Animal oddities of 2005

[Ian David]

Animal oddities of 2005
18/12/2005 12:06 - (SA)

Paris - Alongside tragedies, wars and natural disasters the year just ending brought its share of unusual, outrageous and tragi-comic and just downright silly news items.

A significant number of them concerned animals. For example:

- Files released by Britain's civil service revealed a mass of paperwork relating to the hiring of an "efficient office cat" by the home office, or ministry of the interior. The feline functionary was taken on in 1929 to catch mice, but in 1946 the post was sadly deemed obsolete.

- Elephant trainers in Thailand said they were teaching their charges to use special giant toilets, to keep their droppings out of sight of tourists.

- A British train driver who suffered nightmares after he ran over a goat on the tracks was awarded £35 000 in compensation. He had previously suffered the trauma of running over a suicide.

- A fire department employee in the US state of Florida faced charges for biting off the head of a live parrot at a party. A co-worker said the man had been drunk.

More:
http://www.news24.com/News24/Technology/News/0,,2-13-1443_1852494,00.html



And my favorite...

- Animal welfare workers in Germany reported multiple cases of exploding toads. It later emerged that the creatures were being attacked by crows, causing them to swell up as a defence mechanism.