DAVID ADAMS provides a round-up of some stories on the odder side of life…
And the winner is…the pekapeka-tou-roa or long-tailed bat. PICTURE: Ian Davidson-Watts
• New Zealand’s Forest & Bird conservation charity recently announced the winner of its annual ‘Bird of the Year’ competition – and it wasn’t a bird at all. The pekapeka-tou-roa or long-tailed bat was announced as the winner after being chosen by voters in an online poll. The bat received more than 7,000 votes out of a total of almost 58,000 votes cast. “I think I’m going to be fired,” Forest & Bird’s Bird of the Year spokesperson Laura Keown said in a statement. She added that the campaign aimed at raising awareness and support “for this little flying furball has captured the nation!” Second place went to the kākāpō and third to the Rifleman or titipounamu.
• A girl tested Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan’s patience last Thursday by cutting the ribbon early during the opening ceremony of a public park in the capital, Ankara. Erdogan was seen warning the child several times as she cut the ribbon twice during the opening of the new Ankara People’s Park, a project the Turkish leader has been very proud of initiating. Officials tried to take the scissors away from the girl and lift the ribbon out of her reach as the impatient child competed with Erdogan to cut it again. This was the second such incident in two months. On 4th September, a boy cut the ribbon before Erdogan had the chance in Black Sea province of Rize. Caught by surprise, Erdogan jokingly tapped the boy’s head with his knuckles as the boy clutched the severed ribbon. – Reuters TV
• Being interviewed for the job of police officer might seem an intimidating enough experience – but just imagine if the interviewers included an Oscar-winning Hollywood actor. That was reportedly the case in the Alabama town of Gulf Shore recently when Morgan Freeman was among those putting questions to the department’s new recruits. The Gulf Shore Police Department apparently often includes law enforcement experts and civilians in its screening interviews – Freeman owns property in the area.
