SIDELINES...

FELINE MUGGING

While out for an evening stroll near Tamatea Reserve, Taupo, New Zealand, on 11 December 2016, Jude Merwood and her Husky Sam were attacked by three feral cats. While trying to get the cats off Sam, Merwood fell over and was set upon by the cats, leaving her cut and bloodied. The cuts turned septic, requiring a week of antibiotics. stuff.co.nz, 21 Dec 2016.

A LIKELY STORY

On 21 February, firefighters and paramedics rescued Shawn Treadaway of New Albany, Mississippi, who had been hanging upside down from a tree in a wooded area of Blue Springs for more than four hours. He was butt naked, with a cable wrapped around him. Treadaway explained that he had been searching for a dog and decided to scale the tree, when he slipped and fell. He might have lost his clothing as he was falling, but it was unclear why he had the cable. Fox13now.com (Salt Lake City), 23 Feb 2017.

SURPRISE BURIAL

A badger in Utah’s Grassy Mountains has been captured on camera burying the carcase of a cow – previously unrecorded behaviour – in an astonishing display of digging prowess. Calves weigh about 23kg (50lb), while male badgers weight on average 8.6kg (19lb). Guardian, 1 April 2017.