Apr 14, 2010
Apr 12, 2010
Messed up!
A zebra and horse crossbreed named Eclyse is pictured at the Safari park in Schloss Holte-Stukenbrock, western Germany. The father of Eclyse is a horse from Italy, her mother is a zebra from the Safari park in Germany.
Apr 8, 2010
Women tried to smuggle corpse onto plane?
(Reuters) - Two women were arrested at a British airport on suspicion of trying to smuggle a dead relative onto a flight bound for Germany, police said on Tuesday.
The 91-year-old deceased man was pushed in a wheelchair through Liverpool's John Lennon airport wearing sunglasses before check-in staff became suspicious and he was prevented from boarding the plane.
He was believed to have been driven about 35 miles to the airport by taxi from Oldham, Greater Manchester, police added.
The women were arrested on suspicion of failing to give notification of a death and were released on bail.
"At 11 a.m. on Saturday 3 April 2010, police at Liverpool John Lennon airport were alerted to the death of a 91-year-old man in the terminal building," police said in a statement.
"Two women aged 41 and 66 were arrested on suspicion of failing to give notification of death."
The cause of death is not known.
He was believed to have been driven about 35 miles to the airport by taxi from Oldham, Greater Manchester, police added.
The women were arrested on suspicion of failing to give notification of a death and were released on bail.
"At 11 a.m. on Saturday 3 April 2010, police at Liverpool John Lennon airport were alerted to the death of a 91-year-old man in the terminal building," police said in a statement.
"Two women aged 41 and 66 were arrested on suspicion of failing to give notification of death."
The cause of death is not known.
Apr 7, 2010
N.Korea leader sets world fashion trend: Pyongyang
AFP - The trademark suit sported by North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il is now in fashion worldwide thanks to his greatness, Pyongyang's official website said Wednesday.
Uriminzokkiri, quoting an article in communist party newspaper Rodong Sinmun, said the modest-looking suits have gripped people's imagination and become a global vogue.
"The reason is that the august image of the Great General, who is always wearing the modest suit while working, leaves a deep impression on people's mind in the world," it said.
"To sum it up, that is because his image as a great man is so outstanding."
The article quoted an unidentified French fashion expert as saying world fashion follows Kim Jong-Il's style.
"Kim Jong-Il mode which is now spreading expeditiously worldwide is something unprecedented in the world's history," the stylist was quoted as saying.
The suits consist of an overall-style zipped-up tunic and matching trousers, usually in khaki or blueish-grey.
The 68-year-old leader wears them even when receiving foreign dignitaries.
During his outside "field guidance" trips in winter, he also dons a shapeless anorak and fur hat.
Kim and his deceased father Kim Il-Sung are at the heart of a personality cult that borders on religion, with near-magical powers ascribed to the younger Kim.
Rainbows supposedly appeared over sacred Mount Paekdu where Kim Jong-Il was allegedly born, and he is said once to have scored 11 holes-in-one in a single round of golf.
Uriminzokkiri, quoting an article in communist party newspaper Rodong Sinmun, said the modest-looking suits have gripped people's imagination and become a global vogue.
"To sum it up, that is because his image as a great man is so outstanding."
The article quoted an unidentified French fashion expert as saying world fashion follows Kim Jong-Il's style.
"Kim Jong-Il mode which is now spreading expeditiously worldwide is something unprecedented in the world's history," the stylist was quoted as saying.
The suits consist of an overall-style zipped-up tunic and matching trousers, usually in khaki or blueish-grey.
The 68-year-old leader wears them even when receiving foreign dignitaries.
During his outside "field guidance" trips in winter, he also dons a shapeless anorak and fur hat.
Kim and his deceased father Kim Il-Sung are at the heart of a personality cult that borders on religion, with near-magical powers ascribed to the younger Kim.
Rainbows supposedly appeared over sacred Mount Paekdu where Kim Jong-Il was allegedly born, and he is said once to have scored 11 holes-in-one in a single round of golf.
Teacher-on-teacher bullying
Most schools have policies that target bullying, but they are usually aimed at students. Now, school districts in Iowa and California are developing rules to prevent teachers from bullying teachers.
"Kids are very vulnerable to what adults say. Adult modeling is a very powerful force in shaping youth behavior," said Stan Davis, a school guidance counselor in Sidney, Maine, and a bullying prevention expert
The Sioux City, Iowa, community school district approved its policy last April. Desert Sands Unified School District of La Quinta, Calif., is awaiting final passage later this month. The two school districts are believed to be the only ones nationwide developing anti-bullying policies for their adult employees, said Gary Namie, who — with his wife and fellow psychologist, Ruth Namie — founded the Workplace Bullying Institute in Bellingham, Wash.
