All about unusual and funny news

A German man has been jailed for 14 weeks after being stopped at an airport with geckos in his underwear. The man attempted to board a plane in New Zealand with more than 40 geckos and skinks concealed in his underwear. He was convicted of two charges under the Wildlife Act and five under the Trade in Endangered Species Act for taking the creatures from the wild gecko and skink populations.

A German man has been jailed for 14 weeks after being stopped at an airport with geckos in his underwear. The man attempted to board a plane in New Zealand with more than 40 geckos and skinks concealed in his underwear. He was convicted of two charges under the Wildlife Act and five under the Trade in Endangered Species Act for taking the creatures from the wild gecko and skink populations.

If you feel you have a little too much blood and would like a little more beer then this scheme could be for you. Cascade Regional Blood Services in Tacoma, Washington is offering donors a free pint of beer every time they give blood. They are hoping the scheme might encourage more people to donate. Donors have to be over 21 and are given a coupon entitling them a free pint when they donate blood through the scheme. It appears to be having the desired effect with the blood centre saying the scheme has worked so well that it is being expanded.

Staff at a supermarket could have been justified in asking a customer this question when he was spotted behaving strangely. It appeared he was stealing food and had stuffed several sausages down his trousers before trying to walk out the door. He was stopped and searched and the sausages were confiscated. The manager of the supermarket was keen to point out that the sausages had not been returned to sale.

A penguin called Ralph has recently been given a new wetsuit. Usually Humboldt penguins like Ralph gradually lose their feathers to be replaced by a new set. Ralph, however, lost all of his feathers in just one day leaving him at risk of severe sunburn. His wetsuit helps to protect him from the sun and allows him to do all of the things that penguins usually do.

This little guy managed to survive a seven hour long 70mph journey attached to the front of a BMW. Mervyn Draper had swerved to avoid a hedgehog and noticed another creature by the road but had assumed he had missed it. The following morning he found the rather angry stoat wedged through the grille of his car. The stoat was later removed unharmed and is now recovering in a wildlife hospital.

A group of Somerset based cheese makers have launched the first piece of cheese into space. The mission which is hoped to be the first space flight by a piece of Cheddar launched a 300g wedge of Cheddar into the upper atmosphere. Unfortunately not everything has gone to plan and the GPS tracking system has stopped working causing the cheese to be lost in space. The organising are now appealing for help to find the cheese once it lands.. It is thought it could turn up anywhere between Pewsey in Wiltshire and Hertfordshire.

This is one of the more bizarre stories I have come across recently. It suggests that stoned wallabies are responsible for making crop circles in parts of  Tasmania. Apparently the wallabies have been getting into fields of poppies which are being grown for medicine. The problem is that they quickly become intoxicated by the legally grown opium which makes them run around in circles creating the crop circles in the fields. Other animals such as sheep have also been spotted acting unusually in the fields so it appears the effect is not restricted to the kangaroos.

If you are thinking of robbing a convenience store you would think that the first thing you need is a good disguise. One man, however, appears to think differently. He robbed a store using an ingenious beer box disguise which he had obviously made himself. Despite his unusual choice of headwear the man managed to get away with $50 of cigarettes.

According to this article £300,000 of taxpayers money was spent on research into finding out which kind of water ducks prefer. This hugely important and ground breaking research was carried out by Defra with the aim of making sure that ducks kept on farms are properly treated. During the three year study by Oxford University scientists offered the ducks different types of water including a trough, a pond, a shower and a nipple drinker. It was found that the ducks preferred standing under a shower and that they spent twice as long under the shower as they did in the other water.

It never fails to amaze me the strange places that images of Jesus appear. The latest one has been found on the lid of the jar of Marmite. As you can see from the image it clearly resembles an image of Jesus if you have a vivid imagination. If you don’t then it simply Marmite on a lid. I will let you decide.

According to this article gardeners are increasingly starting to use wallabies as an alternative to lawnmowers. Apparently private orders for wallabies have jumped recently as landowners choose to use them on their land. Traditionally people with large gardens have used sheep to graze their lawns but it appears that wallabies are a friendlier alternative. Wallabies are not cheap at around £150 for a male and £650 for a female but it appears that demand for them is rising with Waveney Wildlife Britain’s biggest private supplier reporting orders doubling in the last five years. If you are looking to keep a wallaby they need about an acre of land and fences at least 5ft high so they cannot escape.

