Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe Tortoise gets prosthetic leg with wheel PULLMAN, Wash., July 22 (UPI) -- Animal surgeons at Washington State University said they attached a swiveling wheel to a tortoise that had to have its leg amputated. Advertisement The Pullman school's Exotic Animal Service said Gamera, a 12-year-old African spur-thighed tortoise, lost its left front leg due to thermal injury and tissue damage but was getting around well after having a prosthetic with a swiveling wheel attached to its shell, KCPQ-TV, Tacoma, Wash., reported Thursday. Dr. Nikol Finch of the Exotic Animal Service said there was concern Gamera would have trouble eating following the surgery so they attached a feeding tube and the tortoise has gained 3 pounds since being admitted. Police: Officer issued tickets to the dead NEW YORK, July 22 (UPI) -- The New York Police Department said investigators discovered an officer had written 36 fraudulent tickets, including some issued to dead people. Police said Officer Paul Pizzuto, 40, a 17-year veteran, wrote tickets for drivers who had committed no offenses, including some motorists who were deceased, between March and June of 2010, the New York Post reported Thursday. NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said Pizzuto's scheme was uncovered when supervisors noticed the large amount of overtime hours he was logging. Advertisement "The officer was padding his time records by claiming to have worked overtime ... he did not work," Browne said. Potential disciplinary measures against Pizzuto were not released. Mom, dad and baby share same birthday MASSAPEQUA, N.Y., July 22 (UPI) -- A New York state couple said their first child was born on the birthday they both share with only a half hour to spare. Paul Parker, 32, and his wife, Jacquie, 29, of Massapequa, said their son was born at 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, giving him the same birthday as his mother and father, the New York Daily News reported Thursday. "We barely made the July 19 date," Paul Parker said after the birth at Long Island Jewish Medical Center. "I never thought it would actually happen," Jacquie Parker said. "I feel wonderful!" Baby born in McDonald's bathroom NEWARK, N.J., July 22 (UPI) -- Police in New Jersey said an officer was flagged down at a McDonald's and delivered a baby in the restaurant's bathroom. Newark police spokesman Hubert Henderson said Officer James Kniepp was driving past the Clinton Avenue fast-food eatery Wednesday afternoon when a bystander flagged him down and told him there was a woman in labor in the restroom, The (Newark) Star-Ledger reported Thursday. Advertisement Henderson said Kniepp, a 24-year veteran, was able to deliver the baby boy, who was two months premature. "I saw the baby's head and simply maneuvered the child's body to a position where the mother was able to easily deliver," Kneipp said. "I am not an EMT, I just pulled from what I remember learning from my academy days." The mother and new baby were taken to Beth Israel Medical Center in Newark.
