A crocodile frightened peak hour motorists on a busy street in Australia’s tourist north, slithering out of a drain into traffic before it was cornered by street sweepers.
The relatively small 1.5-metre reptile emerged from the drain on a main street in Cairns, gateway to the Great Barrier Reef, around 8 a.m.
“It just came out of the drain, but it didn’t go for us,” a road worker told the Cairns Post newspaper.
Nearby street sweepers and police used brooms to keep the animal at bay from thronging onlookers and it was eventually captured by rangers and a few burly onlookers with the help of a towel.
“It jumped up and its tail started thrashing. No-one knew what to do,” one witness said.
An average of two people are killed each year in Australia by saltwater crocodiles, known locally as “salties”, which can grow up to seven metres long and weigh more than a tonne. (AFP)
Nappy faker
New Hampshire police say a man faked a brain injury to get a nurse to change his adult nappy.
Hooksett police said that Eric Carrier is facing charges of indecent exposure and lewdness. The 23-year-old is accused of pretending to have a brain injury to lure the woman to his home, claiming he needed help changing his “nappy”.
Colourful veggies
New rainbow-coloured cauliflowers could tip the balance in favour of healthy food on the dinner table.
The vivid orange, emerald green, and shocking pink varieties of the vegetable are designed to help parents get their children to eat up their greens.
Along with traditional white varieties, they are being sold in a “rainbow pack” exclusively by Tesco.
Post mortem
A Brazilian man sent the remains of his friend’s son through the post.
Postal workers detected the bones of the 22-year-old man, who died four years ago, when they did an X-ray scan on the package, which also contained an exhumation order. Police said the dead man’s parents asked a friend in Rio de Janeiro to send their son’s remains for reburial in the city of Vicosa in north-eastern Brazil.
Status symbol
The rise of the Staffordshire bull terrier as a tough status symbol has led to thousands of the dogs being abandoned across Britain, a charity has warned.
Rapidly increasing numbers are finding themselves in kennels after they are bought on impulse as “weapons” and then kicked out on the streets when no longer wanted, it said. The trend is inflicting “huge damage” on the breed, which is not aggressive if handled and trained correctly, Battersea Dogs and Cats Home said.
Air guitar record
A UK charity has claimed it broke the world record for the largest number of people playing air guitar.
Action on Hearing Loss said 2,227 people rocked to Jimi Hendrix’s track Purple Haze at the Womad music, art and dance festival in Malmesbury, Wiltshire on Sunday.
To beat the record the crowd had to play for 90 seconds and do at least three air guitar moves within an enclosed area.The attempt was made to raise awareness of the charity’s campaign to encourage people to wear hearing protection at gigs and music festivals.
Emma Harrison, Action on Hearing Loss director of public engagement, said: “To quote the Queen song, ‘We are the champions!’
The previous record was set at 1,883 people, and Guinness Book of World Records are examining yesterday’s attempt before it becomes official.
Braces for turtle
Rescuers at the Loggerhead Marinelife Center in Juno Beach, Florida, called in an orthodondist to fix the broken shell of a 171lbs sea turtle seriously injured by a boat propeller.
Orthodontist Alberto Vargas is using a device similar to kids’ braces to stretch the wounded shell a little each day.
It’s hoped that eventually the fracture will be minimised enough for the turtle to be able to return to the wild.
Family cars
Basil Fawlty famously once beat his car when it failed to start but many motorists treat their vehicle a little more kindly, according to a survey.
While TV’s Fawlty (played by John Cleese) whacked his motor with a tree branch, nearly half of drivers describe their cars as “part of the family”, the poll by Confused.com found. More than a quarter have names for their vehicles and around a third have daily “car-versations” with their motors, talking to them about personal problems. The survey was of 2,000 adults. (PA)