SIDELINES...

KILLER CROCS

Successful attempts to conserve the Australian seawater crocodile have had an unexpected effect on East Timor, 450km (280 miles) off Australia’s northwest coast. As the Australian croc population has exploded, increasing numbers have been migrating across the Timor Sea resulting in a 23fold increase in crocodile attacks in East Timor since 1996, more than half of them fatal. The attacks are so frequent that the Timorese are now 10 times more likely to die from a crocodile attack than malaria, once a major health threat on the island. Queensland Courier Mail, 22 Aug 2021.

RECLINER STOWAWAY

Staff at a Denver thrift store were disconcerted when they found that a recliner chair that had just been donated came with a cat hiding inside it. Animal control were called and managed to coax the “very friendly” cat out without much trouble. Shortly afterwards they were contacted by the frantic owners and were able to reunite them with the errant moggy. denver.cbs.local.com, 4 Jan 2022.

DEVIANT DONATIONS

Children’s charity Barnardo’s has revealed the strangest donations it received in 2021. These include a scorpion in a jar of formaldehyde, a lamb castrating tool, a handbag with a set of false teeth inside, a bag of moss and an overcoat with a slice of pizza in the pocket. . 22 Dec 2021.

THAI TROUBLE

Multimillionaire Thai businessman Khanotpitnuthep Jakraphopmahadecha, 46, also known as “K Roi Lan” (which translates as “K who has millions of baht”) caused chaos in central Bangkok by abandoning his new Mercedes in rush hour traffic. He then took off his shirt, spread the road with flowers, released three live cobras, poured Red Fanta over himself and slashed his neck and right wrist with a metre long sword. Police swiftly closed the road, rounded up the snakes and took Jakraphopmahadecha to hospital, after which they charged him with traffic offences, littering and having a knife in public. He had previously tried to perform a similar rite in public in 2019. aseannow.com, 2 Feb 2022.