DAVID ADAMS writes about the odder side of life…
Sheep Baarack is seen before his thick wool was shorn in Lancefield, Victoria, Australia, on 5th February. PICTURE: Edgar’s Mission Inc/Handout via Reuters.
• A wild and ailing sheep found in a forest in Australia, named Baarack by rescuers, has yielded a fleece weighing more than 35 kilograms – nearly half the weight of an adult kangaroo – after being shorn for the first time in many a year. The sheep was found by a member of the public who contacted the Edgar’s Mission Farm Sanctuary near Lancefield, Victoria, about 60 kilometres north of Melbourne, according to the mission’s Kyle Behrend. After his much-needed shearing, Behrend said Baarack’s fleece weighed in at 35.4 kilograms. “Whilst his hooves were in great condition from running over the rocks in the forest, he was in a bit of a bad way. He was underweight, and due to all of the wool around his face he could barely see.” Baarack is now settling in with other rescued sheep at Edgar’s Mission, Behrend said, adding it “all goes to show what incredibly resilient and brave animals sheep really are and we could not love them any more if we tried”.
The misspelt sign in Maldon. PICTURE: Via Facebook.
• ‘Enry the Eighth barred from entering a carpark? A ‘no entry’ sign painted onto the entrance of a parking garage in the English town of Maldon was misspelt last week, instead appearing as ‘No enry’. The gaff went viral on the net – “All the staff went off for T”, wrote one – and even the town’s officials joined in on the pun-making with the Maldon District Council posting on Facebook that: “If you’re having a bad day… just know that someone else is having a worse day than you”. Promising to fix the error, they added: “We’re on’T To iT.” It has since been corrected.
• He was a long way from home. An Iceland gull was recently spotted visiting the warm climes of Florida, according to wildlife researchers performing an annual bird survery. The Sanibel Captiva Conservation Foundation said staff and volunteers taking part in the 13th Annual Florida Winter Shorebird Survey on the east end of Sanibel Island had spotted the white gull. The foundation said it was “extremely rare” for the gull – which normally spends winters in Canada – to be seen so far south.
– With NUR-AZNI SANUSI, Reuters.
