Florida woman finds iguana in toilet bowl, calls 911
Miami: What did a South Florida woman do when she lifted the lid on her toilet and found an iguana inside? She closed it again and called 911.
Lt Scott Mullin of Miami-Dade Fire Rescue’s Venom One unit tells the Miami Herald it’s the first time he’s found an iguana in a toilet. Mullin says when the call came in last night, he asked the dispatcher to make sure it was an iguana and not a snake.
He says the woman, her daughter and grandchildren were waiting when he arrived at their home in West Kendall, south of Miami. Mullin says the lizard likely came up through the pipes. Mullin used gloves to lift the iguana from the bowl, put it in a box and drove it to a wildlife rescue center. (AP)
US man tries to kiss rattlesnake; gets bitten on tongue
Washington: A man in the US was bitten on his tongue by a rattlesnake he was trying to kiss, media reports said on Thursday.
Ron Reinold was airlifted to a hospital in Florida’s Putnam County in a critical condition after the incident happened on Tuesday. His neighbours said that he was trying to kiss the rattlesnake when it bit him on the tongue, Action News Jax reported. Reinold’s family said he was doing much better and expected to survive, the report said.
His neighbour Charles Goff found the snake on Monday night and put it in a tank. A day later Reinold started playing with the snake and made his ill-judged move, the report said. “The next morning before I got up, they were playing with the snake. One boy said, ‘I’m going to kiss it in the mouth,’ and the snake bit him in the face,” Goff was quoted as saying by the report. Goff said Reinold and another man were being irresponsible by playing with the snake, the report said.
“Ron was just acting silly. I guess he said he could kiss the devil and get away with it, but evidently he didn’t,” Goff said, adding that the neighbours left the snake after it bit. “So the snake is still out there running around somewhere,” he added.
Rattlesnakes, a group of venomous snakes that produce very strong hemotoxic venom, are used for hunting and defence against predators. Rattlesnake bites are often fatal for humans if not treated immediately. (PTI)
SA man to face action for climbing Everest without permit
Kathmandu: A South African national, who was caught while attempting to scale the Mt Everest without paying the permit fee, will face a ban on climbing for five years in Nepal besides a fine of USD 22,000, officials said on Thursday.
However, it could take some time for the Nepal government to formally announce the decision. Gyanendra Shrestha, an official with the Department of Tourism, caught Ryan Sean Davy, 43, while he was climbing above the mountain’s base camp on Saturday.
He has already been brought to Kathmandu for action for the offence, a senior officer at the Department said. “His passport has been confiscated and he will most likely face a ban on climbing in Nepal for five years,” said the official.
He has apologised. It is extremely rare for someone to attempt climbing Everest by themselves. Under the current provisions, tourists who go on a mountain expedition without the government permit face fines twice the amount of the expedition fee. Foreigners are charged USD 11,000 fee to climb the world’s highest peak with an altitude of 8848-metre.
Davy had only taken the permit for trekking in the Khumbu region, which does not permit him to be involved in any kind of mountain climb. Mountaineering royalty is one of the major sources of foreign currency for Nepal, whose economy is largely dependent on tourism industry. (PTI)