Sunday, November 29 2009, 22:16 GMT
By Catriona Wightman

The RSPCA has condemned pranksters who place a sheep in a trolley and pushed it into a supermarket.

The group was caught on CCTV at 3am in Asda in Bexleyheath, The Daily Telegraph reports.

It is believed that the group, who took photographs of the stunt, stole the sheep from a farm in Kent and took it to the shop in a car.

RSPCA inspector Andrew Kirby said that the sheep appears to be in excellent physical condition.

“This stupid, irresponsible stunt would have terrified this poor sheep and caused it fantastic stress by removing it from its flock,” he added. “We have tracked down the sheep’s owner but we can’t return it to its flock for six days because of restrictions on the movement of livestock.”

Asda store manager Joe Lock also criticised the prank, saying: “We were shocked to learn that a poor sheep had been wheeled into our store. We hope the culprits hand themselves in.”

The shop’s employees have named the sheep Rob.

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/odd/news/a189098/rspca-condemns-sheep-trolley-prank.html

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Monday, November 23 2009, 13:58 GMT
By Mayer Nissim, Entertainment Reporter

Zookepers in the US have learned that a tortoise they thought was female for over half a century is really male.

Cleveland Metroparks Zoo spokesman Tom O’Konowitz confirmed that the creature, previously known as Mary, has now been renamed Terry, The Chronicle-Telegram reports

O’Konowitz said: “This is certainly a first for us. It came as something of a surprise to finally figure out Mary’s right identity. It took us 55 years to finally say she’s a boy.

“With some species like elephants, gorillas and rhinos, it’s very obvious whether you’re dealing with a male or female.”

He added that staff had assumed the tortoise was female because it had a flat shell, small tail and was the smallest of a batch of three that arrived from Aldabra Island off the east coast of Africa in 1955.

O’Konowitz clarified that large tortoises’ reproductive organs are not usually visible during examinations, but in this case “became visible to the staff”.

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/odd/news/a188210/mary-the-tortoise-is-really-male.html

See also: http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/article.html?Zookeepers_get_tortoise_sex_surprise&in_article_id=775666&in_page_id=2

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