Oddly News Around The World

Out Of Control badger!

BERLIN, GERMANY - A badger in Germany got so drunk on over-ripe cherries it staggered into the middle of a road and refused to budge, police said on Wednesday.

A motorist called police near the central town of Goslar to report a dead badger on a road -- only for officers to turn up and discover the animal alive and well, but drunk.

Police discovered the nocturnal beast had eaten cherries from a nearby tree which had turned to alcohol and given the badger diarrhoea.

Having failed to scare the animal away, officers eventually chased it from the road with a broom.

Reporting by Dave Graham

Pig Release!

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - Afghanistan's only known pig trotted out of quarantine Saturday, two months after he was locked away because of swine flu fears, to bask again in the mud at the Kabul Zoo.

The pig, a curiosity in Muslim Afghanistan where pork and pig products are illegal because they are considered irreligious, was quarantined because visitors to the zoo were worried it could spread the new H1N1 flu strain, commonly known as swine flu.

"Khanzir" -- Pashto for pig -- appeared unperturbed as a team of zoo workers used sticks to gently prod him out of his temporary concrete home into his usual enclosure of lush green shrubs and a mud puddle.

Unsuspecting zoo visitors scattered as Khanzir dashed through the center of the zoo toward his enclosure.

By Golnar Motevalli

Police slow chase!

BERLIN, GERMANY - A drunk German sparked a slow-speed police chase after stealing a tractor to get home from a nightclub after his girlfriend left without him, said police, who used pepper spray to try to stop the vehicle.

Six police cars began trailing the tractor, which was chugging along at 20 km (12 miles) an hour, after they were alerted to the theft at about 5 a.m. Saturday.

Officers tried holding up stop signs and directing pepper spray through the open window to bring the driver to a halt.

They then tried unsuccessfully to end his getaway by throwing nail belts on the road, but the tractor's tires proved too thick, said the police spokesman.

The 40-minute chase finally came to an end when officers shot at the tractor's tires after it rammed into a police car and collided with another vehicle.

Reporting by Caroline Copley

U.S. chicken feet are being booted out of China

CHICAGO - China and the United States are kicking up a trade war over chicken in which Beijing effectively has given the boot to millions of dollars worth of U.S. chicken, about half of which is chicken feet.

This action comes as Congress begins deliberating the 2010 federal budget for agriculture, which could extend a U.S. ban on imports of Chinese chicken products sparked by food safety concerns.

The ban has angered the Chinese and now, according to U.S. exporters, Beijing has halted imports of U.S. chicken, although officially China is saying imports are not blocked.

China is a huge market for U.S. chicken feet, commonly called paws, and bought 421,000 tons, or $280 million worth, in 2008, according to the USA Poultry and Egg Export Council, a trade group.

By Bob Burgdorfer

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