"Kids are very vulnerable to what adults say. Adult modeling is a very powerful force in shaping youth behavior," said Stan Davis, a school guidance counselor in Sidney, Maine, and a bullying prevention expert
The Sioux City, Iowa, community school district approved its policy last April. Desert Sands Unified School District of La Quinta, Calif., is awaiting final passage later this month. The two school districts are believed to be the only ones nationwide developing anti-bullying policies for their adult employees, said Gary Namie, who — with his wife and fellow psychologist, Ruth Namie — founded the Workplace Bullying Institute in Bellingham, Wash.
Promoting an anti-bullying message among students is "undermined when a principal bullies a teacher in front of the kids," Namie said.
Though there are just two adult-specific programs so far, the concept may expand, Davis said
Nationwide, 41 states have anti-bullying laws affecting schools, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. A few states, such as North Carolina, Florida and Utah, include school employees with students in their measures, a USA TODAY review of those policies showed.
The Desert Sands school district spent $45,000 for consulting fees and training for its new bullying policy; a price tag some say was too much, considering the district faces a $15 million budget shortfall for the next school year, according to Superintendent Sharon McGehee.
"I just think the money should go toward the kids, not the adults," said Elizabeth Lira, a parent-teacher group member at the district's Ronald Reagan Elementary in Palm Desert, Calif.
Matt Spencer, the district's director of non-teaching employees, said the economic impact of bullying in absenteeism and lost productivity provides an overall financial benefit "that can be used to go about the business of educating children."
Costs for the Sioux City district's policy were covered by a local philanthropic organization, human resources director Steve Crary said. Approved last April, Sioux City schools' anti-bullying policy is already paying dividends, he said.
"We've had a number of situations come forward," Crary said. "I think it's doing what it was supposed to do. It created a heightened sense of awareness. People who for whatever reason didn't feel comfortable coming forward before are coming forward and telling us about things."
The Illinois state Senate last month passed the Abusive Work Environment Act, which would provide protections from workplace bullying for public workers. Workplace abuse "pushes people into a shell of silence," said Democratic Illinois Rep. Eddie Washington, who is co-sponsoring the House bill. "This is a good way to get in front of it," he said.
Apr 6, 2010
Giant Gas Bubbles in Indiana Dairy Farm's Waste Pond Frighten Neighbors
WINCHESTER, Ind.—Like many of his neighbors, farmer Tony Goltstein has to deal with the aftermath of the dairy bubble.
But besides his mounting financial troubles, Mr. Goltstein also must contend with bubbles the size of small houses that have sprouted from the pool of manure at his Union Go Dairy Farm. Some are 20 feet tall, inflated with the gas released by 21 million gallons of decomposing cow manure.
But he has a plan. It requires a gas mask, a small boat and a Swiss Army knife.
The saga of Mr. Goltstein's bubbles, which are big enough to be seen in satellite photos, began about seven years ago and traces the recent boom and bust of U.S. dairy farmers.
Mr. Goltstein, 43 years old, had moved his wife and their three children from the Netherlands to Winchester, population 4,600, about 90 miles east of Indianapolis. They planned to build a dairy farm with 1,650 cows on 180 acres.
He had installed a black plastic liner to keep the manure from seeping into the ground during the flush days of the dairy business, when prices and demand were growing.
The plastic liner has since detached from the floor of the stinky, open-air pool, and Mr. Goltstein says he can't afford to repair the liner properly. But he says he's game to pop the bubbles before the manure pool overflows and causes an even bigger stink.
His neighbors aren't happy with the plan.
"If that thing back there blows, God help us all for miles," said Allen Hutchison, whose corn and soybean farm is next door. He and other neighbors worry that puncturing the bubbles could cause an explosion of manure and toxic gases.
Not to worry, said Mr. Goltstein as he stood at the edge of the manure pit, puffing on a cigarette and gazing at the bubbles glistening in the sun. "I have no fear popping them."
When the neighboring Hutchison family first learned the Goltsteins were planning a dairy farm right next door, they worried the operation's manure pool would foul the air or groundwater. Mr. Hutchison petitioned state environmental officials to deny the Goltsteins an operating permit.
