Brain-damaged seals attack bathers
And other stories from the stranger side of life
Seals “driven mad” by eating “toxic fish” are attacking bathers in Cape Town, said The Times. The attacks have been blamed on animals suffering from severe brain damage caused by eating fish laced with a toxic algae. In one case, an actress was attacked by a seal that had just chased and mauled a boy. In another case, a woman was pursued and pounced on by a seal. Reports of attacks have increased since a mass die-off of seals along the coast that was attributed to poisoning by domoic acid.
School apologises for explicit photos
A school has apologised after a teacher sent out sexually explicit naked pictures to every single student. Students at Dr. Henry A. Wise Jr. High School in Upper Marlboro Prince George’s County, Maryland, US, were surprised when they opened an email from one of their teachers containing very lewd images of the teacher in question. An apologetic letter was sent out by the school’s principal shortly afterwards claiming the pictures were sent “inadvertently”, noted the Daily Star.
Care home resident bids for knitting glory
A care home resident is getting help as far away as New Zealand in her bid to set a Guinness World Record for the longest knitted chain. Ena Rackley, 87, who lives at the Elmstead Bupa Care Home in Chislehurst, London, is nearly completely blind. She has recruited knitting groups in local communities to help her pursue a Guinness World Record for the longest knitted chain. Residents of the Tortara Gardens Retirement Village in New Zealand have knitted yarn links to add to Rackley’s chain, said UPI.
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Chas Newkey-Burden has been part of The Week Digital team for more than a decade and a journalist for 25 years, starting out on the irreverent football weekly 90 Minutes, before moving to lifestyle magazines Loaded and Attitude. He was a columnist for The Big Issue and landed a world exclusive with David Beckham that became the weekly magazine’s bestselling issue. He now writes regularly for The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, Metro, FourFourTwo and the i new site. He is also the author of a number of non-fiction books.
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