That’s Outrageous

A SPICY DISCOVERY

When citizens of Aylesbury, a mediumsized town in the UK, found a large orange bird that was having trouble flying last July, they thought they’d discovered an exotic creature in peril. Upon bringing it to a wildlife hospital, though, they found out it was the animal’s bold behaviour that had led to its bold colour: the distressed bird was a seagull that had managed to get itself covered in curry. Seagulls are inquisitive by nature and are known to put themselves in similarly spicy situations. Thankfully, a couple of baths returned it to its naturally unseasoned state.

WALRUS WARRIOR

Phil Demers was surprised to find the police at his door when he came out of the shower in July last year. The evening before, he’d sent what he believed to be an innocuous tweet: “Life is short. Steal a Walrus.” But Demers’s tongue-in-cheek missive had prompted MarineLand

Canada to call the cops. Demers, an employee-turned-whistle blower, had

exposed the aquatic theme park’s alleged animal cruelty in 2012. In 2013, he was slapped with a lawsuit (still ongoing) for allegedly plotting a walrus heist, a charge he has long denied. The officers left without incident, and Demers is still intent on “saving the walruses” without stealing them.

WELCOME INVADER

One evening last year, Nate Roman returned to his Massachusetts, US, home to find that his door was unlocked, and his house smelled different. Clean, in fact. Roman saw that his five-year-old son’s room had been meticulously tidied, with his stuffed animals lined up neatly on the bed. The other bedrooms and the bathrooms were similarly orderly. The mysterious organiser hadn’t stolen anything, which left Roman to speculate that this was the work of a housecleaner who happened to go to the wrong home on a day he’d left the door unlocked. His son, on the other hand, was just thrilled to have got out of cleaning his room that day.