Quirky World: Ready rancher lassoes would-be bike bandit

Some of the stranger stories from around the world

USA: A rancher jumped on his horse and lassoed a man who was trying to steal a bicycle in the parking lot of an Oregon Wal-Mart, police said.

Robert Borba was at the Eagle Point store loading dog food and a camping tent into his truck when he heard a woman screaming that someone was trying to steal her bike, the Medford Mail Tribune reports.

The 28-year-old said he quickly got his horse, Long John, out of its trailer. He grabbed a rope and rode over to the man, who was reportedly struggling with the bike gears and attempting to flee on foot.

Mr Borba lassoed the man around the legs and dragged him to one end of the parking lot.

“I seen this fella trying to get up to speed on a bicycle,” Mr Borba told the Tribune. “I wasn’t going to catch him on foot. I just don’t run very fast.”

Mr Borba said the man tried to grab a tree and get away, but he kept the rope tight and the man in place.

“I use a rope every day, that’s how I make my living,” Mr Borba said. “If it catches cattle pretty good, it catches a bandit pretty good.”

Eagle Point police Sgt Darin May said officers arrived and found the lassoed man and bike on the ground in the parking lot.

Police arrested Victorino Arellano-Sanchez, whom they described as a transient from the Seattle area, on a theft charge.

Pious punch-up

Cyprus:

The best man slapped the groom on the back, which is an old Cypriot wedding custom. The priest punching the best man would be an innovation.

But Cyprus police that they are investigating a report that this allegedly happened at a recent wedding.

Police say the victim — the groom’s 22-year-old brother — was not seriously hurt, but his family filed a complaint.

A family member said the priest had gestured for the slapping to cease, then punched the brother in the chest and face when the warning went unheeded.

Bishop of Paphos Georgios backed the priest, telling the Cyprus News Agency that the backslapping custom, dating from Ottoman times, doesn’t befit the island’s Orthodox Christian traditions.

Breeding success

England:

One of the world’s rarest birds has laid eggs in captivity for the first time, in what wildlife experts say provides new hope for the species’ tiny wild population.

Only around 200 breeding pairs of critically endangered spoon-billed sandpipers remain in the wild, where they make an annual 16,000km round-trip between their Russian Arctic breeding grounds and wintering grounds in south-east Asia.

Efforts began to establish a flock at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust in Slimbridge, Gloucestershire, in 2011 as a back-up to the wild population in case conservationists could not reverse declines of up to 25% a year in time to save the species.

Now, seven eggs have been laid by two spoon-billed sandpipers at Slimbridge, with a further seven potential breeding pairs.

Each bird usually lays four eggs, taking the mother almost a week to lay a clutch weighing a total of 32g —more than her entire bodyweight, experts said.

Laying eggs at Slimbridge is significant for the species, which has never bred in captivity and whose extreme lifestyle migrating between the Arctic and the tropics makes it hard to recreate conditions in captivity for successful breeding.

Slithery passenger

USA:

An Arkansas woman escaped injury and managed to safely stop her car after a 1.2-long rat snake came out of her dashboard and slithered across her feet as she drove on Interstate 49.

Rat snakes are not venomous or generally a threat to people, but Kelly Swisher says the snake she encountered gave her a “nails on a chalkboard” sort of feeling.

“It was rough and scaly,” said Ms Swisher. “I do not know if I had my hands on the steering wheel or not. I am not the most flexible person in the world, but I can guarantee my knees were up next to my ears.”

She said the snake first slithered back into the dashboard and she hoped it would stay there until she was able to get off the interstate and stop.

“That did not work out,” she said. “Here he comes, and he wound up in my back seat,” before she finally could get off the roadway, stop and get out of the car.

Washington County animal control officers came and captured the snake.

Gun-point pup

USA:

A puppy stolen at gunpoint from a 14-year-old San Francisco Bay Area boy has been found safe.

The San Francisco Chronicle says the boy was walking a three-month-old German shepherd named Maya in San Leandro when two men rolled up in a car.

The passenger got out and tried to snatch the dog but the boy resisted. The driver then got out with a gun.

The men took nothing but the dog and fled.

Lt. Robert McManus, a spokesman for the San Leandro Police Department, said the puppy was found safe.

He declined to provide details on her return.