Oddities In the News
A cougar in your luggage? Hunting carcass found at airport
Police say a hunter’s trip home hit a snag in Las Vegas after security screeners found a dead cougar in his luggage.
No crime was committed because the man had a hunting tag. But police Lt. David Gordon told the Las Vegas Review-journal that Transportation Security Administration agents held the man at Mccarran International Airport late Tuesday to confirm the validity of the Utah hunting tag.
His name and where he was headed weren’t released.
Airport spokeswoman Melissa Nunnery says the man ended up shipping the cougar carcass home, not on the airplane.
Gordon says it’s not a crime to transport legally possessed game on an airline flight. But he says airlines can refuse to transport certain items.
Special delivery: Family welcomes 2nd Christmas Eve baby
For one suburban New York family, Christmas Eve is turning into a tradition of very special deliveries.
Newsday says Stony Brook residents Jacki and Josh Grossman had their second son on Sunday, four years after their first son arrived.
Baby Elliott and older brother Oliver were delivered at Stony Brook University Hospital by Dr. Phil Schoenfeld. The doctor has worked Christmas Eve at the hospital for the past 17 years.
Jacki Grossman says she “couldn’t feel more blessed” than to have her boys share such a special day. She says, “It must have been meant to be.”
Oliver says he doesn’t mind sharing his birthday with his new brother. His mother says he ran around the hospital spreading the news.
Mummers parade goes on as planned despite bonechilling cold
Thousands of marchers have braved bonechilling temperatures and wind chills to take part in Philadelphia’s annual Mummers Parade, the oldest continuous folk parade in the country.
Organizers had considered postponing the event because of concerns over the brutal weather conditions. But they voted to go ahead with the New Year’s Day parade, which featured performers dressed in colorful costumes adorned with sequins and feathers marching down the city’s main north-south thoroughfare.
Temperatures were in the single digits when the parade started. Concerns had been raised the frigid temperatures could be dangerous for parade participants and some instruments used by marching string bands.
Heating tents and warm buses were set up along the route for the Mummers.
Philadelphia has hosted the Mummers Parade since 1901.
Russian army demonstrates latest weapon: Cuddly puppies
The Russian Armed Forces has unveiled its latest cutting-edge weapon in a New Year’s greetings video: cuddly puppies.
After a year of showing off its military might in Syria, the Defense Ministry has taken a softer approach in a one-minute video showing dozens of puppies sharing food and cuddling with each other. Older dogs are shown playing with unidentified officers.
In the Chinese calendar, 2018 is the year of the dog, so many Russians are using dogs in their holiday greetings this season.
Over 3,000 dogs are employed in the Russian armed forces.
Dogs from the 470th Dog Breeding Center outside Moscow are among the most decorated in Russia. The center won an international competition last summer against the canine forces of Belarus, Egypt, Iran and Uzbekistan.
Joker the dog survives 8-day airport, city adventure
Joker the dog had one heckuva Christmas adventure.
Joker’s owner, Summer Burgos, flew him to Florida on Dec. 21 to live with family while she trains in the Navy. As soon as Burgos’ motherin-law opened the crate at the Fort Lauderdalehollywood International Airport, the 2-yearold Canaan bolted past her. For eight days, in a strange city, Joker roamed the streets.
On Christmas Eve, the Sun Sentinel reports that Joker was spotted near some shops in Fort Lauderdale. A few days later, a group of neighbors in Dania Beach finally rescued Joker — about 4 miles from the airport.
Using information from his tags, they got in touch with Burgos. Joker got a checkup at a veterinarian’s office before going home to Burgos’ family, starting another new adventure.
Free bird: Officer rescues snowy owl from prison barbed wire
A resourceful Pennsylvania wildlife conservation officer has helped to engineer a daring prison escape.
A snowy owl that had become trapped in barbed wire in a perimeter fence at the Smithfield prison in Huntingdon was rescued on Christmas Day.
Pennsylvania Game Commission officer Amanda Isett used a crate, a net and an Army blanket to coax the bird out.
The Pittsburgh Postgazette reports the owl escaped with only some minor skin tears and a few missing feathers. The owl is being treated at Centre Wildlife Care in Port Matilda, near Penn State University.
The juvenile male owl is expected to make a full recovery and will be released once its feathers grow back.