ODDLY ENOUGH | German cross-eyed opossum to pick Oscar winners

ODDLY ENOUGH

German cross-eyed opossum to pick Oscar winners

BERLIN

Heidi, Germany’s beloved cross-eyed opossum, is taking a page from Paul the Octopus’ playbook: the marsupial will attempt to pick this year’s Oscar winners.

Leipzig Zoo Director Joerg Junghold told Germany’s RTL television Friday that Heidi will be appearing on the “Jimmy Kimmel Show” alongside the Oscars on Feb. 27.

He isn’t revealing much about the show but says: “Quite similar to Paul, it will be about tips.”

He says Heidi will be filmed in Germany over the next few days for the U.S. show.

Junghold says Heidi’s appearance fee will be donated to an animal-protection charity.

Paul correctly predicted the outcome of all seven German games at last year’s World Cup plus the Spain-Netherlands final from an aquarium in Oberhausen.

He died in October.

Would-be RI bank robber foiled: ‘We’re closing’

CRANSTON, R.I.

A would-be bank robber in Rhode Island was foiled after a teller shut the security door and told him the bank was closing.

Cranston police say it happened Thursday around 7 p.m., closing time at a Citizens Bank counter inside a Stop & Shop grocery store.

Major Robert W. Ryan says the man gave the teller a note written on a ripped paper plate that said, “This is a robbery.”

The teller put down the security curtain, told the man the branch was closing and closed the security screen door.

Ryan says the man walked quickly away, empty-handed.

Police are looking for the man.

Giraffes in a boat? Eight taken to Kenyan island

NAIROBI, Kenya

Eight giraffes got a very rare ride to their new home — in a boat.

The endangered Rothschilds giraffes were ferried by barge to a reserve on an island in Kenya’s Lake Baringo earlier this week.

Conservation leaders built a small pen on the barge that was covered in plastic sheeting. Only the giraffes’ necks could be seen sticking out above the pen as they moved across the lake.

There are four females and four males in the group, and conservation leaders hope they will reproduce, said Elodie Sampere of the Northern Rangelands Trust. If the giraffes thrive, more may be taken to the island.

Rothschilds giraffes — also known as Baringo giraffes, after the lake — are listed as endangered. Only a few hundred remain in the wild.

Associated Press