odds ’n’ ends
LONDON: Prime Minister Theresa May said Tuesday that she’s prepared to allow a vote in Parliament on whether to lift Britain’s ban on fox hunting — reigniting an issue that still raises passions more than a decade after the practice was outlawed.
While campaigning for the June 8 election, May said she is in favor of hunting and a vote “would allow Parliament the opportunity to take the decision on this.”
The comments came after the Daily Mirror newspaper published a leaked email by Benjamin Mancroft, master of the Foxhounds Association. He said a Conservative landslide in the election could result in enough votes for the repeal of the ban.
Polls consistently suggest a majority of Britons oppose fox hunting, but many Conservative lawmakers represent rural areas where support is strongest.
Once an iconic British tradition, hunting with dogs was banned in 2004 amid complaints by animal welfare campaigners who argued it caused suffering to wild animals chased and killed by hounds. (AP)
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SYDNEY: An Australian man searching for food in a river by a remote Aboriginal community has survived with multiple bite wounds after a crocodile mauled his chest and arm, paramedics said Wednesday.
The 54-year-old was “collecting food in the local waterway” at Palumpa some 353 kms (219 miles) southwest of Darwin on Tuesday afternoon when he was attacked, NT CareFlight Rescue Helicopter said.
“He was able to fend off the crocodile which was two metres in length — a juvenile saltwater crocodile,” CareFlight’s David Wheeldon told AFP.
The man, who was not named, suffered multiple bites and was “bleeding a lot”, but was able to walk away from the Daly River and get someone to drive him to a local medical centre, Wheeldon said. (AFP)
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DAR ES SALAAM: Four wild elephants from nearby forests paid an unexpected visit to a university in Tanzania’s capital on Tuesday, triggering more entertainment than panic before being chased away by rangers.
“When we saw them in the morning, we were initially afraid and informed the university officials,” said Jessica Mollel, a student at the University of Dodoma, who said a crowd quickly formed.
The students called the police who got in touch with officers from Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA).
“Immediately alerted, the police arrived to contain the curious, preventing them from approaching the elephants,” Mollel recounted. (AFP)