WORLD WIDE WEIRD
A Spicy Discovery
When citizens of Ayles-
bury, England, found
a large orange bird that
was having trouble fly-
ing in early July, they
thought they’d disco-
vered an exotic crea-
ture in peril. Upon
bringing it to a wildlife
hospital, though, they
found out it was the
animal’s bold behav-
iour that had led to its
bold colour: The dis-
tressed bird was a sea-
gull that had managed
to get itself covered in
curry. Seagulls are
inquisitive by nature
and are known to put
themselves in similarly
spicy situations. Thank-
fully, a couple of baths
returned it to its natu-
rally unseasoned state.Taking It Offline
Phil Demers was
surprised to find the
pi police at his door when
er
re
lo
ra
ng
er
readersdigest.co.in 97byErika MorrisReader’s Digesthe came out of the
shower on 24 July.
The evening before,
he’d sent what he
believed to be an
innocuous tweet: ‘Life
is short. Steal a Walrus.’
But Demers’s tongue-
in-cheek missive had
prompted Marine-
Land, Canada, to call
the cops. Demers, an
employee-turned-
whistleblower, had
exposed the aquatic
theme park’s animal
cruelty in 2012. In
2013, he was slapped
with a lawsuit (still
ongoing) for allegedly
plotting a walrus heist,
a charge he has long
denied. The officers
left without incident,
and Demers is still
intent on “saving the
walruses” without
stealing them.Unlikely Invader
One evening in May,Nate Roman returned
to his Massachusetts,
USA, home to find
that his door was
unlocked, and his
house smelled diffe-
rent. Clean, in fact.
Roman saw that his
five-year-old son’s
room had been meti-
culously tidied, with
his stuffed animals
lined up neatly on the
bed. The other bed-
rooms and the bath-
rooms were similarly
orderly. The myste-
rious organizer hadn’t
stolen anything, which
left Roman to specu-
late that this was the
work of a house-
cleaner who hap-
pened to go to the
wrong home on a
day he’d left the door
unlocked. His son, on
the other hand, was
just thrilled to have
gotten out of cleaning
his room that day.