Caged tiger

HOUSTON ( AP) — Houston police say some people who went into an abandoned home to smoke marijuana found a caged tiger.

They called the city on Monday and the major offender animal cruelty unit and animal shelter volunteers arrived on the scene. Authorities nicknamed the tiger “Tyson” after the movie “The Hangover.”

Officials tell KHOU-TV the tiger was well fed, but the cage was secured by a nylon strap and screwdriver. Officials say it could easily open and the tiger could have gone on a “rampage.”

The tiger was taken to an animal shelter, then it was transferred to an animal sanctuary in Texas on Tuesday.

It’s legal to own a tiger in Texas if the owner has a wild game permit. But it is illegal to have a tiger in Houston.

Shipwreck beer

COBLESKILL, N.Y. (AP) — Ahoy, beer lovers: A bottle from a 133-year- old shipwreck may yield yeast for a new brew in upstate New York.

Biotechnology students at the State University of New York at Cobleskill uncorked a bottle from the shipwrecked SS Oregon on Thursday. Serious Brewing Company of Howes Cave plans to develop a new brew if the students successfully extract yeast.

Bill Felter, of Serious Brewing, acquired the beer from a customer who owns an assortment of artifacts recovered from the Oregon.

The ship was en route from Liverpool, England, to New York City with 852 people aboard on March 14, 1886, when it collided with a schooner near Fire Island, New York, and sank. All but one person survived.

Last year, an Australian brewer produced beer from yeast recovered from a 220-year-old shipwreck.

Booby-trapped house

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A Philadelphia real estate investor says a home he was scoping out came with an unadvertised surprise — a stairway boobytrapped with a swinging knife.

Ekrem Uysaler says he and his team were looking at the home in January when one of his co-workers saw a small line on the home’s staircase. WCAUTV reports he stopped his construction manager from heading up the stairs and recorded video as they pulled the staircase line with a spare rod.

Pulling the line triggered a fast- moving, downwa rd- swing i ng crutch from above the staircase. Taped to the end of the crutch was a large knife pointing right to where a person’s head would have been walking up the stairs.

Uysaler says he has never encountered something like this before. He says “It’s like ‘Home Alone’ ... Philly style.”

Bear stuck in trash

WINDSOR, N.C. (AP) — Drivers were startled to see a hungry bear that got stuck in the back of garbage truck and took a ride across a stretch of eastern North Carolina.

News outlets report that a motorist called Bertie County 911 on Wednesday morning about a bear hanging off of the truck on U.S. Route 17.

Apparently, the snackseeking bear climbed into the trash truck during a stop and became trapped after the driver secured the netting that prevents garbage from blowing out.

Sheriff John Holley says a deputy stopped the truck with the bear perched on top just outside of Windsor. The driver, who hadn’t been aware of the stowaway, pulled back the net and the bear ran off before the truck continued on to the landfill.