It's normal in farm country to see vast brown pools filled with manure slurry from dairy cows or hogs. These lagoons, as they're commonly called, are supposed to safely store animal waste until the manure is sprayed on fields as fertilizer. Federal and state laws govern how the pools are maintained.
Some struggling farmers in the recession have neglected lagoon maintenance while others have abandoned their farms altogether, leaving states to clean up the mess.
Barbara Sha Cox, who has a farm six miles from the Goltstein farm, recently wrote to Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, asking him to support rules that would require farmers to put up money so the state wouldn't be liable if a lagoon spilled manure or was abandoned. A spokeswoman for Mr. Daniels said, "on the rare occasions that there has been a need for a cleanup, the state has the ability and does seek cost recovery and that approach is working."
The Goltsteins agreed to install a plastic liner and received their permit. These liners often are used in landfills, but Mr. Goltstein said his was among the first to be used on an Indiana farm. It cost $150,000.
The first small bubbles began poking up in the fall of 2006. "I thought, 'This doesn't look right,' " he said.
In July 2008, about the time milk prices plummeted amid weak global demand, one of the bubbles ripped open and revealed solid matter inside. A state environmental inspector visited, and the state fined Mr. Goltstein $2,125 for failing to properly maintain the lagoon.
The Goltsteins filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last month; their bank began foreclosure proceedings. Mr. Goltstein said repairing or replacing the lagoon liner could cost him more than $200,000—money, he said, he doesn't have.
Indiana's Department of Environmental Management said there was no sign that manure from Mr. Goltstein's lagoon was contaminating the local groundwater.
But Mr. Goltstein said he loses sleep worrying that his lagoon will overflow. Warmer weather appears to have made the bubbles grow, he said, and the pool has been inching higher. To prevent a spill, the Goltsteins have been paying to have manure pumped into tanker trucks and dumped at another farm.
This month, Mr. Goltstein asked state regulators to let him pop the bubbles. He said he and his 19-year-old son would slice them open with a knife from a paddleboat.
Bruce Palin, assistant commissioner for the office of land quality at the state environmental agency, said officials were considering the idea. But, he added, "not knowing how much volume of gas is there and how much pressure is on it, we're concerned with just cutting a hole."
Last year, a hog farmer in Hayfield, Minn., was launched 40 feet into the air in an explosion caused by methane gas from a manure pit on his farm. He sustained burns and singed hair.
Mr. Goltstein's attorney, Glenn D. Bowman, acknowledged that the potential existed for an explosion: "We're aware of that sort of common physics issue," he said.
If and when the bubbles are deflated, state officials said, they will be there to keep watch.
That's little consolation to many of Mr. Goltstein's neighbors.
"If they don't do it right..." Mr. Hutchison said, shaking his head as his voice trailed off.
Mr. Palin, the state official, said, "Obviously you don't want to be smoking a cigarette when you open this thing up."
But besides his mounting financial troubles, Mr. Goltstein also must contend with bubbles the size of small houses that have sprouted from the pool of manure at his Union Go Dairy Farm. Some are 20 feet tall, inflated with the gas released by 21 million gallons of decomposing cow manure.
But he has a plan. It requires a gas mask, a small boat and a Swiss Army knife.
The saga of Mr. Goltstein's bubbles, which are big enough to be seen in satellite photos, began about seven years ago and traces the recent boom and bust of U.S. dairy farmers.
Mr. Goltstein, 43 years old, had moved his wife and their three children from the Netherlands to Winchester, population 4,600, about 90 miles east of Indianapolis. They planned to build a dairy farm with 1,650 cows on 180 acres.
He had installed a black plastic liner to keep the manure from seeping into the ground during the flush days of the dairy business, when prices and demand were growing.
The plastic liner has since detached from the floor of the stinky, open-air pool, and Mr. Goltstein says he can't afford to repair the liner properly. But he says he's game to pop the bubbles before the manure pool overflows and causes an even bigger stink.
His neighbors aren't happy with the plan.
"If that thing back there blows, God help us all for miles," said Allen Hutchison, whose corn and soybean farm is next door. He and other neighbors worry that puncturing the bubbles could cause an explosion of manure and toxic gases.
Not to worry, said Mr. Goltstein as he stood at the edge of the manure pit, puffing on a cigarette and gazing at the bubbles glistening in the sun. "I have no fear popping them."
When the neighboring Hutchison family first learned the Goltsteins were planning a dairy farm right next door, they worried the operation's manure pool would foul the air or groundwater. Mr. Hutchison petitioned state environmental officials to deny the Goltsteins an operating permit.
