally” breaks it, leaving ‘the old Man’ heartbroken.

Twitter twinkle

USA:

Twitter users anywhere in the world can control the lights on a holiday display in New Jersey.

Tweets will turn on a 2.7m Christmas tree, menorah, and more than 1,000 LED lights at Oxford Communications in Lambertville and also turn them off.

The company says it designed the display with the intention to help charities, towns and businesses to develop awareness and fundraising campaigns.

Tweet #brilliant #twinkle to @Oxmas_Tree to light the display and #figgypudding to turn them off again.