All about unusual and funny news

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.

An unfortunate squirrel with a love for nuts got into a spot of bother when he crawled into a bird feeder. Getting into the squirrel proof bird feeder was not a problem for the then thin and sleek squirrel. Getting out after consuming all the nuts proved a little more difficult. Luckily for the greedy squirrel the RSPCA were on hand to release him and the squirrel ran off unharmed but feeling a little sheepish.

A pastor who decided to spread the word of God by putting scripture messages into bottles before throwing them into the sea has been fined for littering. The bottles were meant to be carried out to sea and across to Holland, France and Germany but unfortunately for the Pastor they ended up on Gorlestone beach in Norfolk and he was fined for littering.

Port Allen City Council has become the second Cajun-country town to ban saggy pants. By saggy pants I mean the style of trousers that fall below the hips often exposing the wearer’s underwear. The o ordinance requires pants to be secured at the waist so that they do not fall below the hips. Violators could be fine $25 to $250 for a first offence and $250 to $500 for repeat offences. Council member Hugh Riviere said he didn't want to view other people's undergarments, saying it "is called underwear for a reason."

A study carried out at the University of East Anglia suggests that swearing at work can actually help employees cope with stress. Professor Yehuda Baruch warned that attempts to stop people swearing at work could also have a negative impact on employees, although he did discourage swearing in front of customers. Apparently swearing helps by developing solidarity as well as helping staff cope with stress.

Stratford-upon-Avon is hosting a Geesepeace event on how to deal with problem numbers of Canada geese. 50 delegates from across the UK and the USA will attend. Stratford-upon-Avon has managed to reduce its numbers of geese from 700 to 100 in less than three years through humane management. The birds can be a problem because they destroy vegetation, harass visitors and deposit around half a ton of excrement. Methods to control the geese include oiling eggs to prevent them from hatching.

A man in Hong Kong was jailed after he drank two vials of blood on a hospital visit. The man was drunk and had staggered into the hospital for treatment on an injured toe. Surveillance cameras showed the man walking up to a laboratory counter before drinking two vials of blood. His excuse was that he was extremely thirsty.

Horse racing fans in Sydney have had a shortage of races after an outbreak of equine flu has hit the spring racing programme. Horse racing is currently banned because of the outbreak. There is some good news, however, as some camel races have been organised. One race was held last weekend and although people are not allowed to put official bets on a camel race due to the fact camel racing is not recognised by Australia’s betting organisation, it appeared to be a success. More camel races are planned for the future.

Grey squirrels may be given contraceptives under a scheme designed to stop them wiping out the native red squirrels. Red squirrels once common in the UK now only survive in a few locations. This is largely because of the invasive presence of the introduced grey squirrel. I wonder how they propose giving the contraceptive to the squirrels. If it is given in the squirrel’s food, then other animals and birds are also likely to eat it. It seems a rather odd project, what wrong with just using a few squirrels for food; I hear they taste like chicken.

Stressed pets in Lincolnshire are being offered spiritual healing in the form of Reiki. Reiki uses energy to treat physical and emotional problems. The treatment can help animals in relieving pain and boosting their immune systems. If you want to take your stressed pets then you need to go to the Four Paws Reiki clinic in Lincoln.

A man in Australia was rushed to hospital after it was found he had ingested a large amount of ethylene glycol, which is commonly found in anti freeze. The usual treatment for this is pure alcohol which can inhibit the toxic effects. However, the hospital soon ran out of pharmaceutical grade alcohol and so the decision was taken to use vodka instead. The man was drip fed a case of vodka over three days in the intensive care unit. He made a successful recovery but I bet he had a mean hangover.

A tunnel of love has been built in Somerset to try and encourage some rare dormice to breed. The Tunnel consists of wire mesh and is lined with leaves and is stretched across a road at Batts Combe Quarry. The idea is that it will link two colonies of rare hazel dormice. So far none of the dormice appears to have used the tunnel but there have been reports of squirrels using it as a racetrack.

A grant has been given by the lottery fund to try and help Britain’s bats. All 17 species of Britain’s bats have declined since the end of the industrial revolution. The Heritage Lottery Fund grant of £600,000 to conservationists is designed to increase the awareness of the sorts of conditions bats need to survive. The project has been called England Bat Count and will give people training in how to spot bats as well as information about how to encourage them back to their former territories.

A pig and eight of her piglets were rescued from a hut in Alresford, Hampshire. The hut had caught on fire and the little pigs faced a roasting until firefighters rescued them. One other piglet died before they arrived but at least the others didn't get a roasting.

In a rather unusual piece of news a chemical scare was trigged in Soho in London by nothing more than a few chillies. Police were first alerted after members of the public reported an acrid cloud of smoke. Police then cordoned off three street and emergency workers were deployed with breathing masks. After breaking down the door of a nearby building a Hazardous Area Response Team emerged with a 9lb pot of chillies. It later emerged the premises was a Thai restaurant and that the chef had been preparing nam prik pao, a specialist dipping sauce which is made from burnt-dry-fried chillies.

A man has recently got into the record books by skimming a stone 51 times. If you want to have a go, you might want to read these tips on how he does it. They include picking a flat, oval and palm sized stone, using the forefinger and thumb to skim and throwing the stone so it strikes the water at an angle between 10 and degrees. It all seems very complicated.

Villages across the north of England have been receiving carved stone heads. The heads are thought to be carved by local man. So far 13 of the stone heads have been left in various locations including outside the post office in Braithwell. The heads appeared in the middle of the night and although there is CCT footage of a man leaving them there, so far no one knows why. My guess is its someone looking for some publicity for their sculptures.

Three crocodiles in Australia that were relocated to a new home have found their way back again. The crocodiles are usually caught near popular beaches and re-homed to more remote areas to avoid interaction with people. These particular crocodiles managed to travel 250 miles to get back to their homes. It appears the journey took about three weeks. It is not clear whether the programme to relocate crocodiles away from populated areas will continue, now that it has been found they come straight back.

A woman in Phoenixville has been involved in an unusual accident. She was in a drive through McDonald’s when she managed to run over her legs. Police do not yet know how she managed to do this but she was fully conscious when speaking to emergency crews. It is thought that she placed her order and whilst the car was rolling forward managed to fall out of the moving car, which then ran her over.