It's normal in farm country to see vast brown pools filled with manure slurry from dairy cows or hogs. These lagoons, as they're commonly called, are supposed to safely store animal waste until the manure is sprayed on fields as fertilizer. Federal and state laws govern how the pools are maintained.
Some struggling farmers in the recession have neglected lagoon maintenance while others have abandoned their farms altogether, leaving states to clean up the mess.
Barbara Sha Cox, who has a farm six miles from the Goltstein farm, recently wrote to Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, asking him to support rules that would require farmers to put up money so the state wouldn't be liable if a lagoon spilled manure or was abandoned. A spokeswoman for Mr. Daniels said, "on the rare occasions that there has been a need for a cleanup, the state has the ability and does seek cost recovery and that approach is working."
The Goltsteins agreed to install a plastic liner and received their permit. These liners often are used in landfills, but Mr. Goltstein said his was among the first to be used on an Indiana farm. It cost $150,000.
The first small bubbles began poking up in the fall of 2006. "I thought, 'This doesn't look right,' " he said.
In July 2008, about the time milk prices plummeted amid weak global demand, one of the bubbles ripped open and revealed solid matter inside. A state environmental inspector visited, and the state fined Mr. Goltstein $2,125 for failing to properly maintain the lagoon.
The Goltsteins filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last month; their bank began foreclosure proceedings. Mr. Goltstein said repairing or replacing the lagoon liner could cost him more than $200,000—money, he said, he doesn't have.
Indiana's Department of Environmental Management said there was no sign that manure from Mr. Goltstein's lagoon was contaminating the local groundwater.
But Mr. Goltstein said he loses sleep worrying that his lagoon will overflow. Warmer weather appears to have made the bubbles grow, he said, and the pool has been inching higher. To prevent a spill, the Goltsteins have been paying to have manure pumped into tanker trucks and dumped at another farm.
This month, Mr. Goltstein asked state regulators to let him pop the bubbles. He said he and his 19-year-old son would slice them open with a knife from a paddleboat.
Bruce Palin, assistant commissioner for the office of land quality at the state environmental agency, said officials were considering the idea. But, he added, "not knowing how much volume of gas is there and how much pressure is on it, we're concerned with just cutting a hole."
Last year, a hog farmer in Hayfield, Minn., was launched 40 feet into the air in an explosion caused by methane gas from a manure pit on his farm. He sustained burns and singed hair.
Mr. Goltstein's attorney, Glenn D. Bowman, acknowledged that the potential existed for an explosion: "We're aware of that sort of common physics issue," he said.
If and when the bubbles are deflated, state officials said, they will be there to keep watch.
That's little consolation to many of Mr. Goltstein's neighbors.
"If they don't do it right..." Mr. Hutchison said, shaking his head as his voice trailed off.
Mr. Palin, the state official, said, "Obviously you don't want to be smoking a cigarette when you open this thing up."
Mar 26, 2010
Playing Opossum
Trooper Jamie Levier says several witnesses saw 55-year-old Donald Wolfe, of Brookville, near the animal along Route 36 in Oliver Township Thursday about 3 p.m. The trooper says one person saw Wolfe kneeling before the animal and gesturing as though he were conducting a seance, while another saw the mouth-to-mouth attempt.
Levier says Wolfe was "extremely intoxicated" and "did have his mouth in the area of the animal's mouth, I guess."
The Associated Press could not locate a home telephone number for Wolfe.
Oliver Township is about 65 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.
Pollution from Asia's booming economies rises into the stratosphere
Pollution from Asia's booming economies rises into the stratosphere during the monsoon season then circles the world for years, according to a report out Thursday. A study by the Boulder, Colorado-based National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) said the strong air circulation patterns linked to Asia's monsoon rainy season serves as a pathway for black carbon, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and other pollutants to rise into the stratosphere.
The stratosphere is the layer of the atmosphere located some 32 to 40 kilometers (20 to 25 miles) above the Earth's surface.
"The monsoon is one of the most powerful atmospheric circulation systems on the planet, and it happens to form right over a heavily polluted region," said NCAR scientist William Randel, the study's lead author.
"As a result, the monsoon provides a pathway for transporting pollutants up to the stratosphere."
Using satellite data and computer models, the scientists found that once the pollutants are in the stratosphere they circulate around the globe for several years.
"Some eventually descend back into the lower atmosphere, while others break apart," read a statement on the study.
Researchers fear that the impact of Asian pollutants on the stratosphere may increase in the next decades due to fierce industrial growth in countries like China and India.
