Zoo gets back 38 squirrels after losing 30 in typhoon
TOKYO: Japanese zookeepers who lost 30 squirrels after a typhoon damaged their enclosure said yesterday their recovery efforts had exceeded expectations — with 38 animals back in captivity. The bushy-tailed rodents made a break for freedom when a tree felled by a typhoon last week cut through netting at Tokyo’s Inokashira Park Zoo. But after days of trapping the sharp-toothed creatures, a spokeswoman for the zoo said the haul had been more successful than expected and a total of 38 had been “recaptured.” “We still receive about four to five reports a day from witnesses,” said Eri Tsushima. Most of the animals were caught in the surrounding park area, and Tsushima said keepers would be checking that all of those taken into captivity had the microchips the zoo implanted into its own squirrels. The mass breakout came a month after the recapture of a Humbolt penguin that spent 82 days at large in and around Tokyo Bay after bolting its aquarium, garnering a large media following around the world. The aquarium is now holding a contest asking visitors to suggest a name for that runaway.
Obama favored to defend against space aliens: Poll
WASHINGTON: Nearly two in three Americans think President Barack Obama is better suited than Republican rival Mitt Romney to deal with an alien invasion, according to a survey released Wednesday. National Geographic Channel contacted 1,114 adults across the United States last month for its fanciful opinion poll ahead of its new cable television documentary series “Chasing UFOs.” Thirty-six percent of respondents said they were certain that unidentified flying objects exist. Eleven percent were confident they had spotted a UFO, and 20 percent said they knew someone who claimed to have seen one. With Obama facing re-election in November, 65 percent said Obama would be more adept than Romney to respond to an alien invasion, with women and younger Americans more likely than men and over-65s to agree with that prospect. National Geographic Channel said the results of the e-mail and online “Aliens Among Us” survey dovetailed with the research underpinning “Chasing UFOs” which premieres Friday with Texas and Colorado residents describing their encounters with mysterious flying objects.
Austrian police seize 9.5 tons of garlic
VIENNA: Perhaps they were trying to keep a horde of vampires at bay. Austrian police said Wednesday they had stopped five Romanians on the motorway with overflowing lorries transporting a whopping 9.5 tons... of fresh garlic. The five men, aged 25 to 37, could not explain where the pungent bulbs came from or prove the load belonged to them and were charged with transporting stolen goods, the police said in a statement.
— Compiled from agencies