If you are having an affair and want to keep it secret then you might want to check out this article on how not be found out. It’s about a boss and his secretary who were having an affair. Unfortunately for them the woman was performing oral sex on him when their car was struck by a reversing van. The impact caused her to bite off his penis. An ambulance was called by a private detective who had been hired by the mans wife to catch the couple out. I guess there are no excuses for this one.

A man in Northport, Alabama woke up with a start after he shot himself. He has been sleeping with a loaded gun when it went off in the night hitting him in the shoulder. Luckily the injury was not life threatening.

This is slightly unusual, its the story of a woman in Detroit who escaped being shot after a bullet bounced off her bra. The woman was in her house when burglars targeted the house next door. When she looked out of the window to see what was happening a shot was fired. The bullet went through her window and hit her but in lucky escape it was deflected off the wiring in her bra, Although she did sustain some injuries the bra slowed the bullet down and probably saved her life. The local police sergeant said "We need to get some bulletproof vests made from that. It is some strong wire."

A woman in Brazil has survived being shot because she had a wad of cash stuffed into her bra. Ivonete Pereira was travelling on a bus from Salvator to Bahia when two armed robbers tried to hold up the bus. She knew that bus robberies were common so had hidden all of her money inside her bra. When a shootout began between the robbers and police Pereira was hit by a spray bullet but the cash inside her bra has slowed it enough that she was not killed. Instead she was taken to hospital to have the bullet removed. What a lucky escape.

This is Ziggy the Pekingese with a difference. Ziggy unlike other dogs can paint. He does this by using a paper towel roll attached to a paintbrush which he grabs in his teeth to create his masterpieces. Not surprisingly Ziggy favours abstract art such as the pieces pictured to the left. There does however, appear to be a demand for Ziggy’s work with his paintings selling at auction for around $250. Now I wonder if I can teach my cats to paint.

It’s a conversation you might have in a pub after a few beers, if a crocodile and a shark has a fight which will win? This question appears to be answered if this article is to believed. It highlights an incident (pictured left) where the two creatures did indeed fight with the crocodile coming off better. In fact the 15ft saltwater crocodile proceeded to eat the shark after disabling it, proving that on this occasion the answer to the question is clearly crocodile.

A barman in Norfolk found himself in trouble with his boss after he cooked the pub takings. Luke Woolston, the barman at the Jolly Farmers in Ormesby, Norfolk stored the money inside an oven for safe keeping after he cashed up. Unfortunately he had failed to realise that the oven was switched on and it was only when he smelt burning that he realised he had cooked £1,000 on the pub takings. He later confessed to his boss by text message who took the unusual tactic of simply telling the customers what had happened saying I thought I could handle it in one of two ways - either give him a strong talking to or tell two or three customers, thinking it would be round the village in no time and his life would be hell for two or three weeks. It seems to have worked."

This is a good example of a rather bad thief who robbed a petrol station but was then quickly caught after he ran out of petrol. The man had robbed a petrol station in Florida, threatening the clerk with a knife. He then fled with the money but unfortunately for him he ran out of petrol not far from the scene of the crime. He was arrested only a few hours later after he abandoned the car. A perfect example of how not to commit a crime.

Police in Nigeria are holding a goat in connection with an armed robbery. Vigilantes had apprehended the animal which they claim was a criminal who had used black magic to turn himself into a goat. It is claimed that two men tried to steal a Mazda 323 but when pursued by the group of vigilantes one escaped and the other turned into a goat using magic.  Police have been unable to confirm the story but the goat is still in custody pending any evidence that it might have actually started off as a man..

A parrot has been banned from attending football games because of his impression on the referees whistle. The parrots owner Irene Kerrigan has been taking her parrot to watch her local club Hertford Heath for some time. The parrot usually mimic the fans by repeating what they say but his latest trick on mimicking the referees whistle managed to stop the match on several occasions. When the referee realised that it was the parrot he was asked to leave.

One potential burglar in Edinburgh got a shock when he tried to break into a flat and was faced with the Norse god Thor, or at least a male dressed as Thor. The burglar leapt from the first floor window of the flat in order to escape Torvald Alexander who was dressed as Thor for a New Year's party that he was going to. Mr Alexander said the burglar may have been intimidated by his costume.

A suspected drink driver who was being chased by the police ended up running himself over with his own car. The driver was being pursued by state police after a tip off that he might be drunk. The police chased the car which swerved across two lanes of a highway before driving through a ditch and a barbed wire fence. The driver then attempted to put the truck into park but instead put it into reverse. He then fell out of the open door and both of his legs were run over. I think he might have a hard job proving he was sober.

