“We had to do everything in our power to find this cobra,” said Volker Wiebels, spokesman for the city council.
After the highly poisonous monocled cobra escaped from its container in March, fire services cleared the entire apartment block, removed all the furniture and gutted the owner’s flat.They then sealed all the doors and windows of the building, so the 30 cm long reptile couldn’t get out, and set large sticky traps to catch it, Wiebels said.
Officials finally found the snake lying dead in the rooftop apartment of its 19-year-old owner on Thursday. By that time the cost of the operation had ballooned to about US$133 700. Taxpayers are likely on the hook for 40 000 euros, because an escaped snake is considered public hazard, Wiebels said. — Reuters.
BOOZE BAN STRIKE: A few hundred warehouse workers and drivers at Danish brewer Carlsberg halted work to protest a company decision to limit beer drinking at work to lunch breaks.
The strike in Denmark followed the company’s April 1 decision to introduce new rules for employees on beer drinking at work, said Jens Bekke, spokesman at the world’s fourth-ranked brewer.
“There has been free beer, water and soft drinks everywhere,” he said. “Yesterday, beers were removed from all refrigerators. The only place you can get a beer in future is in the canteen, at lunch.”Bekke said drivers retained an old right to three beers per day outside lunch hours, and warehouse workers claimed the same right.
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“Because of that, the warehouse staff went on strike, with other staff striking in sympathy,” he said. — Reuters.
LOSER ELEVEN: A non-league team have ended the worst run in British football history with a 1-1 draw.Part-timers AFC Aldermaston had lost 40 consecutive games before holding Warminster Town to a draw.Aldermaston, bottom of the Wessex League Division One, conceded more than 150 goals during their 11 month losing streak.
Manager Adie Heath, 28, took over five weeks ago after previous longsuffering boss Carl Griffiths quit.He said: “It is the record no team would want but I suppose it has given the club a bit of attention. We will all be glad to see the back of this season and start again in the summer.
Aldermaston are unable to pay their players and lost 10 first team members to rivals Tadley in the summer.
They will play next season in the Hampshire Puma League after also becoming the first team in the country to be relegated. — Ananova.com.
DIMWITS: US police arrested two would-be bank robbers who phoned ahead asking for the money to be ready for them when they arrived.
The pair called the People’s United Bank in Fairfield, Connecticut, threatening a “blood bath” if a bag of money wasn’t waiting for them.
But they were intercepted by police, who were already waiting on the scene when the young men arrived, reports the Connecticut Post.
Police arrested a 27-year-old man and a 16-year-old boy who face robbery charges.Sergeant James Perez said the pair turned up at the bank about 10 minutes after making the call and were met by police in the bank’s car park.
Perez said that, in his opinion, the suspects were “not too bright”. — Ananova.com.
“You can’t make this stuff up,” he said. “They literally called the bank and said to have the bag of money ready on the floor because they’re coming to rob the place.” — Ananova.com.
