Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe Mama bobcat, new baby released in Illinois BELLEVILLE, Ill., Oct. 29 (UPI) -- Animal rescuers in Illinois said a bobcat rescued from the side of a road in March has been set free with the cub she had while in captivity. Advertisement The TreeHouse Wildlife Center in Dow said Belle, the Bobcat believed to have been struck by a car in Belleville in March, was docile for her first few weeks at the center, but when she soon became protective of her territory in her enclosure workers discovered she had given birth, The Belleville News-Democrat reported Monday. The kitten, dubbed Bobbie before workers knew its gender and later discovered to be a male, led rescuers to decide to keep Belle at the center for a while longer until the kitten was strong enough to hunt. "We wanted to leave them together until we knew that Bobbie was big enough to hunt, just in case he became separated from his mother," said Adele Moore, founder of the center. "She was a great mom but we needed to be sure." Advertisement The bobcats were taken to a section of land near Valmeyer and set free during the second week of October. Hurricane Sandy inspires online humor NEW YORK, Oct. 29 (UPI) -- Hurricane Sandy, headed for the east coast of the United States, sparked online humor in the form of Twitter posts and images featuring other famous Sandys. The storm sparked the creation of several Hurricane Sandy-related Twitter accounts -- some serious, some humorous -- as well as several joking images superimposing the faces of "SpongeBob Squarepants" squirrel Sandy and Olivia Newton-John's character of the same name in "Grease," the New York Post reported Monday. "Hopelessly devoted to ruining Halloween," reads the caption on one image, which put Newton-John's face on the hurricane for a joke on the song "Hopelessly Devoted to You" from "Grease." "Dear Spongebob, please keep Sandy under control," one Twitter user wrote. "She's getting out of hand. Sincerely, Everyone." NYU class has students plan terror attacks NEW YORK, Oct. 29 (UPI) -- A New York University class on transnational terrorism is asking students to plan hypothetical terrorist attacks down to the detail. Marie-Helen Maras, a former Navy criminal investigator teaching the class, is instructing her pupils to "step into [a terrorist's] shoes" for the 10- to 15-page assignment and "describe your hypothetical attack and what will happen in the aftermath of the attack," the New York Post reported Monday. Advertisement The hypothetical attack must stay within the chosen terrorist group's "goals, capabilities, tactical profile, targeting pattern and operational area," the course syllabus states. "The exercise is meant to prepare students for the field, to prepare them for careers in intelligence, policing, counter-terrorism. This is a grad-level assignment for a grad-level course," Maras said. However, some sources with the New York Police Department said the class is an insult to officers who have died in terrorist attacks including Sept. 11, 2001. "This flies in the face of the 11 years of hard work the NYPD has done in tracking down terrorists to the far reaches of the globe to make sure they never strike again," one source told the Post. Humans and 'zombies' race in Michigan MOUNT CLEMENS, Mich., Oct. 29 (UPI) -- Organizers of the Zombie Chase 5K and Monster Mash Mile said about 150 participants, many dressed as zombies, raced through a cornfield maze in Michigan. The Macomb County event, which benefited the Huron-Clinton Metroparks, began at 5 p.m. Sunday when the human runners were released and about two dozen zombies followed 1 minute later, the Detroit Free Press reported Monday. The organizers said the participants, young and old, who raced through a cornfield maze and nearby woods, paid fees based on whether they ran as humans or zombies. Advertisement Fake body parts and blood were seen on some of the zombie entrants. Wolcott Mill Metropark farm interpreter Kathleen Clinton said the event was unique. "There wasn't anything really like this in the area," she said.
