Jockstrip: The world as we know it

Touching outlawed at Tampa bikini clubs

TAMPA, Fla., Sept. 25 (UPI) -- Three bikini bar owners in Tampa, Fla. have filed suit against an ordinance prohibiting physical contact between customers and scantily clad employees.

The trio contends the ban illegally restricts their First Amendment right to free speech and seek an emergency order blocking the ordinance until a jury trial can be held, the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times reported.

The ordinance against touching was one of three passed by the Hillsborough County (Fla.) Commission to regulate adult businesses, the Times said. Local governments say these businesses invite prostitution, illegal drugs and lewd behavior.

Officials are unable to predict the outcome of the bikini bar suit given what they say is the murky nature of court rulings concerning adult businesses with the defining of obscene considered key, the newspaper said.

Tonga's fishing pigs attract tourists

NUKU'ALOFA, Tonga, Sept. 25 (UPI) -- The growing tourism industry in Tonga has led to increased popularity for one of one of the island kingdom's most unique attractions -- fishing pigs.

The razorbacks, descendents of animals brought to the Pacific island by European explorers, have adapted to their home by learning to wade into the low tide for crabs, mussels, seaweed and fish, the Christian Science Monitor reported Monday.

"They go out at low tide every day," tour guide Joe Naeata told the Monitor. "Perhaps one of the braver pigs went into the sea one day and the rest just followed."

The pigs, called "Captain Cookers" after Capt. James Cook, who had pigs with him when he landed in Tonga in the 1770s, have become a favorite attraction of tourists lured to the islands by reduced prices for flights from Australia and New Zealand.

Meat from the animals has become a local delicacy.

"It's saltier than normal," Naeata said. "It's more expensive than normal pork, but people are prepared to pay the extra money."

PETA slams cockroach eating contest

CHICAGO, Sept. 25 (UPI) -- An animal rights organization is asking a suburban Chicago amusement park to cancel plans to hold a live cockroach-eating contest next month.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals says it has been flooded with calls and e-mails protesting the upcoming contest at Six Flags Great America in Gurnee, Ill., the Chicago Sun-Times reports.

Last week Six Flags announced that any visitor who ate a live, three-inch Madagascar hissing cockroach at this year's Halloween Fright Fest would receive a pass allowing them to go to the head of the line for any ride in the amusement park.

In addition to the free pass offer, Six Flags said it planned to host an open-invitation contest for those who wanted to try to break the Guinness world record for the most baked Madagascar cockroaches eaten in a single minute.

The current world record of 36 roaches was set five years ago.

"We're asking them to cancel (this) gratuitously cruel practice, which is really just a tired gag from 'Fear Factor,'" says Jackie Vergerio, a PETA spokeswoman.

Quick checkup for panda cub -- It's a girl

ATLANTA, Sept. 25 (UPI) -- The 19-day-old panda cub at Atlanta's zoo was determined Monday to be a girl.

While new mom Lun Lun was in another den, veterinarian Maria Crane weighed the cub -- 1.4 pounds -- and discovered she was a female, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

The tiny cub's sex had been unknown because her mother held her so close, the newspaper said.

The panda kept quiet during most of the exam, making noise only when Crane attempted to insert a rectal thermometer. Lun Lun showed no signs of being upset by the exam either, probably because her cub did not.

Like many proud parents, Zoo Atlanta officials said they did not especially care about the sex -- although Crane appeared glad the cub is female.

"Every individual is important, but obviously females are valued for their ability to produce more," Crane said. "Of course, males are valued for the same reason."