SIDELINES...

CANNY COWS

A cow set for an abattoir escaped by ramming a fence and swimming to an island on Lake Nyskie in southern Poland. Three weeks Mr a later, its owner, Łukasz, farmer from Buków,

gave up on capturing the animal after attempts at retrieval led it to repeatedly swim off. Meanwhile, a Dutch cow called Hermien took refuge in a forest near Lettele for six weeks. Locals used crowd funding for her care at a cow sanctuary. BBC News, 19 Feb 2018.

MERCILESS

Farmer Graham Thomas, 55, has been jailed for hanging his sheepdog Prince from a tree after it failed to round up his flock properly in August 2017. He attached a 20ft (6m) rope around the neck of the Welsh border collie at his farm in Rhymney, South Wales. He cut the animal down before burning its body. D.Telegraph, Metro, 23 Mar 2018.

SONNY DELIGHT

A baby has become the sixth living generation in his family. Sonny Newsome was born to Paige Steel, 21, who lives near her mum Donna, 37, in Barnsley, South Yorkshire. Donna’s mum is Katrina Callam, 55, and Katrina’s mum is Marion Tennant, 76. Marion’s mum, Evelyn Flavell, held her great great great grandson on her 102nd birthday. A US family has seven living generations, probably a world record. Sun, 29 Feb 2018.

BEE-FRIENDED

Ever since she rescued a dying, wingless bumblebee in her garden last Spring, Fiona Presly, an Inverness library assistant, has developed a special bond with her bee friend, who is happy to sit, eat and sleep on her hand. “I think I have proved here that you can have a relationship with an insect,” she says. Daily Record, 19 Mar 2017.

ROCK GONE

In an exhibition in Toronto, a woman pocketed a stone on which Yoko Ono had written: “Love yourself”. The thief was being hunted by the Canadian police. The nondescript pebble was said to be “worth £12,400”. D.Telegraph, 10 April 2018.