Oddly Enough

Oddly Enough

Thai man bloodied, unbowed after intimate attack by snake

BANGKOK

A Thai man is recovering from a bloody encounter with a 10-foot python that slithered through the plumbing of his home and latched its jaws onto his penis as he was using a squat toilet.

Attaporn Boonmakchuay was smiling as Thai television stations interviewed him in his hospital bed about the intimate intrusion, and photos of his blood-splattered bathroom in Chachoengsao province, east of Bangkok, were testimony to his ordeal.

The 38-year-old told Thai TV Channel 7 that he struggled to remove the snake for 30 minutes Wednesday before he managed to free himself with help from his wife and a neighbor. After his wife tied a rope around the snake, Attaporn pried open its jaws before passing out.

Emergency workers dismantled the Asian-style squat toilet, with the python still twined through it. The snake was taken away to be released back into the wild, according to an emergency responder cited by the newspaper Thai Rath. Doctors said Attaporn, bloodied but unbowed, will recover.

Police: Man used front-loader to break into liquor store

ANCHORAGE, Alaska

Alaska police say a man used a stolen front-end loader to break into a liquor store and then led officers on a low-speed chase early Thursday.

A witness flagged down Anchorage police about 3:20 a.m. to report a front-loader with forklift attachments had ripped off most of the front entrance to a Brown Jug, an Alaska liquor store chain.

The witness saw the driver go inside, take bottles, then hop back on the front-loader and drive east.

During a 15-mph chase, police followed the driver into a recreational-vehicle park and blocked the only exit with patrol cars.

Police say alcohol bottles were found inside the front-loader, which had been stolen from a construction site.

Joseph Martin is being held on suspicion of criminal mischief, burglary, felony driving while intoxicated and other counts. His bail is set at $30,000.

Porcupine sculpture stolen from Maine airport is replaced

PORTLAND, Maine

A prickly steel-and-nails sculpture of a mama porcupine and its baby has replaced a statue that was stolen from an airport in Maine.

And thieves, beware: As a security measure, the new porcupines at the Portland International Jetport are firmly affixed to a large granite slab.

A woman from nearby Pownal donated the new porcupines to replace a statue reported missing in April.

The only clues left by thieves were some broken quills and a hunk of rusty steel. Unknown devotees launched a Twitter account that dug in Friday, saying the new porcupines are “a lil’ prickly, but you’ll learn to love ’em.”

Police still have no idea who stole the original sculpture, which was part of an installation of steel woodland creatures by New York artist Wendy Klemperer.

Associated Press