Scientists however do not know the impact of climate change on the Asian monsoon, unsure if it will strengthen or weaken the monsoon's vertical air movements.
The international study, published in the March 26 edition of the journal Science, was funded by the National Science Foundation together with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Canadian Space Agency.
The stratosphere is the layer of the atmosphere located some 32 to 40 kilometers (20 to 25 miles) above the Earth's surface.
"The monsoon is one of the most powerful atmospheric circulation systems on the planet, and it happens to form right over a heavily polluted region," said NCAR scientist William Randel, the study's lead author.
"As a result, the monsoon provides a pathway for transporting pollutants up to the stratosphere."
Using satellite data and computer models, the scientists found that once the pollutants are in the stratosphere they circulate around the globe for several years.
"Some eventually descend back into the lower atmosphere, while others break apart," read a statement on the study.
Researchers fear that the impact of Asian pollutants on the stratosphere may increase in the next decades due to fierce industrial growth in countries like China and India.
Scientists however do not know the impact of climate change on the Asian monsoon, unsure if it will strengthen or weaken the monsoon's vertical air movements.
The international study, published in the March 26 edition of the journal Science, was funded by the National Science Foundation together with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Canadian Space Agency.
Mar 19, 2010
Computer snafu is behind at least 50 'raids' on Brooklyn couple's home
Blame it on a computer.
Embarrassed cops on Thursday cited a "computer glitch" as the reason police targeted the home of an elderly, law-abiding couple more than 50 times in futile hunts for bad guys.
Apparently, the address of Walter and Rose Martin's Brooklyn home was used to test a department-wide computer system in 2002.
What followed was years of cops appearing at the Martins' door looking for murderers, robbers and rapists - as often as three times a week.
After the Daily News exclusively reported on the couple's plague of police raids yesterday, apologetic detectives from the NYPD's Identity Theft Squad showed up at their home.
Rose Martin, 82, said they told her Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly ordered them to solve the puzzle - stat.
By the end of the day, NYPD Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne said the snafu was traced to a 2002 computer test, though he couldn't explain why the couple's address was used as a test case in the first place.
He said that when the Martins complained to cops in 2007 about their scary series of official doorknocks, police tried to wipe their address from the system.
But the raids continued. The most recent, on Tuesday, left 83-year-old World War II vet Walter Martin woozy from soaring blood pressure.
Investigators found yesterday that not every computer file bearing the Martin's address was deleted.
"It wasn't supposed to stay in [the system]," Browne said. "It's been removed."
In order to be "doubly cautious" in the future, Browne said cops have flagged the Martin's address so no officer will be dispatched to the home without double-checking the address.
A skeptical Rose Martin asked the department to write her an official letter, dubious that such a long-standing problem could be fixed in a day.
"It seems like too simple a correction for something that has been going on for eight years," she said.
Meanwhile, The News learned problems with the house go back to before the Martins bought it in 1997: The previous owner sold the modest Marine Park house because police and fire crews kept showing up at his door chasing bogus reports.
In his case, the freaked-out former owner - who fled the city because of what happened at the house - told The News he was being targeted by a still-unknown tormentor who sicced the cops on him 30 times in the three years starting in 1994.
"Someone was calling from different pay phones in the area, calling in fires, domestic disputes, kids screaming - whatever," said the man, who is still so scared he asked his name not be printed. "All totally unfounded."
The ex-owner said he complained multiple times starting in 1994, and his brother, a city firefighter, helped to get fire marshals to investigate.
The calls, which the marshals believed might have been made by a devious vengeful neighbor, stopped about six months before he sold to the Martins, he said.
"I always thought I was being targeted personally - and, to be honest with you, it freaks me out that it's happening again," the ex-owner said.
Embarrassed cops on Thursday cited a "computer glitch" as the reason police targeted the home of an elderly, law-abiding couple more than 50 times in futile hunts for bad guys.
Apparently, the address of Walter and Rose Martin's Brooklyn home was used to test a department-wide computer system in 2002.
What followed was years of cops appearing at the Martins' door looking for murderers, robbers and rapists - as often as three times a week.
Rose Martin, 82, said they told her Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly ordered them to solve the puzzle - stat.
By the end of the day, NYPD Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne said the snafu was traced to a 2002 computer test, though he couldn't explain why the couple's address was used as a test case in the first place.
He said that when the Martins complained to cops in 2007 about their scary series of official doorknocks, police tried to wipe their address from the system.
