News of the Weird: Week of Dec. 16, 2021

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Who Knew?

The Saudis take their beauty contests seriously, it appears: Judges at a competition northeast of Riyadh are cracking down on artificially enhanced contestants. The contest is part of the King Abdulaziz Camel Festival. Yes, the contestants are camels, the Associated Press reported, and 43 of them have already been disqualified. Camel breeders enter their most beautiful animals with the hope of winning $66 million in prize money, but Botox injections, face lifts and other cosmetic changes will not be tolerated this year. How, you ask, are those procedures implemented? Breeders might stretch the lips and noses of their camels, inject their heads or lips with Botox, inflate body parts with rubber bands and use fillers to relax their faces. "The club is keen to halt all acts of tampering and deception in the beautification of camels," the Saudi Press Agency said.

Merry Christmas!

An unnamed mountain climber is a little richer this season after a cache of precious gems valued at $84,350 was awarded to him by the Chamonix-Mont-Blanc council on Dec. 3. The climber found the emeralds and sapphires in 2013 as he scaled the tallest peak in western Europe; they apparently were debris from an airplane crash there in 1966, CNN reported. The original owner of the stones couldn't be located. The council split the booty with the climber and will display their half at the Chamonix Crystal Museum.

Nice Try

A 50-year-old Italian dentist tried on Dec. 2 to dodge getting the COVID-19 vaccine but still gain a health pass by offering the health worker a silicone prosthetic arm for the jab, The Guardian reported. Italy recently cracked down on unvaccinated people at social, cultural and sporting events, so the man allegedly purchased a fake arm that may have cost him hundreds of euros. The medic, Filippa Bua, said she "felt offended as a professional. The color of the arm made me suspicious and so I asked the man to uncover the rest of his left arm. It was well made but it wasn't the same color." The unidentified man will face fraud charges, according to Luigi Icardi, the regional health councilor.

Wrong Place, Wrong Time

Graham George Spencer of Singapore was walking with a friend in the Singapore Botanic Gardens on Nov. 30 when a runner dashed right into the path of a group of about 20 otters, causing them to change from "being quiet to going crazy like dogs," Spencer told todayonline.com. The otters, apparently confused about who was who, attacked Spencer, pushing him to the ground and biting him around his feet and buttocks. "I was bitten 26 times in 10 seconds," he said. "If it wasn't for my friend, I don't think I'd still be here. I'd be dead." At a hospital across the street, Spencer was given tetanus shots and antibiotics.

GOAT

No, not that kind of goat. Former (unsuccessful) mayoral candidate for Berkeley, California, Wayne Hsiung, an animal rights activist, is going to spend some time on supervised probation after a February 2018 stunt in which he stole a newborn goat, Berkeleyside reported on Dec. 8. The theft, a felony, took place in Transylvania County, North Carolina, at Sospiro Ranch. Hsiung said he stole the kid because he thought it was suffering and might face a cruel death, but the court was not entertaining his "right-to-rescue" defense. In fact, Judge Peter Knight sustained so many objections by the prosecution during Hsiung's opening statement that he wasn't able to finish it. Curtis Burnside, owner of Sospiro Ranch, said NipNap, the baby goat's mother, "cried for days and was beside herself looking for her lost baby."

Bright Idea

In the "this could never happen in America" category: New Zealand is putting in place laws that will eventually ban smoking altogether by 2025, The Guardian reported. Each year, the legal smoking age will increase, said associate health minister Dr. Ayesha Verrall. Legislation will also make smoking unaffordable, reduce the level of nicotine in tobacco products, limit retail outlets, and increase funding for addiction services. "We want to make sure young people never start smoking ... People aged 14 when the law comes into effect will never be able to legally purchase tobacco," Verrall said.

Signs of the Times

• A middle school in Milton, Massachusetts, went into lockdown on Dec. 8 when a student reported that an adult "may have had a weapon," The Patriot Ledger reported. After about 30 minutes of investigation by school officials and Milton police, however, it was determined that the "weapon" was a phone charger that a staff member was carrying. "I am pleased to report that nobody was physically harmed," Superintendent James Jette said in a statement.
• On Dec. 3, a second-grader at Pamoja Preparatory Academy in St. Louis, Missouri, brought a loaded pistol to school to "show it to classmates," the Daily Beast reported. The child said they took the gun from a lockbox under the parents' bed. Two days earlier, at Woerner Elementary School in St. Louis, a kindergartner brought a gun to school when they picked up the wrong backpack. Sgt. Charles Wall of the St. Louis Police Department said no charges will be filed in either case: "It was determined no criminal incident occurred," he said.

Unclear on the Concept

Nicole Gregory, 28, was arrested on Nov. 22 in St. Petersburg, Florida, after a sheriff's deputy observed her dropping baggies containing fentanyl. According to The Smoking Gun, Gregory admitted to selling the opioid, saying she gets $10 per "bump." But she had a good(?) reason: She was selling the drugs "to make money to pay for an attorney for a pending drug charge." Actually, two charges: one in August and one in October. Along with the fentanyl, Gregory was most recently found to have meth, morphine and Oxycodone.

The Way the World Works

You may be grousing about your mail taking FOREVER to get to your mailbox, but that's nothing compared to a couple in Chicago, CBS Chicago reported. Last year, a postal worker tossed a package onto Vera and Donald Rideaux's front porch -- then pulled away in his vehicle, hitting the Rideauxs' van, "and he kept backing the truck up, back and forth, back and forth, pulling my car at the same time," Donald said. The worker got out of his truck, looked at the car, and "got back in it and he drove off," Vera added. The couple called the USPS but as of Dec. 7, there had been no resolution of the $1,467 in damages caused to their van. A spokesman said drivers are supposed to notify immediate supervisors when they're involved in an accident but wouldn't confirm that such a report had been made in this instance.

New World Order

Those seeking euthanasia in Switzerland now have the option to use a 3D-printed "death capsule" called the Sarco, Oddee reported on Dec. 7. Philip Nitschke, founder of Exit International, an Australian company, explains how the pod works: A patient enters the coffinlike capsule, closes the lid (which includes a large window), answers a few questions, and then activates a series of events with a single button. At that point, the chamber is flooded with nitrogen, but the occupant will not feel like they're suffocating or choking, he says. "There is no panic. The person will feel a little disoriented and may feel slightly euphoric before they lose consciousness. Death takes place through ... oxygen and carbon dioxide deprivation." After five to 10 minutes, the patient is deceased. "The machine can be towed anywhere for the death," Nitschke said. "It can be in an idyllic outdoor setting or in the premises of an assisted suicide organization."

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