According to this article Mexico will dive out free Viagra and other drugs that enhance sexual performance to impotent men. The idea is simply to make people happy because as the mayor says sexuality "has a lot to do with quality of life and our happiness." The drugs will be available to the men over 70 and will be handed out at special clinics from the 1st of December.

A man has to be taken to hospital after he became stuck to a toilet. Emergency services were called to a public toilet after a man found himself stuck. An ambulance crew were unable to free him so he was taken to hospital still attached to the seat. A doctor used a special chemical to free the man and the toilet was later returned. It appears that someone had left glue on the seat as a prank. 

A passenger on a French train had to be rescued from a train toilet after his arm became stuck. The man became trapped after he tried to fish his mobile phone out of the toilet bowl and his arm got stuck in the suction system. The high speed train was stopped for two hours to allow fireman to cut through the train's pipework. The man was eventually rescued from the train with the toilet still stuck on his arm. The fire brigade then had to saw through the toilet to remove it.

A drunk pony had to be rescued from a swimming pool after he ate too many fermented apples and fell into the water. The pony broke into a garden in Cornwall to get to the fruit trees. He gorged himself on the fermenting apples, getting himself "punch drunk" and then ended up in the swimming pool. The pony was later rescued by a team of firefighters who used a harness to pull him out.

An attempt to break the world record for the world's largest sandwich has failed because onlookers ate it. The 1,500 metre long sandwich was going to be filled with ostrich meat before being displayed in the park in Tehran. As the sandwich was being measured hungry spectators rushed forward and started eating it meaning that the exact length of the sandwich could not be verified for the world record attempt.

Cooks in Iran have assembled what could be the world's largest ostrich sandwich at a food festival in Tehran. 1500 cooks used 1,000kg of ostrich meat to make a 1,500m long sandwich which they hope will be large enough to earn a place in the Guinness Book of Records. It took two days to prepare the enormous sandwich which was created as part of an effort to promote Iran's ostrich farming business.

Romanian police have arrested a horse because they suspected it was drunk. The officers noticed the horse because the cart it was pulling looked out of control. They ran an alcohol test which came back positive and the horse was then arrested. It is thought the horse had been given alcohol before it was sold to make it look stronger and healthier.

This is interesting, it about a herd of elephants that pass through a hotel during their migration. The Mfuwe Lodge in Zambia was built right on the elephants migration route and rather than find another way around the elephants simply walk straight though. The herd of 10 elephants appear every November and take the same route every year to get to their favourite mango trees.

Two robbers had to leave half of their loot behind because they didn't have a big enough car to carry it away. The robbers could have escaped with £1 million when they hijacked a security van full of cash. Unfortunately when it came to fitting the loot in the car they were forced to leave half of it behind in the van. The van was later discovered with half the money still inside.

A women is Australia has been trapped inside her home by a large pig. The pig which is as big as a Shetland Pony won't let Caroline Hayes out of her house. Caroline and other neighbours had been feeding the pig which they named Bruce but he started to become aggressive when hungry. Animal rangers plan to catch him and take him to a piggery.

This giant ice penis was photographed by a man called Andy Rouse in Antarctica. The article that accompanies the picture gives assurances that it is a genuine picture rather than a photoshopped job. What do you think, giant ice penis or clever Photoshop work?

A confused Swedish woman checked herself in at Stockholm's Arlanda airport after misinterpreting instructions. The 78 year old lady checked in her suitcase and then climbed on the belt after it. She arrived in the baggage handling bay where she was rescued by surprised airport staff. The woman suffered no injuries and managed to get her flight on time. Perhaps this conveyor belt system could be a way of speeding up the check in process.

This rather curious cow managed to get her head stuck in a washing machine drum that was dumped in her field. RSPCA inspectors were alerted to the usual situation by a passer by and the cow was later released unharmed.

Police in Bristol who were called out to deal with an escaped alligator might have been relieved to find out that it was simply a toy. Roads were sealed off as they stalked the creature which was hiding in bushes. However, after 30 minutes emergency workers used a camera to zoom in on the reptile and found that it was a harmless stuffed toy.

A giant inflatable turd broke free of its moorings and brought down a power line when it escaped during a storm. The turd was a piece of modern art created by American artist Paul McCarthy. The work entitled Complex Shit was lifted by a sudden gust of wind during a storm and took off landing 200 yards away. I'm not too sure about the whole modern art thing, it looks like a pile of poo to me.