But the raids continued. The most recent, on Tuesday, left 83-year-old World War II vet Walter Martin woozy from soaring blood pressure.
Investigators found yesterday that not every computer file bearing the Martin's address was deleted.
"It wasn't supposed to stay in [the system]," Browne said. "It's been removed."
In order to be "doubly cautious" in the future, Browne said cops have flagged the Martin's address so no officer will be dispatched to the home without double-checking the address.
A skeptical Rose Martin asked the department to write her an official letter, dubious that such a long-standing problem could be fixed in a day.
"It seems like too simple a correction for something that has been going on for eight years," she said.
Meanwhile, The News learned problems with the house go back to before the Martins bought it in 1997: The previous owner sold the modest Marine Park house because police and fire crews kept showing up at his door chasing bogus reports.
In his case, the freaked-out former owner - who fled the city because of what happened at the house - told The News he was being targeted by a still-unknown tormentor who sicced the cops on him 30 times in the three years starting in 1994.
"Someone was calling from different pay phones in the area, calling in fires, domestic disputes, kids screaming - whatever," said the man, who is still so scared he asked his name not be printed. "All totally unfounded."
The ex-owner said he complained multiple times starting in 1994, and his brother, a city firefighter, helped to get fire marshals to investigate.
The calls, which the marshals believed might have been made by a devious vengeful neighbor, stopped about six months before he sold to the Martins, he said.
"I always thought I was being targeted personally - and, to be honest with you, it freaks me out that it's happening again," the ex-owner said.
Mar 18, 2010
Your Basic Surfing With Alpacas Story
Mar 15, 2010
A website where men pay to watch her consume fast food
An obese mother in the US is trying to put on weight in order to become the world's fattest woman.
Donna Simpson, from New Jersey, weighs 273kg but told the Daily Mail newspaper she had her heart set on reaching her goal weight of 1000lb (450kg) in two years. 
"I'd love to be 1000lb ... it might be hard though, running after my daughter keeps my weight down," Ms Simpson told the Daily Mail.
Ms Simpson, who needs a mobility scooter to go shopping, eats huge amounts of junk food each week and tries to move as little as possible so she doesn't burn off as many calories.
"I do love cakes and sweet things, doughnuts are my favourite," she said.
Ms Simpson said she also loved eating sushi and would often eat 70 big pieces in one go.
Her 49-year-old partner Philippe — who she met on a dating site for plus-size people — was encouraging her to reach her goal, she said.
"I think he'd like it if I was bigger ... he's a real belly man and completely supports me," she said.
To put on enough weight, Ms Simpson will need to eat 12,000 calories a day, which is six times the recommended daily intake for women.
In order to pay for the enormous amounts of food she is eating — her weekly grocery bill is $815 — Ms Simpson makes money by running a website where men pay to watch her consume fast food.
Jan 20, 2010
Video shows goat smashing through doors of strip club
The 150-pound goat smashed two large glass doors at Lynx Gentlemen's Club over the weekend, causing roughly $2,000 in damage, the owner said Monday.
The act was caught on surveillance tape.
“I would never believe it if I didn't see it myself,” said the club's owner, Hank Piecura. “It must have been mesmerized by its reflection in the door, so it rammed it.”
After staring at its reflection in the doors for hours, Piecura said the goat reared up on its hind legs and smacked the glass. The goat hit the door repeatedly until he smashed it.
“I'm glad he didn't smash the mirrors in the lobby,” Piecura said.
The club at 46-156 Dillon Road hasn't opened for business, yet. Piecura said he hopes to open later in the week after he receives his liquor license.
The goat first visited the club Friday morning and Piecura chased him away. He found blood and the safety glass smashed Saturday morning.
Authorities initially responded to a vandalism call, but found an animal had smashed the door after reviewing the surveillance footage, said Det. Matt Diaz, a spokesman for the Riverside County Sheriff's Department.
No report was taken.
Rachel Ledoux, owner of goat farm Rancho Buena Vista in Whitewater, said goats have two things on their minds:
“Females and eating,” she said.
Because goats are not independent, the animal likely wandered off or was abandoned, she said.
Ramming a door also is unusual behavior. “They're the gentlest little creatures,” Ledoux said.
Ben Guitron, spokesman for the nearby Indio Police Department, said they've had their share of dealing with unusual animal calls, such as when polo horses raced past JFK Memorial Hospital about a year ago.
But they've not had destructive goats, he said, “unless they're eating someone's bills.”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)