Which are crazier, animals or people? This week’s strange tales, spanning from New York to North Korea, may shed some light. Then again, maybe not.

ROCKS IN THEIR HEADS

A national park in West Virginia has been forced to warn visitors to stop throwing rocks down cliffs for fear they could kill climbers and hikers below. Officials at New River Gorge National Park and Preserve says a rock climber recently reported to park rangers that multiple people were throwing big rocks from the cliffs at Diamond Point on the Endless Wall trail to climbing areas more than 30 m. below. At least one rock fell a couple of feet from someone who was climbing. Signs are posted instructing people not to throw rocks due to the climbers below and the park also says removing rocks damages the park’s natural resources.

WHAT THE %&*@?

Removing the flipping obscenities from license plates on Maine’s roads and highways isn’t going to happen overnight, even though a law banning such profanities in a state where such regulation has been unusually lax went into effect this week. Currently, there are license plates with salty language including f-bombs, references to anatomy and sex acts, and general insults. One license plate says simply, “F—-Y0U” — except that on the plate, it’s plainly spelled out.

Now, rule making is getting underway to ensure the law protects First Amendment rights while getting rid of obscene language. The process, which includes public comment, could take between two to four months. In the meantime, requests for so-called vanity license plates that are deemed to be potentially offensive have been put on hold and eventually the state will begin recalling previously issued plates – about 400, officials estimate – this winter.

WHICH ONE DOESN’T BELONG

A North Korean soldier clad in a super-tight blue outfit in a state media photo has generated a buzz on social media, with some calling him “a superhero,” “a captain DPRK,” or “a rocket man.” He was among nearly 30 soldiers who posed for a recent photo with leader Kim Jong Un during an exhibition of weapons systems. They all mostly wore olive green uniforms, the most common colour for North Korean military uniforms. Only two of them wore different colours — the one in the blue outfit and the other in a navy-blue uniform, which isn’t that unusual. North Korean state media didn’t identify the man. But Jeffrey Lewis, an expert at Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, tweeted that “It seems he’s the parachutist.”

GIVE THAT DOG A BONE!

A dog trapped for five days deep inside a narrow, rocky crevice at a state park north of New York City has been rescued unharmed – though it was hungry and thirsty, parks officials said. While the 12-year-old dog, Liza, went days without food or water at the Minnewaska State Park Preserve, it was observed licking the damp walls of the crevice before a rescuer was finally able to shimmy in to rescue it. A local woman was hiking with the dog when it fell out of sight into a crevice.

Two members of the New Jersey Initial Response Team, a volunteer group specializing in cave rescue, were eventually able to descend into the crevice where rescuer Jessica Van Ord – “the smallest member of the team” – shimmied through the passage and used a hot dog hanging from the end of a modified catch pole to attract the dog into putting its head into a loop, ultimately leading to Liza’s rescue.

EYES WIDE SHUT

Travel-starved, sleep-deprived residents are finding a new Hong Kong bus tour to be a snooze. The 76-km, five-hour ride on a regular double-decker bus around the territory is meant to appeal to people who are easily lulled asleep by long rides. It was inspired by the tendency of tired commuters to fall asleep on public transit. Tickets cost between $13 and $51 p.p. depending on whether they choose seats on the upper or lower deck. A goodie bag for passengers includes an eye-mask and ear plugs for better sleep. The first “Sleeping Bus Tour” sold out entirely. Some passengers came prepared, bringing their own blankets and changing their shoes to slippers, while others brought travel pillows.

RUBBER NECKER
Wildlife officials in Colorado say an elusive elk that has been wandering the hills with a car tire around its neck for at least two years has finally been freed of the obstruction. The 270-kg. bull elk was spotted near Pine Junction, southwest of Denver, and tranquilized, according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife. Officers with the agency had to cut off the elk’s five-point antlers to remove the encumbrance because they couldn’t slice through the steel in the bead of the tire. They estimated the elk shed about 16 kg. with the removal of the tire, the antlers, and debris inside the tire.

The elk was first spotted with the tire around its neck in July 2019 while wildlife officials conducted a population survey for Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep and mountain goats in the Mount Evans Wilderness. They say they have seen deer, elk, moose, bears, and other wildlife become entangled in a number of items, including swing sets, hammocks, clotheslines, decorative or holiday lighting, furniture, tomato cages, chicken feeders, laundry baskets, soccer goals and volleyball nets.

IT WORKED THE FIRST TIME

A man suspected of robbing a Southern California bank was arrested when he returned to try and rob the same branch the following day. The man entered a Chase bank in the city of Fountain Valley and gave a teller a note demanding money, officials said. He fled with a “large amount of cash” before officers got to the bank. The next morning, police received a call about another robbery in progress at the same Chase bank, where responding officers arrested the 33-year-old suspect. The man, who had prior convictions for robbery, was held at the Orange County Jail for lack of $170,000 bail.