Watercooler Stories

New Orleans feral chicken population booms

NEW ORLEANS, April 13 (UPI) -- Residents of New Orleans say the city's population of wild chickens has boomed in the years since Hurricane Katrina.

The residents said the chickens are believed to be descended from ones that escaped from backyard coops during and after the 2005 storm, The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune reported Tuesday.

Katherine LeBlanc, spokeswoman for the local Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said officers are dispatched on a weekly basis to catch the feral chickens in the city's neighborhoods.

LeBlanc said most of the calls from residents are about the noise made by the birds, and there have been few complaints about attacks or the birds' droppings.

The spokeswoman said the feral chickens are left with a farmer known as the "Chicken Man." She said capturing the birds is "extremely hard" and usually requires multiple officers.

Coffin-bearing hearse left unattended

TAMWORTH, England, April 13 (UPI) -- Witnesses said they were shocked to see a trio of British undertakers leave their hearse in a parking lot with a coffin inside for 20 minutes.

Karen Plant, 53, and daughter Liz, 28, said they saw the three men leave the hearse and coffin outside a Morrisons store in Tamworth, England, while they went inside for tea, The Sun reported Tuesday.

The women said the men told them they needed a break after a "long journey" from Salisbury, England.

"It's upsetting to think someone's loved one was in that coffin, shoved in a car park before being laid to rest. It's a complete lack of respect," Liz Plant said.

Salisbury funeral director Ian Newman, who employs the men, apologized for the incident.

"The coffin was watched," he said.

British vicars warned of sham marriages

LONDON, April 13 (UPI) -- The Church of England said vicars are receiving tips for spotting sham marriages arranged to help immigrants remain in Britain.

The Rev. John Packer, bishop of Ripon and Leeds, said the tips are part of a crackdown by the church and England the British Home Office, The Sun reported Tuesday.

"The office of holy matrimony must not be misused," he said.

The tips include being on the lookout for couples who speak different languages, use notes when answering questions about their intended spouse or go home separately.

"The guidance is another step forward. Fraudsters should remember a marriage does not give automatic right to remain in the U.K.," Immigration Minister Damian Green said.

Nude painting pulled from civic building

SAN RAFAEL, Calif., April 13 (UPI) -- A California artist said she was outraged when her nude painting was removed from a government building's art exhibition for offending a county worker.

Sylvia Cossich Goodman of San Rafael said her impressionist painting of a nude was pulled from the Civic Center art exhibition after a Marin County worker complained about the artwork, the Marin Independent Journal reported Tuesday.

"Apparently one person working at the Civic Center is so upset about my nude painting that she went straight to human resources and made a big stir to have my painting removed," Goodman said.

She described the incident as "censorship at the Civic Center."

Mona Miyasato, chief assistant county administrator, said the employee who asked for the painting's removal had an office near the first-floor display and complained "about being accosted by the painting every day in the work environment."

"Employees must not feel we've created a hostile work environment," Miyasato said.

Several works featuring nudes, including a photo-style print, remain in place at the exhibition, the Independent Journal reported.