Interesting & funny news from around the world, Интересные и забавные новости со всего мира

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Firefighters dig a hole, cut through pipe to reach stranded calf

Firefighters in Hampshire, England, had to dig a hole to rescue a calf found stranded about 50 feet into a 200-foot-long culvert pipe.

The Hampshire & Isle of Wight Fire & Rescue Service said in a news release that a crew from Redbridge and a team of animal rescue specialists from Winchester responded to a farm last week in Lockersley.

The rescuers were called to assist a 6-month-old calf that had wandered into a culvert and was stranded about 50 feet into the pipe.

"The team were able to work out where the animal was, dig up the ground to reach the pipe and use a specialist disc cutter to access inside," the release said.

The calf was then sedated by a veterinarian and lifted out of the pipe using animal rescue equipment.

The animal was safely returned to the farmers.

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1,276 marimba players come together to break world record

Young musicians from across South Africa and Zimbabwe came together in Cape Town to break the Guinness World Record for the largest marimba ensemble, with 1,276 players.

Marimba Jam, the group that organized the world record attempt to help promote music education, said 1,276 students played the percussion instruments together at Cape Town's Grand West Arena on Saturday.

The event took the Guinness World Record from the Marimbas por Guate group in Guatemala, which assembled 505 people to play marimbas together in 2021.

Marimba Jam previously attempted to break the record in 2018, but failed to meet Guinness World Records' evidence requirements.

"We thought a Guinness World Record would be a way for us to take that same energy to a national level and bring together the whole of South Africa in unity to achieve a marimba world record, celebrating our motto, finding harmony in community," Marimba Jam CEO Kiara Ramklass told EWN Eyewitness News.

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Texas dog removes 11 caps from plastic bottles in one minute

A Texas woman's pet dachshund celebrated his birthday by removing 11 caps from plastic bottles in one minute, earning a Guinness World Records title in the process.

Jerry, a canine belonging to Sathya Priya Easwaran, put his skills to the test on his fourth birthday and officially earned the record for the most plastic bottle caps removed by a dog in one minute.

"There were no practice sessions at all," Easwaran told Guinness World Records. "This is an in-built quality that Jerry enjoys doing every time that we give him bottles. He just did it without any special practice. He is so focused. He challenges himself and he can just nail it when a task is given to him."

Easwaran said her family quickly noticed Jerry's talent the first time they gave him a bottle to play with, and now plastic bottles are his favorite toys.

"He just wants a lot of challenges, a lot of tasks to accomplish, it's motivation for him and he keeps doing it non-stop," she said.

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Hambone Award finalists include dog who fought a bull

Nationwide Pet Insurance has announced the finalists for its 17th annual Hambone Award, which highlights the most unusual events leading to surprise veterinary visits for pets.

The Hambone Award, given annually for " the unexpected, the unusual and downright outrageous" ways pets find themselves in need of medical attention, was named in honor of a dog who ended up trapped in a refrigerator and ate an entire holiday ham.

This year's finalists include:

Ziya, a Belgian malinois from California, who was kicked in the face by an angry bull while protecting his family from the bovine.

Wash, a Tennessee mixed-breed dog, who lost his appetite after eating too many cicadas from his family's yard.

A New York cat named Salem, who was suspected of swallowing an AirPod, although after multiple vet visits, the ear bud was never found.

California Yorkie Ozi, who managed to disassemble his family's TV remote with his mouth and was suspected of swallowing a battery, which was later found safely underneath the couch.

Maddie, a bulldog in Virginia, whose mysterious illness turned out to be the result of eating a taxidermied alligator.

Hazel, a Great Dane-St. Bernard mix, who was bitten on the paw by a groundhog in her family's New Jersey Yard.

Foxtrot, a Texas Great Dane, who grabbed a turkey leg out of the tongs in her owner's hand and swallowed it whole.

An Ohio lab mix named Duke who swallowed an entire spatula head while licking peanut butter.

A New Jersey golden retriever named Boone who grabbed a piece of too-hot grilled chicken that ended up burning his mouth — and choked on the bone.

Bella, a Havanese pup from Illinois, who feasted on a floral arrangement, causing a major tummy ache.

Nationwide said all of the nominees have since made full recoveries.

"Pets always find new ways to surprise us! The Hambone Award shines a light on those unpredictable moments and the amazing teams who help pets recover," said Dr. Emily M. Tincher, chief veterinary officer at Nationwide. "We're proud to support the pet families and veterinary teams who turn these unexpected adventures into stories of recovery and relief."

Animal fans can vote for their favorite nominees on the Hambone Award website until Aug. 12.

The winning pet will receive the Hambone Award trophy and a Petco gift card. The second and third place finishers will also receive Petco gift cards.

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Indiana man's giant sunflower plant approaching world record

An Indiana gardener said his sunflower plant is within a foot of breaking a Guinness World Record — and it's still growing.

Fort Wayne man Alex Babich's sunflower surpassed the U.S. record last week when it reached 26 feet and 8 inches tall.

Babich said his flower has continued to grow, and is now within one foot of the current Guinness World Record: a 30-foot, 1-inch sunflower grown in Germany in 2014.

The City of Fort Wayne is aiding in Babich's world record attempt by providing a cherry picker to help protect the flower, which Babich named Clover, from mischievous squirrels.

"I'm really proud. I'm from Ukraine originally, you know, we immigrated back in 1991, we escaped Chernobyl, and we came here and we started living in Fort Wayne," Babich told WANE-TV. "It's been fantastic here, and we just have so much support right now. It's really, truly, you know, they support us and we're like thank you and we would like to give something back. So, let's bring this record back to the U.S."

