FOXY FOOT FETISH: A fox has been unmasked as the mystery thief of more than 100 shoes in the small western German town of Foehren, authorities said.
A forest worker stumbled upon shoes strewn near the fox’s den and found a trove of footwear down the hole which had recently been stolen overnight from outside locals’ front doors.
“There was everything from ladies’ shoes to trainers,” said a local police spokesman. “We’ve found between 110 and 120 so far. It seems a vixen stole them for her cubs to play with.”Although many were missing laces, the shoes were in good condition and their owners were delighted to reclaim them, he said, adding that no reprisals were planned against the culprit. —— Reuters.
TRANSFORMED: Three pupils of the Evangelist Primary School in the northern Nigerian town of Maiduguri rushed into the headmistress’s office and said that a fellow pupil had been transformed into a yam after accepting a sweet from a stranger.   The headmistress found the root tuber and took it to the police station for safe-keeping. Following local radio reports, hundreds of people flocked to see the yam and police were hunting for the sweet-giver. —— Listverse.
FOUR-EARED CELEB: A Chicago, Illinois, couple Valerie and Ted Rock took in a household cat born with an extra pair of ears two years ago after they visited a local bar, where a group of drinkers were handing the animal around and making fun of him.Since being adopted by the Rocks and after getting his picture posted on the Internet, the two-year-old feline has become an international media celebrity.His extra ears are thought to be the result of a genetic mutation. —— Thatsweired.net.GUNS NOT CHARMERS: Power hoses and AK-47 assault rifles have succeeded where Sierra Leone’s snake-charmers failed by removing 400 cobras and vipers that overran a police station.Authorities in the southern district of Bo called in police, army and fire fighters after the snakes scared away police officers and residents reporting crimes.About 250 of the estimated 400 snakes who had made the station their home have been killed. —— Reuters.
APIAN RESPECT: Margaret Bell, who kept bees in Leintwardine, about seven miles from her home in Ludlow, Shropshire (England), died in June 1994. Soon after her funeral, mourners were amazed to see hundreds of bees settle on the corner of the street opposite the house where she had lived for 26 years. The bees stayed for an hour before buzzing off over the rooftops. —— Listverse.
IRON TEETH: Police who solved a spate of mystery burglaries were shocked to find the culprit was biting his way through steel window bars.“Through our investigations, we found the grids had been cut but with deep tooth prints,” a local police spokesman told the Chongqing Business Daily.Police brought in the man, Xiong (23) for questioning and he confessed that he was behind the burglaries.He had found that he could chew open any steel bars up to 1cm in thickness by prising open welding spots with his teeth. —— Ananova.
UNFORGETTABLE: A jobless Taiwan man released from prison stole a box of cotton swabs just to get arrested again because he “could not forget the police department boxed lunches”, officers and local media said.The homeless man in Taipei first stole a pair of shoes on a Sunday, was detained and released. He then resorted to stealing again the next day just to get back inside and be fed for free. —— Reuters.
