Jockstrip: The world as we know it

Wanted lizard wounded, evades capture

CASSELBERRY, Fla., May 29 (UPI) -- A troublemaking lizard in Casselberry, Fla., managed to evade capture even after it was shot by a local police officer.

The 5-foot Nile monitor lizard, which has led residents to keep pets and children under close supervision, was spotted by a police officer Sunday after weeks of evading capture, WKMG-TV, Orlando, Fla., reported.

The officer fired two shots at the animal, hitting it once, but the lizard escaped again and crews searching the area around the pond where the shooting occurred could find no trace of it.

The monitor lizard, which is not indigenous to the area, is considered dangerous because of its strong bite, which is laced with bacteria that can be harmful to humans.

"The animal's presence has caused a sense of fear and unease in the nearby neighborhoods and has caused an ongoing public safety concern that has been repeatedly addressed by the police department and animal control," the Casselberry police department said in a statement.

Britain's 2007 cheese race in Brockworth

BROCKWORTH, England, May 29 (UPI) -- A 19-year-old from Gloucestershire won Britain's 2007 cheese race, in which competitors race a giant wheel of cheese down a steep hill.

Chris Anderson won the final of five races on the 218-yard slope in Brockworth, Sky News reported.

Even though he was chasing a giant wheel of it, he said, "I don't even like cheese much."

About 3,000 people competed in this year's races, which had the fewest injuries organizers have seen in years.

Jason Crowther, who won the first race of the day, now has a hat trick of victories from the past three years. Bruised and battered, the 25-year-old said: "There's no training you can do for this. You have just got to go for it."

Police: Man used pigs to trash house

EAGLE CREEK, Ore., May 29 (UPI) -- Police were looking for an Oregon man who allegedly locked three pigs in his home hoping they would trash it after the house went into foreclosure.

Detective Jim Strovink of the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office said Shane Lovett of Eagle Creek had been distraught about the foreclosure and joked to neighbors he had locked the pigs in his home more than a week ago without any food or water, KGW-TV in Portland, Ore., reported.

Deputies responded to a neighbor's complaint about the pigs and found the inside and outside of the house had been trashed. Thomas Getten, an animal rescue expert, said the pigs were dehydrated but otherwise healthy after he coaxed them outside.

The pigs had an escape route all along through the busted back door, but refused to make the jump to the patio below the door.

The sheriff's department was asking anyone with information about Lovett's whereabouts to contact them.

City uses dog to chase away geese

BRAMPTON, Ontario, May 29 (UPI) -- The City of Brampton in Canada is employing the services of a 2-year-old English springer spaniel to keep geese at bay in its public parks.

The dog, Rocket, is employed by the city to annoy and chase the geese away -- without hurting any of the birds -- from areas that were previously minefields of droppings, the Toronto Star reported.

"It makes the geese uncomfortable, but it doesn't harm them in any way," said Tamara Taylor, Brampton's supervisor of animal services and Rocket's owner.

She said she opted to take the dog to Loafer's Lake, Chinguacousy and Professor's Lake to scare geese away rather than have the birds relocated -- a process that could kill or injure the geese.

"I knew he'd be fantastic at it," she said. "He loves to chase birds because it's his instinct.

"He knows he needs to be a working dog."