QUIRKY WORLD ... Walmart’s hives of activity a buzzkill for shoppers

USA: Three people were taken to a hospital after an estimated 30,000 to 60,000 bees escaped and stung people in a Wal-Mart parking lot in southeast Oklahoma City.

Emergency Medical Services Authority spokeswoman Lara O’Leary says two people were transported in serious condition and the third was in good condition after being stung after the bees escaped from three hives.

Each of the three injured are adults, but no other information about them was released.

Oklahoma City Fire Battalion chief Benny Fulkerson said the incident began about 10.30am, when a person selling bee hives met a buyer in the parking lot and the bees escaped. Fulkerson says beekeepers were called and gathered them. He said a firefighter was also stung, but did not require medical attention.

Laid to unrest

USA: Two versions of a New Jersey man’s obituary have appeared together in a newspaper — one saying he is survived by his wife, and the other saying he’s survived by his girlfriend.

Both obituaries in the Press of Atlantic City agree that Leroy Bill Black, of Egg Harbor Township, died last Tuesday of lung cancer caused by fiberglass exposure.

However, the obituary with top billing says he is survived by his “loving wife” and a son. The second announcement, right beneath the first one with the same photo of Black, says he is survived by his son, a host of siblings, and his long-time girlfriend.

A person who answered the phone at Greenidge Funeral Home, which is handling arrangements, would only say the funeral home works at the discretion of the man’s wife.

Bear necessities

USA: Oklahoma game wardens have seized a mounted polar bear that had been on display at a Tulsa airport. Wardens confiscated the taxidermied bear from Jones Riverside Airport. Tulsa County game warden Carlos Gomez told Tulsa television station KOTV that the bear was legally killed in 1969 in Alaska and brought to Oklahoma.

Gomez says the person who had been in possession of the bear did not have paperwork to prove ownership.

Gomez says that charges or citations are expected. He says the bear is valued at about $50,000 (€45,000).

Bring him home

USA: Extreme marathon runner Dion Leonard hopes to bring a stray dog which followed him for 125km during a race across China back to his home in Scotland.

Gobi the dog accompanied the team from the cooler side of Tian Shan range, keeping them company as they went over to the Black Gobi Desert in the Gobi March 2016 run, a 250km journey across the mountains and deserts.

Leonard has since started the ‘Bring Gobi Home’ project to raise funds to bring Gobi to Scotland in time for Christmas.

“The... project has had enormous support from all around the globe. We now have the funding in place to be able to make this story now a reality and get Gobi to the UK,” Leonard told Reuters by email.

“Any leftover funds will then be donated to a dog shelter to be decided.”

Coming up Trumps

USA: The owners of a German restaurant in New York have taken down an autographed photo of Donald Trump because they say it was hurting the business.

The Brooklyn Daily reports that Schnitzel Haus owners Fred and Amber Urban say the photo of the Republican presidential nominee had been there since the restaurant opened in 2007. The Urbans were friends with Trump’s head of security at the time and they say Trump dropped by to wish them good luck. He sent an autographed photo the next day.

The photo is a topic among online reviews on Yelp, with diners saying they were uncomfortable or offended.

Fred Urban says on Facebook that some people have cancelled reservations over the photo, while others want to take selfies with it.

Mouth to meowth

Italy: After children in the Italian port of Marsala spotted a kitten floating apparently lifeless in the sea, they asked the Italian Coast Guard for help.

A patrol officer dived in and pulled the cat out of the water, and then applied mouth-to-mouth and chest massage until the cat began to breathe again. The cat eventually managed a weak meow as it started the path to recovery. Port authorities later adopted the cat and named it Charlie.

Clowning around

USA: Police in Green Bay, Wisconsin, say they have received calls after someone was spotted dressed up as a scary clown holding black balloons. They say there’s not much they can do about the clown.

Captain Kevin Warych told WGBA-TV: “A person can walk down the sidewalk dressed however they want as long as they’re in a place they legally can be.”