We all know that you can fined for carrying for carrying an offensive weapon such as a gun, knife or a gobstopper. Ok, maybe you weren't aware that a gobstopper could be considered an offensive weapon. It is apparently in Edinburgh where a man was fined £400 for carrying one in a sock. The man in question was found with a gobstopper the size of a snooker ball and when questioned said he needed it for protection because he had been attacked. Sheriff Kenneth McIver told him that, even though it was not in the same category as a knife or axe, it was capable of inflicting a nasty injury.

Two people in Japan were attacked and robbed by a vicious Winnie the Pooh. Pooh was actually a man called Masayuki Ishikawa who was out with his friends who were dressed as a mouse and a panther. Apparently he took offence to being stared at, approached the couple saying "What are you staring at?" and then robbed them. It later emerged he was wearing the Winne the Pooh costume because he had run out of clean clothes, obviously he has not heard of a washing machine.

When Hector the great dane started drooling and looking unwell, it was obvious there was something wrong with him, so his owner took him to the vet. It was only when, he was given an X-ray, however, that it emerged he has managed to swallow a 63cm stick. The stick was so long that it stretched over two thirds of the dogs body. It was later removed under anaesthetic and Hector appears to be fine despite the sticky situation.

A woman who mistakenly flushed 900 euros down the toilet managed to get it back after sewer workers were able to recover it. The money had been in her back pocket and slipped out into the toilet bowl. Not realising what had happened she flushed the toilet and then realised that the money was gone. She called the council and sewer workers used a mini camera to find the notes. The bank notes were returned to the lady and hung out to dry.

A lady from New York had a surprise when she opened her washing machine to find a 8ft python. The snake had apparently managed to climb up the pipes where it ended up among her washing. She called animal control who took the snake to New York Wild Animal Kingdom where it is recovering from its adventure.

Motorists in Doebriach in Austria had to wait for several hours after camels stopped traffic. The camels had escaped from a nearby circus and ended up wandering along a busy road. An eye witness said "I came out of a bend on the road and suddenly saw a load of camels strolling around. I could hardly believe my eyes."  The camels were eventually rounded up and returned to the circus.

Nasa has appealed to its employees for donations of urine. The urine is needed for space tests on the new Orion space capsule. The testers need 30 litres of urine everyday in order to conduct the tests because as the head of support systems says "you can't make fake urine".

A man in Connecticut who was being sought for questioning by police made their job easy for them when he crashed his truck into a police garage. Police were looking for the man in regard to a number of accidents that he had been involved in the previous day. They obviously didn't have to look very far. Not a very bright criminal.

I often come across articles that make me think scientists have a little too much time on their hands. This is a good example. A group of scientists have been working really hard and have found the formula for the perfect sandwich. What a relief. It is based on algebraic variables and takes into account factors such as the thickness of the cheese and the bread and the amount of margarine that is used. You can give a go here and can be sure you will never mess your sandwich up ever again. Thank you science.

When Lieutenant Teddy Bacon lost his gold watch in 1941, he thought it was gone for good. The watch had slipped off his wrist into the harbour in Gibraltar. Surprisingly though, when the harbour was dredged in 2007 the watch was recovered and detailed harbour records meant it was returned to its owner. Perhaps more surprising it that it still worked perfectly.

If you get an itch whilst holding a loaded gun it would seem sensible to put the gun down and look around for something to care of the problem. One man in Texas finding he had a rather annoying itch scratched it with a loaded revolver and not surprisingly ended up shooting himself in the back. He was taken to hospital where he was treated for his injuries, it is not know whether he still has the itch.

A man in Tennessee who stole a pair of trousers whilst wearing a gorilla mask has been caught by police. The man had robbed a man at gun point and demanded that he had over both his wallet and his trousers. The masked gunman was later caught when police searched his car and found a gorilla mask, bandanas, 2 bullets, some latex gloves and the stolen trousers.

• Police in Lincoln are baffled after finding thousands of pounds of cut up money dumped in bins. The money has been cut into tiny pieces and is said to be beyond repair.

A man in Chicago has ordered a custom made beer can coffin. However, he has no plans to use the coffin just yet and instead threw a party for his friends using the coffin as a giant beer cooler.

A man in Crowley was arrested after he tried to cash a cheque for $360 billion. He had said the cheque had been given to him by his girlfriends mother so that he could start a record business. Surprisingly staff at the bank were a little suspicious and called the lady who had supposedly written the cheque. Also surprisingly she had no knowledge of writing the cheque. Now I think I might recall writing a cheque for $360 billion. Perhaps if he was trying to get away with it, he should have chosen to cash a cheque for a slightly smaller amount.

