Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe Secret cull to safeguard British monarchy LONDON, Feb. 28 (UPI) -- A secret crow-culling operation at the Tower of London is under way to ensure the continuation of the British monarchy, it has been revealed. Advertisement Legend has it the presence of ravens at the tower safeguards the Crown; if the birds ever leave, the monarchy will fall. But their future -- and perhaps that of the Royal family -- is being threatened by the carrion crow. The scavengers have become so numerous, the tower's raven master has begun a secret operation against them, with as many as 12 crows per week being shot from tree branches around the tower. The operation, disclosed to the Independent newspaper under the Freedom of Information Act, takes place on Sunday mornings before tourists arrive. Both birds feed on meat and the crows are said to be competing with the six ravens. Advertisement Branwen, Hugine, Munin, Gwyllum, Bran and Cedric live a life of luxury at the tower, sleeping at night in their own raven hotel and eating fresh meat bought each morning from markets. According to legend, Charles II decreed there must always be at least six ravens at the Tower to assure the future of the Crown. Source of rotten smell in Chicago sought CHICAGO, Feb. 28 (UPI) -- Federal and local officials Monday tried to determine the source of a mysterious, rotten odor that wafted throughout the city, prompting calls to police. Officials have ruled out fumes from a British Petroleum refinery in Whiting, Ind., where there was a fire 13 hours before the smell was reported. The refinery initially was considered a likely source of the sulfur-like stench resembling the chemical odor added to propane and natural gas. "We've done through investigations and we don't feel that the complaints that were received from the City of Chicago are attributed to the refinery at this time," a BP spokesman told WLS-TV, Chicago. Calls about the unpleasant smell began coming in from the West Side about 2 a.m. Sunday and winds spread the odor to the North and South sides later in the morning. Advertisement Gas company crews found no harmful chemicals in the air. Environmental officials were trying to determine if there was a discharge by an industrial operation. Wild boars attack suburban lawns WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., Feb. 28 (UPI) -- Wild boars are invading the suburban community of Bay Winds in western Palm Beach County, Fla., and homeowners are looking for solutions. The boars are digging up lawns looking for grubs, insects, roots, bulbs or anything else they found edible, said Jake Kroll, a biologist for the Florida fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Residents speculate the dry conditions in south Florida this year have sent the hogs away from their normal marshland habitat to lawns that have been soaked by sprinklers, the Palm Beach Post reported Monday. Kroll said the hogs are no threat to humans. They will run way from people unless they are cornered. It's illegal for residents to shoot them, but many of them have been setting traps -- so far with no success. The hogs were introduced in this country by Hernando de Soto in 1539. Florida's wild hog population is second only to Texas.
