“Thai customs authorities say 431 turtles and other rare reptiles were stuffed into four suitcases and smuggled into the Bangkok airport. Gharials — a type of crocodile native to India — and Indian star and roofed tortoises were among the endangered species found in the luggage. Customs Department Director-General Prasong Poontaneat says many of the reptiles found are banned from international trade. They were discovered when an Indian traveler arriving from Bangladesh failed to retrieve his bags. Prasong said the animals would be held for evidence and taken care of by wildlife officials.” w/ photo + video

“Police responding to a rare alligator sighting in suburban Kansas City took quick action to dispatch of the beast, shooting it in the head, as instructed, while it lurked menacingly in the weeds leading down to a pond. It wasn’t until a second rifle shot bounced off the reptile’s head that the officers realized they had mortally wounded a concrete lawn ornament. A resident of a subdivision near the pond called police Saturday evening to report that his children spotted the alligator while they were playing in some nearby woods. After consulting a conservation agent, who told them to kill the gator if they felt it posed a danger, one of the officers shot it twice in the head before realizing something was up, said Tom Gentry, an Independence police spokesman. “It didn’t move,” Gentry said. “They inched up closer and closer and discovered it was a mock-up of a real alligator made to look like it was real.” In the officers’ defense, it was growing dark when they shot the fake gator and it was partially submerged in the weeds.” w/ photo

“The graduating class at an Ohio high school features a multitude of multiples: 10 sets of twins and one set of triplets. They make up 8 percent of the 282 seniors receiving their diplomas from Canfield High School on June 12. Principal John Tullio tells The Vindicator of Youngstown the 23 students from multiple births all have come up from kindergarten in the Canfield school district, about 60 miles southeast of Cleveland. Some will attend college with their siblings. Anthony Ferraro tells the newspaper it would be a big deal to separate from twin Jesse, who calls his brother a permanent friend.” w/ photos

“Springfield Police have arrested a man who they say lifted his girlfriend’s car with a forklift and dropped it, all while she was still inside. Police Sergeant John Delaney told 22News that Brian Hurley, 41, of Springfield, had gotten into an argument with his girlfriend after she had dropped him off at his Paridon Street workplace morning. The two were reportedly arguing over financial issues, when Hurley slapped the woman across the face, got out of the car, and began kicking it. Delaney says Hurley then got into a forklift, drove it toward her car, and picked it up while she was still inside. Using the forklift, he moved the car several feet away before putting it down and running away. Officers found him hours later after receiving a report that he was banging on the door of his Dayton Street residence.” w/ photo

“The humble hubcap, it turns out, makes an excellent canvas. Over the past three years, Marquis, 60, has persuaded artists from every state and 52 countries to transform discarded metal and plastic wheel coverings into objects of wonder and whimsy. He’s filled two rooms and a hallway with more than 800 works to date, dented old Pontiacs and Plymouths given new life and meaning by fertile minds and talented hands. Some of the art is purely decorative: enormous roses, intricate sundials, abstracts and landscapes. Other artists make political statements, drop cultural references, or get personal. There are pieces that demand to be touched, rocking and spinning and making noise. And others that make you smile, like the “pasta machine” that extrudes long, fat tubes of ziti. “Almost every day, some art arrives from somewhere. It’s a real treat to open up a box not knowing exactly what’s in it,” Marquis says with relish.” w/ photo

“Imagine walking into your home and finding a peacock lurking inside. That’s what happened to one Las Vegas homeowner over the weekend. The peacock was spotted in the man’s backyard. But, apparently, the bird wasn’t happy wandering around outside, so it let itself into the man’s house, going through an open sliding glass door. The peacock made himself quite at home, even jumping up on the homeowner’s bed at one point.” w/ photo + video

“When farmer John Gregory entered his piggery he couldn’t believe what he saw – mice attacking his pigs. Since he first saw them dining out on his prized stock in Wynarka, 130km east of Adelaide, the 50-year-old father of four has been at his wit’s end about how to get rid of them. Now, as a desperate last resort, he’s resorted to covering his pigs in engine oil to protect them from the mice, which he says are turned off by the taste. “The mouse problem got really bad in April,” Mr Gregory said. “We went away in the school holidays and when we came back we drove up the driveway and it looked like the ground was moving – there were hundreds of thousands of them.” Mr Gregory said he put engine oil on his 15 pigs to protect them from the sun about once a month. “But now I oil them every week, because the mice have run out of food and they’re just eating anything, so they were climbing up on the pigs and chewing them,” he said. “The oil stops them eating the pigs because they don’t like the taste.” w/ photo

“Customs and Border Protection agriculture specialists yesterday found 88 pounds of cooked sheep meat in luggage carried by an Ethiopian passenger at Dulles Airport. Federal law restricts the importation of animal products from countries known to have certain exotic foreign animal diseases, such as Foot and Mouth, and African and Classical Swine fevers. The sheep meat was cooked in red gravy and stored in 15 bags inside the passenger’s six pieces of luggage. “Customs and Border Protection agriculture specialists typically encounter similar food products arriving from Africa, but the sheer volume makes this an extraordinarily unique seizure,” Christopher Hess, CBP Port Director for the Port of Washington, said in a statement. “That’s an awful lot of food product to stuff inside one’s baggage. Hopefully, this seizure reinforces our message that travelers need be aware of regulations governing products that they can and can’t bring to the U.S.” w/ photo

“Two liger cubs in a zoo in China are being nursed by a dog after being rejected by their tiger mum, in a story ever so slightly similar to that of Koa the labrador and her adopted baby rabbits. The ligers – a cross between a male lion and a female tiger, if you hadn’t guessed that much – were born at Xixiakou Wildlife Zoo in east China’s Shandong province earlier this month. Two of their siblings sadly died, then their mother stopped feeding the pair after a few days. The dog, fresh from giving birth to her own offspring, was promptly drafted in as a surrogate mum.” w/ photos + video

“A woman riding in a horse and carriage is served at a Kentucky Fried Chicken drive-thru – after being turned down by McDonald’s minutes earlier. Stunned diners watched on in amazement as Debbie Murden, 42, maneuvered the huge stallion to a KFC window and placed her order. But that was only after a McDonald’s refused her order – because it was deemed too dangerous to serve her when she was in the carriage. Debbie, from Pinxton, Nottinghamshire, said she was shocked by the refusal as she rides her horse and carriage all over the area – even stopping off at pubs and restaurants along the way. Just days before she had used the carriage to purchase food from the same McDonald’s outlet. She told the BBC: ‘They said it was dangerous. ‘I’m not sure who they meant it was dangerous for, them or us or other people in the drive-through. But there was no danger there.” w/ photo