Amid a global pandemic, political crises, natural disasters and other bleak news, light-hearted stories are as necessary as ever. Here is a pick of the week's best funny, silly and quirky news from around the world.
A uniquely Canadian turn of events
A beaver by a dam. /CFP
Some 900 residents of Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, found themselves without internet access last weekend and the culprit was none other than the national emblem of Canada, CBC reported.
Beavers chewed through a cable on Saturday, causing the internet to go down, telecom company Telus said, describing the incident as a "very bizarre and uniquely Canadian turn of events."
The guilty party was found after a Telus team noticed a nearby dam. The animals' stealth action was worthy of a bank heist movie.
"It appears the beavers dug underground alongside the creek to reach our cable, which is buried about three feet underground and protected by a 4.5-inch thick conduit. The beavers first chewed through the conduit before chewing through the cable in multiple locations," a Telus statement said.
The furry animals even retrieved material to use for their dam, such as fiber marking tape that is usually buried underground.
Thankfully, the beavers' teeth did limited damage and the area's human residents got their internet back by Sunday.
A singing coat
European goldfinches and finches feed on seeds in a snow-covered garden in Illiers-Combray, France, February 10, 2021. /AFP
A man was arrested on Monday at New York's JFK airport as he tried to smuggle 35 live songbirds into the country, hidden in his coat.
The 36-year-old man, who had flown in from Guyana, said he had been offered $3,000 to deliver the finches for singing competitions, NBC reported.
The tiny birds were held in large hair rollers attached to the inside of the man's coat and around his ankles. But unfortunately for him, this clandestine cargo did not go unnoticed by Border Patrol agents.
Bird singing contests are often held in Brooklyn and Queens and songbirds from Guyana are especially prized, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. A winning finch can sell for up to $10,000.
A lolly for COVID-19
Lollipops. /CFP
How do you get toddlers to submit to regular COVID-19 tests? Drop the nasal swabs and give them a lolly!
This is what Austria is doing: with schools and kindergartens reopening around the small alpine country and pupils required to take regular tests to avoid spreading the virus, researchers came up with a novel way to administer tests.
The instructions are simple: "Put the test in the mouth, suck for 90 seconds, dip the test in the container, wait 15 minutes, check the result," AFP reported.
The tests can be done easily at home without having to set up an appointment or visit a test center or pharmacy.
One Austrian province has already ordered 35,000 such lollipop tests to give out to each child.
Sadly, the lollipops do not come in different flavors and rather than being bright and colorful, they look more like large cotton swabs. Still, if sucking on a lolly proves a reliable alternative to having a swab thrust up one's nose, it won't just be children who will be interested!
Who's a good boy?
Turkmenistan's Deputy Prime Minister Serdar Berdymukhamedov, son of President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, holds an Alabai puppy during celebrations for the national Turkmen Horse Day and the Turkmen Shepherd Dog Day, near Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, April 25, 2021. /Reuters
Most countries have holidays to celebrate religious and cultural festivals or commemorate their independence. Turkmenistan has gone one better and now has a national day to honor its very own shepherd dog breed, the Alabai.
The holiday was held for the first time on April 25 and featured an Alabai contest with the top dog awarded a medal for courage and its handler receiving a car.
The new national holiday coincided with a festival celebrating the Akhal-Teke horse breed and a horse race was organized for the occasion.
Dogs and horses are sources of national pride in Turkmenistan, where they are widely used by traditional herders.
Having a national day dedicated to them is just the latest honor to be bestowed on Alabai dogs: last year, the government put up a golden statue of a shepherd dog in the middle of a busy Ashgabat traffic intersection and President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov also famously penned an ode to the breed.
Read more:
ICYMI: The week's quirky news from around the world - April 23, 2021
ICYMI: The week's quirky news from around the world - April 9, 2021