SIDELINES...

GET STUFFED

Following a tip-off from a concerned member of the public, an Oregon sheriff’s deputy investigated a possible big cat on the loose. The caller said the animal looked like a cheetah, “but did not appear to be aggressive.” The deputy said he arrived on the scene and used his “ninja-like skills” to sneak up on the animal, which turned out to be a stuffed toy. [UPI] 21 Dec 2020.

TAKINGTHE PISS

Online delivery company Ocado were in hot water after a customer found three bags of urine with her food order. Michelle Leonard, 42, threw all the food away after discovering the pee-filled carrier bags. “This order was for my birthday,” she said. “It wasn’t massive amounts of shopping but having urine delivered with your shopping is just disgusting.” An Ocado spokesperson said the error was “unacceptable” and that they were “investigating it as a matter of urgency”. D.Telegraph, 19 Nov 2020.

NAZI MONKEY

Russian prosecutors have launched an investigation after a monkey wearing a Nazi uniform performed at a state circus. The show also featured goats wrapped in Nazi swastika flags. The Udmurtia Circus performance in the city of Izhevsk had been commissioned by the Russian Orthodox Church to symbolise the ‘spurning’ of Nazism. Russian law forbids public displays of Nazi symbols, but the Church insists it is covered by an exemption allowing the display of Nazi symbols providing they “create a negative attitude to Nazi ideology”. BBC News, 13 Jan 2021.