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Panamanian Geisha coffee sets new price record

Panamanian Geisha coffee made history again at the recent 2025 Best of Panama international online auction, selling for a record $30,204 per kilogram or $13,705 per pound.

The winning lot, a washed Geisha grown by Hacienda La Esmeralda in Boquete, Chiriquí, was purchased by a buyer from Dubai, marking a new high in the global coffee industry, the Panamanian newspaper La Prensa reported.

In the natural Geisha category, also from Hacienda La Esmeralda, a buyer from China paid $23,608 per kg., or $10,709 per pound, while in the varietal category, a lot of the Laurina variety sold for $8,040 per kg., or $3,647 per pound, to a buyer in Beijing.

In total, 30 of the 50 lots offered exceeded $1,000 per kg., of $454 per pound, generating record sales of more than $2.8 million and an average price of $2,861.20 per kg., or $1, 298 per pound — more than double the figure recorded in 2024.

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Connecticut men reel in estimated 700-pound thresher shark

A pair of Connecticut anglers may have broken a state record when they reeled in a 16-foot thresher shark they estimated to weigh about 700 pounds.

Ed Lovely and Moe Giovanni said they were out on the Long Island Sound in Lovely's 16.5-foot boat last week when they hooked something big.

"I was hand feeding the line out, I got down to 45 or 50 feet and boom, I tell Moe boom something just hit and — bang, zoom — it started spooling us," Lovely told WTIC-TV.

The men ended up struggling with the thresher shark for six hours. The men said they took turns wearing the fishing belt and holding the rod.

"You need to have teamwork getting a fish like that because one guy has to drive the boat while the other guy's got to reel and tell him which way it's going and starboard side, port side, and so for those hours we were just going back and forth," Giovanni said.

The men said they were shocked when they finally saw the size of the fish.

"A few hours later, I finally saw the shark way out, and it was ginormous. It was huge," Lovely told WTNH-TV. "I was like, 'This is crazy.' Even Moe was like, 'This is the biggest fish I've ever seen.'"

They were finally about to harpoon the shark after six hours of struggling. They towed their catch back to shore, where they loaded it into Lovely's truck.

The shark's estimated 700-pound weight was so heavy that it snapped a bolt on Lovely's winch while unloading it from the truck.

"I was smiling like a little kid," Lovely said. "This stuff doesn't happen, especially on a boat that size and a rod that size."

The anglers are now attempting to determine whether their catch is indeed a new state record.

State records currently list the largest shark caught in Connecticut waters as a 650-pound mako shark caught in 1987.

A Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection representative said a marine trophy fish award application for the shark is being reviewed by officials.

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Four men eat beans with toothpicks to break world record

Serial Guinness World Record-breaker David Rush teamed up with fellow YouTuber Josh Horton and his crew to eat baked beans with toothpicks.

Rush, Horton and two members of Horton's crew took on the record for the most baked beans eaten with a toothpick in 3 minutes by a team of 4.

The number to beat was 429, and the team managed to devour 559 beans in the allotted time, handily taking the record.

Rush's contribution was 211 beans, breaking his own record for the most baked beans eaten with a toothpick in 3 minutes by an individual, which he previously set at 178.

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Texas chicken named world's oldest at the age of 14

A Texas woman's pet chicken was officially named the oldest in the world by Guinness World Records at the age of 14 years and 69 days old.

Little Elm resident Sonya Hull said she hatched the chicken, Pearl, in her personal incubator on March 13, 2011.

Guinness World Records confirmed Pearl's age on May 22, officially earning her the title of world's oldest living chicken.

"She's defied all odds because most Easter-Egger Hens live an average of five to eight years," Hull told Guinness World Records.

She said Pearl's mobility is limited now, so she spends most of her time in the family's laundry room.

"She is welcome to come out into the living room, because she likes to watch TV when she hears it on," Hull said.

Pearl is also fond of the family's elderly cat and new kitten.

"She doesn't seem to mind the other animals, and the kitten will sometimes sit with her," Hull said.

Hull said Pearl's egg production has slowed, but she laid one right after the family found out she was an official Guinness World Record-holder.

The previous oldest chicken living, an Illinois pet named Peanut, died Dec. 25, 2023, at the age of 21 years and 238 days old.

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Manatee visits Massachusetts waters for first time since 2016

Marine rescuers in Massachusetts said they are keeping tabs on the first manatee to be spotted in the state's waters in nearly a decade.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare, which is working together with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and local groups in Massachusetts, is asking the public to report any sightings of the marine mammal.

The manatee was first spotted July 26, when paddleboarder Jennifer Sullivan recorded video of the animal off Mashpee.

Sullivan told NBC Boston the manatee was "just lazing around there in the grass going as slowly as possible."

The manatee was again spotted July 29, when it was temporarily stranded on tidal flats in the Mattapoisett area. It was able to return to deeper waters when the tide came in.

"Manatee sightings in Massachusetts are uncommon; only four have been documented in the past 17 years," Stacey Hedman, senior director of communications for IFAW, told the Cape Cod Times. "We are grateful to members of the public who promptly reported the stranding. Early information is key to ensuring the best possible outcome for any marine mammal."

The most recent confirmed manatee sighting in Massachusetts waters was in 2016.

"Because Massachusetts water temperatures are barely within the manatees allowable temperature limits and only for short periods of time in certain areas, these animals can often become stressed if they stay too long into the season and water temperatures drop," Hedman said.

Officials are asking the public to report any further manatee sightings. They said a rescue plan will be put into effect if the animal becomes stranded again or the water temperature dips below comfortable temperatures for the warm-water creature.

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