A luxury watch with a price tag of £150,000 has sold out within 48 hours of going on sale. That might not seem surprising but the watch is unusual because it doesn't tell the time. It has a crocodile skin strap and is made from steel salvaged from the wreck of the titanic encrusted with sapphires. The face is divided into two sections which signify day and night. It is described by the manufacturer as “world unique - a watch that does not tell the time” and the chief executive of the company says “Anyone can buy a watch that shows time, but only a discerning customer can buy one that doesn’t.” Call me old fashioned I think I will stick with a cheaper watch that tell the time.

A Chilean prostitute raised $4,000 for a national charity by auctioning 27 hours of sex. The money was raised during a two day campaign which is similar to Comic Relief. It will go to help poor and disabled children.

A policeman in Sussex suffered four broken ribs and a punctured lung after being attacked by a herd of cows. He was walking his dog on the South Downs when a cow butted him in the back pushing him to the ground. The other cows in the herd also started to attack him. Mr Poole escaped when the cows were distracted by his dog running away. The RSPCA warned that although cow attacks are rare, they can become aggressive when protecting their young.

Fiona Griggs has become the first national conker champion of Scotland. The championship took place for the first time last Sunday. The event was split into three age categories and also had and event where competitors could bring their own conker. The organisers were pleased with the success of the event and hope to stage it every year.

A man on a hunting trip had the humiliation of actually getting shot by his dog. The man was shooting pheasants and had put his gun on the ground to collect a bird from over a fence. As he climbed the fence one of his hunting dogs stood on the gun, shooting him in his left leg. Officials are now investigating whether the dog was provoked.

The deputy mayor of Delhi has died after being attacked by wild monkeys. SS Bajwa suffered head injuries after falling from a first floor terrace whilst trying to fight off the monkeys. The city has long been plagued by monkeys which invade government complexes and temples and often attack passers by. They have tried to combat the problem by employing monkey catchers to move them into the forest and training larger langur monkeys to scare off the much smaller Rhesus macaques. Culling is not an option because the monkeys are seen as a manifestation on the monkey god Hanuman by devout Hindus.

A Californian man has been charged with trying to smuggle three iguanas in his false leg. He took the rare banded iguanas from a nature reserve in Fiji and was trying to smuggle them into the US. He constructed a special compartment inside his prosthetic leg in order to hide the iguanas. He was later found to have a further four iguanas at his house.  

A New York cop who was suspended after failing a drugs test blamed it on his wife’s cooking. The cop said that his wife had used marijuana in the meatballs as a substitute for Oregano. His wife backed up his story but unfortunately for the cop no one believed him.

A lady unknowingly drove around for two days with a quail stuck in the grille of her car. It is thought the quail became stuck when it was crossing the road as the car passed above it. The bird was later removed unharmed and is now recovering.

Wildlife groups in Southern India have created identification cards for wild elephants. The ID cards are a new idea to try and track the effects of poaching. The ID cards contain a picture of the elephant and records data such as tuck length, thickness, angle and arrangement, as well as the shape of the ears and tail length and any scars. The study is currently focussing on male elephants because they are more prone to being targeted by poachers.

Fire fighters in Hampshire were called out to rescue a pig after it became stuck in a drain. The pig had become stuck in the mud and fire fighters had to dig around her before putting a strap underneath to lift her out.

OK, it’s not a real sheep. This giant sheep has been created in a field in Basingstoke. The sheep which is visible from the M3 is part of a campaign to promote British Lamb. Police are currently investigating whether the sheep is causing a dangerous distraction to drivers.

A man who was feeding his horses was confronted with a 5ft rattlesnake. After pinning it down and cutting off its head with a shovel Mr Anderson could have been forgiven for thinking it was dead. The head was completely severed from the body, but even so when Mr Anderson bent down to pick up the severed head it managed to bite him.

A man who found a Christ-like image in a piece of concrete has sold it on Ebay for £500. The image was caused by a smudge of sealant and to me just looks like a smudge of sealant. It’s interesting the places these “divine” images pop up.

Is it Christ? You Decide

A German woman who has had a pencil stuck in her head for 50 years has just had it removed. When she was four she fell over whilst carrying a pencil and it became stuck in her head. At the time it was decided it was too dangerous to remove it because it was near to the brain. She has suffered headaches and nosebleeds since the pencil became stuck. A 2cm tip still remains in her head as it grown in to firmly to be removed.

A man who stole a necklace in Calcutta might have been forgiven for thinking he would get away with the crime if he swallowed the stolen item. After being given an X-ray it was found out that he was lying when the necklace clearly showed up. Police then force fed him 50 bananas to act as a laxative. The necklace was eventually retrieved, cleaned and reunited with its owner.