Karl's Weird News

 Dumbo’s rumble in the jungle:

Everybody knows teenagers get a bit grumpy, but when it is a four-tonne polo-playing elephant you had better get out of the way.

Abey, 18, lost focus on his game and hospitalised two team-mates at Sri Lanka’s sixth annual elephant polo tournament.

He threw off his mahout and American rider before rampaging off the pitch and crushing the Spanish team’s minibus with his head.

Boar rampage gun frolics destroy washroom

After a wild boar went on the rampage in a wash room in Germany, a hunter called in to kill it managed to hit a washing machine, electric drier and the wall with his gun before finally getting the pig.

Brazilian Saves Grandson From Anaconda

A 66-year-old Brazilian saved his grandson from the grip of a 16-foot-long anaconda by beating the snake with rocks and a knife for half an hour, police said Thursday.

Strange but True- Electrocuted Owl Cuts Power to 23,000

An owl electrocuted itself in an electrical substation, briefly knocking out power to almost 23,000 customers in south Casper.

Deer Jumps Through Window, Visits Family:

A Cambridge family was minding its business at home when a deer bounded through a parlor window, hurdling a sofa and scrambling through the home before being wrestled into a bathroom and locked in.

Pelosi: No Harm, No Fowl

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) returned from a four-day trip to Iraq and Afghanistan Monday night to a bizarre, Hitchcock-ian scene — a beady-eyed, black bird flying around her posh Georgetown apartment.

Eagle causes power outage

About 10,000 Juneau residents lost power Sunday after a bald eagle lugging a deer head crashed into an Alaska Electric Light & Power transmission system in Lemon Creek.

“You have to live in Alaska to have this kind of outage scenario,” said Gayle Wood, an AEL&P spokeswoman. “This is the story of the overly ambitious eagle who evidently found a deer head in the landfill.”

‘Life-changing event’: Panther chases forester:

A federal forester says he was chased into the Chattooga River by a 7-foot-long panther with “jet black” fur. Terrance Fletcher, a technician with the U.S. Forest Service, dove into the frigid water and crawled up the bank in South Carolina to escape. “The animal started running … so I decided to run and get away and jump in the river to get across to the other side,” Fletcher said this week. “It was a life-changing event for me.”

US woman fights off lion with pen:

A 65-year-old Californian woman has saved the life of her husband, 70, by fighting off an attacking mountain lion with a small log and his pen.

Bullfighter beaten by his bull

A Spanish bullfighter was recovering from gland surgery in the Colombian city of Bogota, after a bull stabbed him in the neck during the final hours of a bullfight.

Jesus Martinez, better known as “Morenito de Aranda,” was close to slaying his second bull when the animal pierced his neck with one of his horns.

 The bullfighter had stabbed the animal twelve times when the bull made what experts called a “mysterious” recovery.

Tiger rejects drunken man’s crisps

Among the many entertaining things that alcohol can do to a person, one of its most persistent and notable effects is its ability convince drunk people visiting the zoo that the extremely angry wild animal in that cage really just wants a hug.

Feral Shih Tzus roam Ga. condo complex:

A small pack of feral, and very small, Shih Tzus has been evading capture at a Georgia condominium complex. The group of four dogs first showed up at the Covered Bridge complex in Cobb County in the Atlanta suburbs around Thanksgiving. Since then, two of them have disappeared, including one believed to have been killed by a car.

Australians face snake invasion:

Australian wildlife officials warn that a serious drought is driving tens of thousands of snakes into urban areas. Many venomous reptiles are moving into residential and business areas in search of moisture. Last week a 16-year-old boy in Sydney died from a bite by an Eastern Brown, one of the world’s deadliest snakes.

Leopard attack

The passerby was caught by surprise when the animal leapt out at him, sinking its jaws into his arm. The leopard went on the attack in the village of Nashik in western India, after It had escaped from a local nature park.

Boy mauled by three rottweilers

A nine-year-old boy is in hospital after an attack by three rottweilers, who chased him into his home. The pets were meant to be secured in a neighbour’s kitchen, but escaped from the house and attacked the boy in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire.

Three Pigs Trigger Fire in Rural Serbia

A farmer’s home in northern Serbia was destroyed in a blaze caused by three pigs that broke out of their pen, walked into the living room and knocked over the TV, police said Wednesday.

Rabid Raccoon Attacks Woman on Porch

“It was a huge raccoon who meant business,” she told WTNH-TV. “It was very angry and growling and wouldn’t let go of my leg.”

Arizona Residents See Rats in Toilets

Residents of a neighborhood next to the University of Arizona say small white rats have been swimming through sewer pipes and into their toilets. Laura Hagen Fairbanks, spokeswoman for the county’s Wastewater Management Department, said she doesn’t know where the rodents come from, however they are the kind that researchers use in labs.

Leopard creates bathroom mayhem:

But for one household in the city, there really was a leopard in the bathroom – and it was not very interested in performing its ablutions. In fact, the animal roared with rage once it discovered that it had been locked in the bathroom by frightened members of the house.

Snake handler bitten by 4-metre Burmese python during Florida aquarium show:

A four-metre python bit its handler and tried to drag her into its cage during a show at an aquarium, and wouldn’t release the woman until a police officer zapped the reptile with a stun gun.

Leaping dolphin leaves woman seriously injured

A spokesman for the Auckland rescue helicopter said the woman was sitting in the bow of a small pleasure craft around 2.30pm today when it appeared a dolphin miscalculated its leap out of the water. “It jumped up out of the water and hit the woman, giving her a number of injuries,” the spokesman said.

Tiger attacks trainer at S.F. Zoo

A 350-pound Siberian tiger attacked and injured her trainer Friday at the San Francisco Zoo as at least 50 visitors looked on, zoo officials said. The woman may lose an arm and was in surgery Friday at San Francisco General Hospital with injuries to both arms, Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White said. “My understanding is the injuries are not life-threatening, but perhaps limb-threatening,” Hayes-White said.

Hat tip to Kara!

Asom conservationists criticise officials for killing elephant:

Conservationists in Asom have lashed out at forest officials for shooting dead an elephant, mistaking it to be a killer. The forest officials resorted to the extreme step after an elephant named ‘Osama bin Laden’ ran amok, killing 27 people. However, World Wildlife Fund (WWF) officials said ‘Osama’ was not the actual one who created the havoc, but a look-a-like. “We always suspect this. We collected evidence, went to the spot and interviewed local people. They said that this is not the actual one who created havoc. And surprisingly very next night another person was killed by an elephant in the nearby village,” said Anupam Sharma, a representative of the WWF.

Man strangled by pet snake

A 13-foot boa constrictor wrapped itself around its owner’s neck and killed the man in his home, authorities said. An acquaintance found Ted Dres, 48, inside the snake’s cage Saturday and called police, the Hamilton County Sheriff’s office said. The snake was still strangling Dres when deputies arrived, and the officers had to work with members of an animal protection group to remove the reptile, the sheriff’s office said.

 Hunt on for killer elephant Laden:

Rangers in India’s Assam state have issued a shoot-on-sight order on a killer rogue elephant named after al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden. Laden has trampled 14 people to death in the past six months in the north-eastern state, officials say. The order came after the rogue bull killed a woman on Wednesday. So far he has eluded hunters.

Hat tip to Parky!

Passengers fly into a panic over mice

The screams were louder than the roar of the engines when more than 100 passengers on board a Saudi plane fought off an invasion by 80 stowaways: mice.