A real possum appears among toy animals in Aussie airport gift shop
MELBOURNE, March 21: On shelves crammed with cuddly toy native animals in an Australian airport gift shop, one fluffy possum stood out: Its big brown eyes were moving.
A browsing passenger first spotted a living Australian brushtail possum peering out from among the kangaroos on the display shelf at the departure terminal shop at Hobart Airport in Tasmania state on Wednesday, an airport retail manager Liam Bloomfield said on Thursday.
Above the possum were bilbies, marsupials with rabbit-like long ears, and dingoes, Australia’s native dog. Beside the possum in the kangaroo section were Tasmanian devils, a growling carnivore that inspired the feisty Warner Bros. cartoon character Taz.
“A passenger reported it to …. one of the staff members on shift who couldn’t quite believe what she was hearing,” Bloomfield said. “She then called the (airport) management and said we’ve got a possum in the store.”
A staff member took a video of the possum with her phone before the animal grew wary of the growing attention and left the shop.
Airport staff were able to remove the possum from the airport unharmed.
Bloomfield didn’t know what attracted the possum to the toy shelf.
“I’m imaging it saw some of the plush animals that were for sale on the shelf and it decided to make its home with those. It wanted to blend in,” Bloomfield joked.
How the possum got into the store and how long it spent there are also unknown.
It was unlikely to have been placed there as a prank. Someone would have had to put the possum through X-ray screening to get it into the secure departure terminal area. (AP)
US hospital sues patient for refusing to leave five months after discharge
ORLANDO, (FLORIDA), March 21: The patient in Room 373 refuses to leave.
Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare earlier this month sued the patient, saying she has refused to depart her hospital room since being discharged last October. The hospital also has asked a state judge in Tallahassee for an injunction ordering the patient to vacate the hospital room and authorising the county sheriff’s office to assist if necessary.
The hospital said that resources have been diverted from helping other patients because of her occupation of the room. “Defendant’s continued occupancy prevents use of the bed for patients needing acute care,” the hospital said in the lawsuit.
According to the lawsuit, the woman was admitted to the hospital for treatment and a formal discharge order was issued October 6 after it was determined that she no longer needed acute care services. The hospital has repeatedly made efforts to coordinate her departure with family members and offered transportation to obtain necessary identification. (AP)
