Jockstrip: The world as we know it

Police dog quells violent mob of 40

BUDAPEST, Hungary, Dec. 27 (UPI) -- A lone police dog in Hungary prevented a rowdy mob of 40 people from taking axes and shovels to police officers sent to break the crowd up.

Police were called Sunday morning to the town of Sukosd in southern Hungary and told a mob was becoming violent, the MTI news agency reported Monday.

One man lunged at officers with an ax in one hand and a hatchet in the other, but was pulled back by others in the group. He then made a second lunge swinging a shovel, but the police dog clamped onto the handle, and pulled the man to the ground where he was handcuffed.

The suspect's son then made a run at the police, but he too was sent sprawling and pinned by the dog, the report said.

The crowd disbursed quickly, and the father and son were charged with assaulting police.

Parents call dogs to check for kids' drugs

LIVERPOOL, England, Dec. 27 (UPI) -- Parents in Merseyside, England, are having their homes searched by specially trained dogs to see if their kids are hiding illegal drugs.

K9 Support Services only started up in September and has already been called by parents to 60 homes in an effort to police their offsprings' drug use, the Liverpool Echo reports.

The spaniels and labradors are trained to sniff out heroin, cocaine, marijuana and ecstasy.

The owner of the independent agency says his searches are not official law enforcement actions, but if a dog were to happen upon a large amount of drugs, he would report the find to police.

Grape-eating bears victims of wine country

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 27 (UPI) -- Grape-eating bears of Napa County's Pope Valley in northern California are gone -- victims of an expanding wine country.

The bears frequented the pond and an adjacent meadow on Wild Springs Ranch for a decade, much to the delight of the owners, Bill and Gail Dakin.

Now, just like that, they are gone, the San Francisco Chronicle said.

The new owner of the adjacent Aetna Springs Vineyard, tired of having his prized grapes eaten, hired federal trappers a few months ago to kill the offending bears.

Wildlife is often the loser in an expanding industry.

Wild pigs, deer, turkeys and even mountain lions, have regularly been trapped and shot as a result of complaints by vineyard owners.

Cabernet grapes in rugged parts of the North Bay are a precious commodity, fetching from $5,000 to $7,000 a ton. As a result, vineyards are suddenly popping up on slopes and ridge tops.

'Nun Bun' swiped on Christmas Day

NASHVILLE, Dec. 27 (UPI) -- A 10-year-old cinnamon bun that bore a resemblance to the late Mother Teresa was stolen from a Nashville coffeehouse Christmas Day.

Bob Bernstein, owner of Bongo Java coffee shop, said alarms went off at 6 a.m. Sunday morning, and he called police.

When he and officers arrived, they found signs of forced entry, and nothing missing except the bun from its smashed display case.

"They went right for the bun," he said. "What the heck they are going to do with it, I can't imagine."

The Nun Bun became the object of international attention in 1996, less than a year before the famous nun's death. To preserve it and its image, the bun was coated with shellac.