oddly enough

oddly enough

Stinky souvenirs! Prague Zoo sells elephant dung

PRAGUE

Prague Zoo has started selling what look like ice-cream containers but are actually full of elephant dung.

It’s the latest fad among Czech gardeners who are buying out the manure pails to use as fertilizer. The brain behind the project is zoo director Miroslav Bobek, whose surname literally means dung.

Zoo officials estimate they sell around 200 of the 2.2-pound containers of dung per weekend, at 70 koruna ($3.90) each. But sales have been so brisk, they decided to expand to weekdays.

AP video showed handlers scooping up the manure Thursday and placing it in the white containers to the bemusement of visitors.

Brazilian tourist Ana Tolentino wouldn’t buy it at any price, saying Thursday “My gosh, it is very unusual!”

Tenn. officer appeals firing over confiscated beer

KINGSPORT, Tenn.

A 19-year veteran of a Tennessee town’s police department is appealing his firing after beer confiscated from minors was given to a fellow officer.

According to testimony at a Wednesday hearing, Cpl. Tim Horne was one of several Kingsport officers who responded to a party where there was underage drinking. Officers confiscated three full cases of Natural Lite beer and part of a fourth case.

The Kingsport Times-News reported that Horne admitted laughing at a comment that the beer should be given to another officer, although he denied making the comment. Later the beer was given to the other officer, and Horne approved a report stating it had been destroyed. The officer who received the beer resigned.

Horne’s attorneys said firing him was an overreaction.

Kingsport is in eastern Tennessee.

Biologists: Bounty-collecting angler caught in lie

SANDPOINT, Idaho

A Coeur d’Alene man has been ordered to pay more than $6,800 in restitution for defrauding a bounty program that pays anglers who catch trout in northern Idaho’s Lake Pend Oreille.

Christopher Pluntz pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor theft charge Wednesday as part of a plea deal with prosecutors.

The Coeur d’Alene Press reports that Idaho Fish and Game managers thought something was fishy last year after the 44-year-old angler turned in 443 rainbow-trout heads and collected a $15 bounty on each.

Investigators examined the heads and determined that the rainbow trout belonged to a coastal variety, not the type found in Lake Pend Oreille.

The bounty program aims to help the lake’s struggling kokanee-trout population.

Associated Press