Animal News

Rescue of platypus stuck in a pipe draws quite a crowd

The question of how many humans it takes to catch a platypus now has an answer, after a wandering duck-billed youngster stalled construction at the Penrith Sewage Treatment Plant yesterday. When the platypus was finally caught, there were 27 people milling around to see the results of a rescue effort that lasted more than six hours.

The platypus was tucked away in a long pipe attached to a large open tank of treated water. After Sydney Water staff gently flushed the pipe, it took four National Parks and Wildlife Service rangers to corral the juvenile male in a net before he was whisked away to a vet for a check-up.

Sightings of platypus in Western Sydney are rare, said the NPWS area manager, Jonathan Sanders. A spokeswoman for the NSW Wildlife Information Rescue and Education Service said there were no records of a platypus rescue in Sydney in the past four years.

But cleaner waterways might be helping the animals to make a comeback, Mr Sanders said. ''It could be that we're getting a re-colonization of old habitats.''

A platypus biologist, Tom Grant, of the University of NSW, said the animal was probably seeking a new home after leaving the place were it had been born. He may well have come down from the Blue Mountains, but they've also been recorded around Cattai Creek. Most of the males disperse, but we don't really know where they go,'' Dr Grant said.

The animal was discovered at 8.30am yesterday by contractors working for Sydney Water. A construction worker, Paul Robson, initially thought it was an otter. ''I'm English - it's the only time I've seen one apart from in pictures,'' he said. NPWS rangers arrived around midday but had to wait for the reservoir to be tested for carbon monoxide before a rescue could be attempted. They then waited for more than an hour in hip-deep water for the animal to emerge from the pipe. The platypus received a clean bill of health from the vet, Robert Johnson.

Chinese man sends suicide note by homing pigeon

A man in the central Chinese city of Zhengzhou appears to have used a homing pigeon to send his suicide note. Li Yong, a neighborhood watch volunteer in the city, picked up the pigeon over the weekend in a suburban housing compound.

"We brought it back to the office, and I found some sweet corn to feed it," he said. "When it flew down to eat, I saw a small scroll tied to its leg with a golden thread. Out of curiosity, my friend and I read the letter, and we were shocked to find it was a suicide note. I reported the matter immediately." The author of the note, who signed himself "Shiyazi" has not yet been found.

The note appeared to be addressed to his girlfriend, and read: "I really have not done anything to hurt you. We have been together for five years. Do you not know what kind of person I am by now? It is too bad that our 'Little Grey' is just a pigeon. It would be great if it could speak. It would be able to prove my innocence. I have no other choice. Is death the only way to prove it? Loving you is really hard! These are my last words."

Lu Qing, a member of the local pigeon fanciers club, said the pigeon had most likely been used by the couple to communicate, but that the bird had apparently interrupted a long flight by landing in the neighborhood. The pigeon, with the marking CHN2009-16-058201, was traced to a Mr Ma in Zhengzhou, who said he had lost the bird during a race last year and had no idea who might have written the note.

Charlotte's web spider thought to be writing

Chinese arachnologists are baffled after discovering a spider that appears to be trying to do put handwriting on its web as in the story Charlotte's Web.