Giant wooden troll removed in Colorado could get new home
Breckenridge, Colo. (AP) – A huge wooden troll that proved to be too popular in a Colorado ski resort town is gone, but it’s possible the artwork could find another home. Workers in Breckenridge used a chainsaw and backhoe to remove the 15-foot (4.5 meter) sculpture known as Isak Heartstone. The Summit Daily News reports that most of the work created by Danish artist Thomas Dambo was discarded or recycled but that some pieces were saved and put in storage in hopes of installing the sculpture somewhere else. Town manager Rick Holman said officials are talking to Dambo and considering some possibilities but said nothing was imminent. The work was installed on a hiking trail for a summer arts festival. Since then, throngs of troll-seekers have caused problems for nearby homeowners.
Minnesota baby born on Nov. 11 at 11:11 p.m.
St. Paul, Minn. (AP) – A Minnesota baby girl was born on Veterans Day – the 11th day of the 11th month – at 11:11 p.m. Erin and Mike Potts of Hugo, Minnesota, welcomed their first child on the 100th anniversary of the armistice that ended World War I. The girl was born at The Mother Baby Center in St. Paul. WCCO-TV reports the new mom said it was a long labor, from about 5 a.m. until 11 p.m., “but the delivery went smoothly.” The parents did not yet have a name for their new daughter.
Wildlife officials seize mountain
lion kitten fed bratwurst
Walsenburg, Colo. (AP) – Wildlife officials who seized a mountain lion kitten from a southern Colorado home say the feline fell ill after the residents fed it bratwurst. Travis Sauder with Colorado Parks and Wildlife says the kitten appeared to be in good health otherwise and was sent to a wildlife rehabilitation center. The Walsenburg residents posted photos on social media showing the kitten in a cage and describing how they found it in a snowbank after a snowplow passed by. They also said they were allowing it to “thaw out.” Sauder says residents should leave wildlife alone and that mountain lions can handle cold weather. The kitten, which is only a few months old, was kept too long to be returned to the area to be reunited with its mother.
Expert: Rare snake with 2 heads found in Virginia has died
Waynesboro, Va. (AP) – A wildlife expert says a rare, two-headed snake found several months ago in Virginia near the nation’s capital has died. The Washington Post reports state herpetologist JD Kleopfer said in a Facebook post this week that the snake had died. He says it passed away peacefully last week for no apparent reason, and was discovered dead one morning. The Copperhead snake was found in a northern Virginia neighborhood in September. The Wildlife Center of Virginia previously said in a statement that an examination of the reptile found it had two tracheas and two esophagi, but shared one heart and a set of lungs. Biologists believe both heads were capable of biting and distributing venom. Kleopfer says two-headed snakes are rare because they don’t live long in the wild.
Romanian man returns 95,000 euros
found in secondhand cupboard
Bucharest, Romania (AP) – A Romanian man was surprised to find 95,000 euros stashed inside a secondhand cupboard he’d bought – and promptly returned the money. Adela Stanici told The Associated Press that her husband, a construction worker, had recently bought the cupboard from a popular online site. Days later, as she was making dinner, husband Samuel yelled: “come and see what I’ve found,” a metal box in the cupboard stuffed with 500-euro notes. She said the pair counted the money together: “We were shocked. We couldn’t sleep all night. We thought it might be a trap, a setup, and we knew we had to get the money back to where it came from,” the mother of four said by telephone. The husband traveled from their home, in the western village of Bichigi, to the city where the owner lived. The man revealed the cupboard had belonged to his recently deceased father. Stanici said the man, who requested anonymity, “had no idea” about the money. He traveled to their village without knowing how much money there was. “When he saw (it), he couldn’t believe it.” She said he rewarded them for their honesty, without saying how much he gave them.
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