An unexpected boomerang, Working cats

Boomerangs return, but not always as a result of being thrown. The town of Mount Isa, Australia, recently received a boomerang that had been mailed by an American who said he had stolen it from a local arts museum in 1983. “I was young

Boomerangs return, but not always as a result of being thrown. The town of Mount Isa, Australia, recently received a boomerang that had been mailed by an American who said he had stolen it from a local arts museum in 1983. “I was younger and dumber,” wrote the thief, who also enclosed a check. “It was the wrong thing to do, I’m sorry.” Although the culprit included his full name and address, Mayor Ron McCullough would identify him only as “Peter” from Vermont. “I think putting his name on it was part of his purifying effort,” he said.

Feral cats’ lives on the street are usually nasty, brutish, and short. And when municipal animal shelters catch them, they are almost always destroyed. But the Working Cats program of Voice for the Animals, an advocacy and rescue group, has found a way to save some of them. The program has given a half-dozen of the cats to the Los Angeles Police Department to help it deal with rat and mouse infestations at some of its facilities. The cats don’t usually kill the rodents; rather, once they get a whiff of the pungent predators, they generally run. “Once we got the cats, problem solved,” said Cmdr. Kirk Albanese. “I think it’s a very humane way to deal with a very stubborn problem.”

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