LONG BRANCH, N.J. (AP) — Volunteers picked up a report quantity of trash from New Jersey’s seashores final yr, with plastic gadgets dominating the haul, and weird castoffs together with male enhancement tablets, a set of braces, a glow-in-the-dark condom and a Turkish Airways hygiene equipment discovered on the sand as nicely.
The Clear Ocean Motion coastal environmental group launched its annual report Wednesday on the results of the prior yr’s seaside sweeps. Over 10,000 volunteers picked up over half 1,000,000 gadgets alongside the state’s 127-mile (204-kilometer) shoreline in cleanups held in spring and fall of 2021.
And a few of it was simply head-scratching, if not stomach-turning.
A hunk of human hair; a full set of dentures (“I TOLD you to not take your tooth to the seaside!”); a thong; a used narcan equipment (used to revive drug overdose victims); a number of marijuana luggage (empty, after all); a bullet casing, and a faux eyeball had been amongst gadgets picked up.
There additionally was a parking ticket; a lottery ticket; a glue stick; a mini-refrigerator; a bathroom brush; a TV distant management; a Mason jar full of (we hope) liquor; a plastic monkey, and a set of rosary beads, probably from somebody praying for the forged of characters that left all this behind.
And somebody discovered a message in a bottle.
“We don’t know what it learn, though I hope it could have stated, ‘Don’t litter,’” stated Cindy Zipf, Clear Ocean Motion’s govt director.
All informed, 513,605 gadgets had been collected final yr, probably the most ever because the seaside sweeps started in 1985.
“It’s disappointing to see it enhance,” Zipf stated. “We hold hoping the numbers will go down. And the bizarre stuff simply retains getting weirder.”
Greater than 82% of the whole haul was plastic gadgets or items. Bottle caps or cup lids reached a report variety of 69,454, as did meals and sweet wrappers or luggage, at 58,589.
The cleanup knowledge additionally pinpointed seasonal shifts within the sort and quantity of litter on New Jersey’s seashores: 67 out of 95 classes had been considerably larger in fall than in spring, together with canine waste luggage; plastic bottles; smoking-related litter; plastic meals takeout litter, and ice cream spoons or sticks.
Fewer face masks had been present in fall as in comparison with spring, however over 3,600 discarded masks had been left behind or washed up on the sand.
Zipf stated Clear Ocean Motion’s knowledge helped make the case for New Jersey’s pending ban on most moldable luggage and foam packaging at stores starting in early Might, which she known as one of many hardest such legal guidelines within the nation.
The spring 2020 cleanups had been canceled as a result of coronavirus outbreak, so the group used 2019 full-year knowledge for extra correct comparability functions.
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March 30 (UPI) — A British girl was reunited along with her beloved chihuahua when the canine turned up at a playground 10 years after being stolen throughout a stroll.
Tae Bennett, 22, stated she was solely 12 years previous when she was strolling her chihuahua, Ollie, at a park close to her household’s London dwelling and thieves minimize via the leash and fled with the canine.
Bennett stated she was shocked when she obtained a name reporting Ollie had been discovered late final week wandering at a playground about 20 miles away from the place he was stolen.
“After I was informed he’d been discovered alive I simply burst into tears,” Bennett informed MyLondon. “It was unbelievable and I by no means thought this is able to occur. Ollie was present in a park by some youngsters, I’ve no clue the place he got here from.”
Bennett stated Ollie, who was 2 years previous when he was stolen, seems to be in good well being.
“My household had a name from a Hounslow Council Animal Welfare Officer, letting us know {that a} stray had been discovered close to Hounslow Heath. And attributable to his distinct, but grey markings and microchip he was recognized as Ollie,” Bennett stated.
She stated Ollie is settling in again at dwelling along with her household.
“As quickly as Ollie got here into the room and heard my stepdads voice, he instantly walked over to him, rolled onto his again and let him scratch his stomach,” Bennett stated. “He undoubtedly acknowledged him. As for myself, it took him a little bit bit longer, imagine it or not, I look and sound fully completely different than I did once I was 12.”
Bennett stated Ollie is getting alongside nicely along with her dachshund, Chili.
“I typically catch them having a cuddle on the beanbag,” she stated.
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March 30 (UPI) — Police in New York are urging members of the general public to be looking out for a free wallaby that escaped from an area zoo.
The City of Goshen Police Division stated the wallaby, a smaller cousin of the kangaroo, escaped from the Noah’s Park Retreat zoo late final week and was final seen heading right into a wooded space close to Gate Schoolhouse Street.
The zoo’s house owners stated the wallaby, named Rocco, escaped when a restore employee unintentionally left a gate open. The house owners stated Rocco just isn’t harmful, however is skittish and more likely to flee from strangers.
Police advisable anybody who spots the marsupial on the free try to make use of meals similar to bananas, candy potatoes and white bread to maintain Rocco within the space till officers can arrive.
Rocco beforehand escaped in April 2021 and was captured by police after a number of hours within the free.
“We’re skilled in catching Rocco. We have finished it earlier than and can do it once more. Goshen police all the time come via,” Goshen City Police Officer James Publish informed News12.
