oddly enough

oddly enough

Raccoon blamed for 5-hour downtown Memphis outage

MEMPHIS, Tenn.

A raccoon described as acrobatic and mean-spirited knocked out power to a section of downtown Memphis that included two hospitals and the newspaper for more than five hours.

Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division president Jerry Collins told The Commercial Appeal that the raccoon climbed more than 30 feet over barriers intended to keep animals out and short-circuited a switch on a substation.

Overall, about 8,000 customers were without city power late Thursday and early Friday.

Emergency generators restored power to the Regional Medical Center at Memphis and Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital within seconds, but the outage delayed production of Friday’s newspaper at The Commercial Appeal and disrupted other businesses.

Newly rescued Chihuahua takes Ugliest Dog title

PETALUMA, Calif.

A Chihuahua’s oddly curved back and legs and closed-up left eye earned the 4-year-old rescue dog top honors at the World’s Ugliest Dog contest at a Northern California fair Friday.

Sporting a gray, brown and black coat, Princess Abby Francis beat a rough-looking slate of candidates for the prize, including Pabst, a teeth-bearing boxer mix who won last year.

Princess Abby shivered in the cool breeze after her win Friday night while nestled in the arms of her owner, Kathleen Francis, who received a $1,000 check at the 22nd annual contest at the Sonoma-Marin Fair in Petaluma.

The victory was a surprise to Francis.

“I don’t think she’s ugly at all,” she said. “I think she’s the most beautiful dog.”

Francis says she adopted Princess Abby from her veterinarian about five months ago. This was the dog’s first such contest since she was found running through the street.

Three Burmese pythons saved from flooded home in Nebraska

KING LAKE, Neb.

The Nebraska Humane Society has seized three Burmese pythons from a flooded home in the Omaha suburb of King Lake.

The humane society says it discovered the snakes while investigating a report earlier this week about a snake on the loose.

It says each of the pythons was 9 to 10 feet long and weighed 25 pounds.

The snakes can grow to 20 feet long.

The snakes’ owner, 39-year-old Randy Walker, was cited for three counts of harboring a nondomestic animal.

It is illegal in Omaha, which has jurisdiction over King Lake, to own nonvenomous snakes that can grow to 8 feet long.

No number was listed for Walker.

Associated Press