Dog sold for $2 million ‘ in China
A Tibetan mastiff puppy has been sold in China for almost $2 million in what could be the most expensive dog sale ever, a report said. A property developer paid 12 million yuan ($1.9 million) for the one-year-old golden-haired mastiff at a “luxury pet” fair in the eastern province of Zhejiang, the Qianjiang Evening News reported. “They have lion’s blood and are top-of-the-range mastiff studs”, the dog’s breeder Zhang Gengyun was quoted as telling the paper, adding that another red-haired canine had sold for 6 million yuan. Enormous and sometimes ferocious, with round manes lending them a passing resemblance to lions, Tibetan mastiffs have become a prized status symbol among China’s wealthy, sending prices skyrocketing. The golden-haired animal was 80 centimetres (31 inches) tall, and weighed 90 kilograms (nearly 200 pounds), Zhang said, adding that he was sad to sell the animals. Neither was named in the report. “Pure Tibetan mastiffs are very rare, just like our nationally treasured pandas, so the prices are so high”, he said. (AFP)
Gorilla born in rare C-section
A baby gorilla born in a rare Caesarian section at the San Diego Zoo last week has pneumonia and was treated for a collapsed lung, officials said on Tuesday. The 17th gorilla delivered at the Southern California zoo developed the illness, an inflammation of the lungs with congestion, around the time of her birth, according to a statement from the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. “We’ve been working with the baby all weekend and after having several days of experience treating her, it’s pretty obvious that we’ve been dealing with pneumonia”, Nadine lamberski, associate director of veterinary services at the park, said in a statement.(Reuters)
Dad stabs son in row over a bacon sandwich .
A father stabbed his 15-year-old son through the heart in a row over a bacon sandwich. John lennox, 49, has been jailed for eight years after knifing his son Brendon at their family home in Glasgow when he wasn ‘t fed first. After stabbing the boy twice, lennox then calmly started to repair the television damaged during the attack. Giving evidence at the High Court in Glasgow, his son, Brendan said: “I got stabbed twice.” When asked by prosecutor Stephen McCloy: “Who did itIJ”, he replied: “My dad. We fought and then I got stabbed.” Asked what instigated the stabbing, he said: “It was probably over the bacon.” The court then heard that his mother, Davina, was making bacon rolls for her son, lennox and their guests before the feud kicked off. Brendon started shouting and swearing when he was not given the first bacon roll, he then stormed out reports the Daily Record. When he returned, he got into a fight with his father who found a knife and stabbed his son twice, once through his heart. (Mirror)
Unborn baby catapulted out of mother’s womb
An unborn baby has survived after being catapulted three metres out of his mother’s womb during a fatal motorcycle crash that killed his parents. The accident saw both the baby boy’s heavily pregnant mother Wang Zhau, and his father Mao, being hit by a truck as they rushed to try and get to hospital in time. “Eye witnesses said that when the woman was hit by the truck she gave birth on the spot”, police spokesman Chan Chien said. “Others said that the baby, at a healthy 4.2 kg, had been thrown out of the woman’s belly and had landed three meters away. What we found out from her family is that the woman, a 40-year-old, had gone into labour at 8:30 AM and her husband, a 42-year-old man, decided to take her by motorbike to the hospital.” Remarkably the baby boy, named as Xiao Zhao, is said to be doing well and is expected to survive having only suffered minor bruises. (Mirror)
Australians apply for Sri lankan hangman job
Two Australians have applied in vain for Sri lanka’s hangman job after the island nation’s last official executioner got upset on seeing the gallows for the first time and quit. “Two Australians have sent emails to one of our departments saying that they are interested,” Chandrarathna Pallegama, commissioner general of prisons, told Reuters on Thursday. “One is a system administrator and the other had not mentioned the job he is doing”, he said. “We have not called the applications, moreover we do not have any provisions to recruit foreigners.” Pallegama said on Tuesday that the last hangman, who was the third most qualified among the 176 applicants for the job, quit after getting upset at seeing the gallows.
The Indian Ocean island nation, a predominantly Buddhist country, has not carried out an execution since 1976, despite the fact that there are at least 405 convicts on death row awaiting a final ratification. But an alarming rise in child abuse, rapes, murders and drug trafficking since the 25-year war against Tamil Tiger separatists ended in 2009 has prompted some lawyers and politicians to push for the death penalty to be reintroduced. (Reuters)