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March 30 (UPI) — A Kentucky lodge is providing houseplant-loving vacationers the prospect to convey them alongside to the “World’s First Plant-Pleasant Resort expertise.”
VisitLEX, the conference and guests bureau of Lexington, teamed up with Elwood Resort & Suites to supply a particular set of facilities to company touring with their houseplants in tow.
“Because of a years-long pandemic and the rising prices of parenthood, pets are the brand new infants. And crops have been promoted to the brand new pets,” VisitLEX stated in a information launch.
The “World’s First Plant-Pleasant Resort expertise,” which kicks off April 8, will provide The Gardener’s Premier Nook Room Bundle for six king suites “specifically chosen for his or her abundance of plant pleasant pure mild.”
The package deal additionally consists of greenery offered by Pemberton’s Greenhouses, a complimentary potted succulent, botanical toiletries from Kentucky Soaps & Such and a “tea” for crops served in a pink mug.
All company can even have the choice to partake of “plant-centric perks” together with a Backyard Mojito cocktail particular made with blackberry syrup, contemporary herbs and edible flowers on the downstairs Fiddletree Kitchen & Bar.
“Since company already love Elwood’s current plant-themed design, we thought it made good sense to companion with VisitLEX to take issues to the following stage and encourage vacationers to convey their beloved crops alongside for the journey,” stated Barbara Jean Josey, director of enterprise growth and hospitality gross sales for Elwood Resort & Suites.
“In any case, there are many pet-friendly resorts on the market. Why not provide the identical Southern hospitality to the houseplants individuals love simply as a lot?” Josey stated.
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DANIA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — As departing jetliners roared overhead, an getting old vervet monkey moped on a mangrove department one latest afternoon within the woods he inhabits close to a South Florida airport, his ego bruised.
Mikey, as he’s known as by his human observers, has lengthy been the laid-back alpha male of a troop of monkeys ruling this tract of land, tucked off a busy runway at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood Worldwide Airport. However at the present time he misplaced when challenged by a feisty teen known as Spike. Mikey fled screaming and was now sullenly observing people watching him from 15 toes (4 meters) away.
“Did you’ve a foul day?” asks Deborah “Missy” Williams, a Lynn College science professor who has been finding out the troop and others close by since 2014. She can be founding father of the Dania Seashore Vervet Venture, which seeks to protect this distinctive colony. “We are going to depart you alone so you may ponder.”
The US has no native monkeys, however the smallish vervets have roamed Dania Seashore because the late Nineteen Forties after a dozen introduced from West Africa fled a now long-closed breeding facility and roadside zoo. In the present day, 40 descendants are damaged into 4 troops dwelling inside 1,500 acres (600 hectares) across the airport. Florida additionally has a number of colonies of escaped macaques and squirrel monkeys.
Florida wildlife officers typically kill invasive species to guard native animals. However they tolerate the vervets, in the event that they keep put. The monkeys are native celebrities, their travails detailed by TV and newspapers, and widespread guests with close by staff, who feed them regardless of indicators saying that is unlawful.
“My pals are like, ‘You’ve got monkeys at your job?'” laughed airport parking zone attendant Harlen Caldera as she gave them raisins and nuts. Some ate from her hand, whereas others snatched what meals she scattered.
Vacationers are sometimes stunned to see the monkeys. They squeal in delight and seize their cellphones, hoping for images. Vervets are grey and black with a greenish tinge, serving to them mix into the bushes. Males sometimes develop to 2 toes (0.6 meters) and 15 kilos (6.8 kilograms); females attain 18 inches (0.5 meters) and 10 kilos (4.5 kilograms). They stay about 20 years.Caldera and her coworkers are protecting of the monkeys, which don’t have any worry of people, ensuring nobody tries to catch or hurt them. “You by no means know what individuals will do,” she stated.
The doorway to the 16 acres (6.5 hectares) dominated by Mikey, the matriarch, Snow White, and their troop is on the parking zone’s rear, sealed by a locked fence. The mangrove bushes are thick and the path muddy — besides the place it is lined in shallow water.
Williams started finding out monkeys whereas doing doctoral work at Florida Atlantic College, and stayed on. As she and her company waded deeper into the monkeys’ grounds one latest afternoon, the 16-member troop approached. The colony lives on spiders, ants, lizards, seeds and flowers — when not scrounging individuals meals.
“They shortly study to adapt to a human weight loss plan — they love sugary issues and salty issues,” Williams stated, noting they tolerate human meals remarkably nicely.
In Africa, vervets are eaten by leopards, eagles and snakes. However in Florida the risks are exterior the mangroves — largely vehicles and trappers, who promote them as pets.
Due to their small inhabitants, Williams is anxious inbreeding will hurt the monkeys’ well being. In Africa, vervet males depart their start troop once they attain sexual maturity at 5 years and be part of one other. They transfer once more each few years. With solely 4 native troops, there is not sufficient rotation among the many males, making the genetic pool small.
