Idler, Thursday, December 5

Russian

prankster

puzzle

A POLAR bear has been filmed in Arctic Russia with "T-34" spray-painted on its side in black.

The T-34 was a Soviet tank that played a vital role in the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II.

The spray-painted bear has appeared on Russian social media and wildlife experts are anxious to find out how it all happened, according to the BBC.

The concern is that the stunt could affect the bear's capacity to hunt for food, its camouflage being destroyed.

There was once a wildlife official in pre-independence Zambia who used to paint large identification numbers on the elephants under his control so he could more easily keep tabs on them.

But that was a long time ago and he could hardly have moved to Russia.

The wildlife officials in Russia are still puzzling. Real scamps those Russian Arctic pranksters can be.

 

Pole with a pole

A HEADLINE that's unavoidably confusing: "London Bridge attack: Porter who fought off terrorist with pole reveals what happened." (Sky News website).

The porter concerned, who works at the Fishmongers Hall and set about the terrorist using a pole, is himself a Pole named Lukasz Koczocik..l,

 

 

Jazz and Hunter

IT'S not often these days that our remote Limpopo Province makes it to the international TV networks. But the unlikely friendship of Jazz and Hunter has appeared on Sky News.

Jazz is a baby giraffe who was found abandoned in the bush only about two days old, by a Limpopo farmer. What happened to Jazz's mother is not known.

The farmer took him to a rhino orphanage in the vicinity to see if they could help. Yes, they could. If you bottle-feed baby rhino, you can also bottle-feed baby giraffe.

They named him Jazz and he's doing well, beginning now to also eat leaves.

But does a small giraffe buddy up with small rhinos? It seems not really. Instead Jazz has teamed up with Hunter, the orphanage's ridgeback-type guard dog. The two have become inseparable, even snoozing together.

What happens when Jazz grows to his full giraffe height? Will there be the same intimacy? Time will tell. Maybe Jazz will grow up thinking his pal Hunter is a tiny giraffe, Hunter thinking Jazz is a monster ridgeback.

 

 

Hammock havoc

In the shade of the old apple tree
When the love in your eyes I could see …

 

 

IN HAYWOOD County, North Carolina, in the US, householder Kim Beaver had a red hammock slung beneath an apple tree in his yard – just the romantic setting for the old Louis Armstrong number.

However, Beaver had to call the cops for help when an elk got its antlers tangled in the hammock, according to Huffington Post.

No courting couple was in the hammock, fortunately, at the time. The elk had arrived to pinch an apple or two from the tree, but the hammock became a right tangle as he struggled with it.

A cop climbed onto a nearby roof and from there managed to cut at bits of the hammock until eventually the elk was able to bolt with most of the by now shredded hammock still on his antlers.

He has since been sighted several times in the vicinity, still carrying the shredded hammock. So much for hammock romance in Haywood County.

 

 

Tailpiece

 

 

THIS contortionist went bankrupt. He could no longer make ends meet.

 

 

Last word

 

The only reason some people get lost in thought is because it's unfamiliar territory. - Paul Fix