Odds and Ends – May 25, 2018 – May 31, 2018

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Feisty kittens. (AP Photo)
Feisty kittens. (AP Photo)

Rescuers bitten after mistaking bobcats
for domestic kittens

San Antonio (AP) — Three well-meaning people suffered bites when the kittens they rescued after hearing them mewling in a San Antonio alley turned out to be ravenous bobcat cubs.

The caretakers found the blue-eyed, stub-tailed pair of young bobcats and, thinking they were Bengal kittens, took them in. They fed the bobcats milk from pet-feeding bottles, but realized something was amiss when the aggressive animals tore the bottles apart and bit them.

They called animal control officers and a wildlife rescue group took the wild cats away. Workers intended to wait in the alley hoping to find the mother and reunite her with the cubs.

Domestic dispute in Germany:
Man arguing with a parrot

Berlin (AP) —A resident in Loerrach, near the German-Swiss border, called the emergency number to report his concerns about loud shouting from a next-door apartment that had been going on for some time.

Police said that officers sent to the scene found there was a loud argument going on — but it was between a 22-year-old man and a parrot. The man told them he had been annoyed with the bird, which belonged to his girlfriend.

The parrot responded to being shouted at with loud noises of its own. Police said it couldn’t speak but could bark like a dog.

Since no one was hurt, the officers left.

Chinese tourists spark anger
in Vietnam over map on shirts

Hanoi, Vietnam (AP) — A group of Chinese tourists wearing T-shirts depicting the country’s territorial claims in the disputed South China Sea has sparked anger in Vietnam.

The tourists arrived at the Cam Ranh international airport last week and after going through the immigration, took off their coats to reveal T-shirts featuring the so-called “nine-dash line” demarcating Beijing claims to nearly the entire South China Sea. Vietnam is one of the rival claimants.

State-run Tuoi Tre newspaper reported that Vietnamese authorities confiscated the T-shirts.  Some readers commenting on the newspaper’s website called for the deportation of the Chinese tourists.

More than 4 million Chinese arrived in Vietnam last year, accounting for about 30 percent of total foreign arrivals in the Southeast Asian country.

Police praise Wisconsin students
for prank that was illusion

Cumberland, Wis. (AP) — Police had praise for students who created an illusion for a senior class prank that appeared to show a car crashed into the principal’s office.

Students at Cumberland High School in Wisconsin used a junk car, some bricks, some tape and a black tarp to make it look like the car had crashed into their school.

Police arrived on the scene only to realize it wasn’t really a wreck. The Cumberland Police Department wrote on Facebook that it was “one of the best senior pranks.”

The school district also congratulated the students for their ingenuity.

‘Joggling’ record: Man sets mark
for running while juggling

Boston (AP) — It won’t land him a spot in the Olympics, but a Massachusetts college student has run one of the fastest miles while juggling — an endeavor called “joggling.”  Zach Prescott ran a 4 minute, 43.2 second-mile while juggling three lacrosse balls.

The junior business student who is on Boston University’s track and cross country squads told The Boston Globe it’s all about focus and rhythm. Once he gets used to the speed when he’s running, “you’re pretty much just juggling in place.”  If verified, his time would beat the previous world record by 0.6 seconds.

A Guinness World Records spokeswoman says the organization is aware of Prescott’s feat and working to determine whether he beat the current record, set in 1986, a process than can take several months.