As monkeys are an invasive species, Florida places tight restrictions on how Williams’ group may also help them. Trapped monkeys cannot be launched — they should be euthanized or positioned into captivity.
As Williams would not imagine monkeys ought to be pets, she would not search veterinary take care of significantly injured and in poor health monkeys, hoping nature will heal them. However her group is constructing an enclosure for vervets captured for therapy or as a result of they wandered too far.
Finally, Williams needs Florida to permit the discharge of captured vervets. Not like Burmese pythons, iguanas and different invasive species, she argues, the colony would not hurt the surroundings.
“The monkeys’ lives matter regardless if they’re nonnative or native,” she stated. “All choices ought to be exhausted to keep away from euthanasia.” Her fashions present that with out change, the colony will die off inside 50 years.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Fee responded that whereas the colony can stay, no exception permitting the monkeys’ launch after seize may be made as a result of their results on the ecosystem are “not nicely understood.”
“There may be additionally an inherent threat of harm when dealing with wildlife. Monkeys can act defensively and will chunk or scratch. Mammals, together with vervet monkeys, could harbor ailments transmissible to people together with rabies,” the assertion stated.
As darkness neared, the troop moved from the mangroves into the airport parking zone. It is supper time and there are seeds to pluck and staff’ treats to get. Some performed whereas others groomed one another. Spike and Mikey once more tussled earlier than Williams’ admonition separated them. The getting old king and his would-be inheritor then sat toes aside, eyeing one another warily.
Quickly sated, the monkeys climbed again into their bushes to spend one other evening of their sudden realm, paying no heed to the loud metallic birds flying above.
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March 30 (UPI) — A stretch of Kentucky freeway was closed Wednesday when an overturned truck spilled its load of beer bottles into the roadway.
Kentucky State Police stated the single-vehicle crash occurred about 8 a.m. Wednesday within the northbound lanes of Interstate 65, close to Louisville.
The motive force of the truck was not injured.
The Hardin County Authorities shared images displaying bottles of Bud Gentle Platinum spilled throughout the roadway and the shoulder of the freeway.
The part of northbound I-65 was closed for a number of hours within the morning for cleanup work, and the roadway reopened within the afternoon.
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IRVINE, Calif. — New video reveals simply how shut a mountain lion got here to startled clients at a shopping mall in Irvine.
The massive cat – which was later caught, sedated after which launched again into the wild – is seen prowling the parking zone of a brewery close to the Irvine Spectrum.
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Video reveals the two-year-old male mountain lion operating previous shocked diners on the sidewalk just some toes away after which dodging via the parking zone with animal management officers shut behind.
The mountain lion then bumped into the open door of a salon. Clients and staff acquired out shortly after which animal management officers had been in a position to sedate him.
He was dropped at an area animal hospital for analysis and located to be pretty wholesome.
The mountain lion was evaluated, tagged and launched again into the wild Thursday.
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March 30 (UPI) — An Australian scuba teacher teamed up with reserve rangers to rescue a possum noticed clinging to a buoy close to a pier.
The Whitecliffs Foreshore Reserve stated in an Instagram put up that rangers responded to a report of a possum seen hanging onto a buoy close to Portsea Pier in Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula.
Luke English, who runs the RedBoats scuba diving enterprise in Portsea, was on the pier on the time the rangers responded and provided to provide them a journey to the possum on his boat.
“That was the primary and final possum I’ll ever see on a mooring in Portsea,” English informed 9 Information. “It was hilarious.”
The possum turned spooked when the vessel approached and jumped into the water, however the rangers had been in a position to ensnare the animal with a internet.
The marsupial was examined by a veterinarian and launched again into the wild — on dry land — within the night.
English stated the possum had seemingly been nesting on a ship and panicked when the vessel began to maneuver, ending up within the water.
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PORTLAND, Ore. — Somebody stole the Unipiper’s unicycle, smashing the well-known Portland performer’s automotive window exterior his dwelling.
The Unipiper, whose actual identify is Brian Kidd, tells KATU the theft occurred months in the past. He filed the police report for the smash-and-grab exterior his northeast Portland dwelling again in October when he was on a “Unipiper hiatus.”
He determined to put up about it on-line this weekend, and he stated the unicycle continues to be lacking.
“It damage my coronary heart a little bit bit when this occurred, and I debated whether or not or to not even share the story. However it’s as a result of I like Portland that I feel that to ensure that us to repair the issues, first we have now to acknowledge them,” stated Kidd.
“So it is a arduous fact, however I am not giving up on Portland and I need it to get higher so this may elevate consciousness and perhaps put a little bit hearth beneath individuals who have extra energy than I do, then I am glad to assist,” Kidd continued.
He stated he is already changed it and all the time has backup unicycles.
If you would like to help him and ‘Bizarre Portland United,’ he asks that you just attend his beer launch celebration at Gigantic Brewing this Friday.
Nonetheless, he requested individuals to maintain a watch out for a black unicycle with twinkly lights alongside the within of the wheel.
“If I discover out that someone is driving round on it enjoying the accordion, um, that may simply make my day, they usually may gladly have it,” Kidd stated.
