Quick Takes: Dog disposer

A man allegedly too lazy to take out his own trash nevertheless found time and energy to train his dog into being an accomplice in his illegal dumping scheme. That’s the allegation Italian government officials in Catania, Sicily, made in a Feb. 19 social media post explaining that they captured footage on surveillance cameras of the man’s dog dumping bags of trash on the side of the road. At first, officials in the Southern Italian city could have believed it to be a coincidence. But footage of the small dog carrying a bag of trash away from its home and carefully leaving it at the side of the road left officials with little doubt. Describing the offense “as cunning as it is doubly wrong,” city officials accused the dog’s owner of a civil violation of city sanitation laws as well as the moral offense of entangling his otherwise innocent dog into the sordid affair: “Ingenuity can never become an alibi for incivility.” Officials say they’ve identified the dog’s owner and issued fines for illegal dumping. The incident highlights the ongoing efforts to combat illegal dumping in Southern Italy where city officials have installed CCTV cameras to catch scofflaws—even if they hide behind clever dogs.

No se dice

Callers to a Washington state agency who pressed 1 on their handset got information in English. Callers pressing 2 also got information in English—just with a Spanish accent. Washington’s Department of Licensing admitted that their AI-powered automatic phone system had for months been providing service in heavily accented English rather than Spanish. “It was hilarious to us in the moment because it was so absurd,” Maya Edwards said after her Spanish-speaking husband tried to get information about his driver’s license. In a Feb. 27 statement, the department apologized for the error and pledged to correct the problem.

Scratching the surface

As a tour guide, he should have known better. Egyptian authorities in February arrested an Egyptian national who they claim scratched a stick figure into the side of a 4,000-year-old pyramid. The incident took place at the Pyramid of Unas, an Old Kingdom pharaoh whose reign dates to the 24th century B.C. Video shows the guide scribing marks into the exposed outer stone and then trying—but failing—to wipe away the inscription with his hand while tourists watch. Those defacing ancient sites in Egypt face hefty fines and even prison time.

Flocking to the rescue

A freak accident at an amateur soccer match in Istanbul, Turkey, left one player in the confusing position of administering CPR to a bird. As the Istanbul Yurdum Spor goalkeeper attempted to clear the ball, a seagull swooped into the ball’s path. The collision with the ­soccer ball sent the seagull tumbling onto the soccer pitch, apparently unresponsive. Yurdum Spor captain Gani Catan was nearby and instinctively began performing chest compressions on the stunned bird. After two minutes of first aid, the bird began stirring back to life. Catan transported the bird off the field, where medical staff continued providing care. Team officials said the bird is recovering.

A sinking feeling

Residents of a New Jersey town believed their sinkhole problems were coming to an end when a dump truck showed up Feb. 17 to fill in a recently discovered hole. But before crews could repair the original hole, the ground gave way underneath the dump truck. With the second sinkhole devouring the dump truck tasked with filling in the first, town officials began evacuating Phillipsburg, N.J., residents lest the earth give way farther. Randy Piazza, the mayor of what might fairly be called Sinkhole City, said officials are just trying to get a handle on the situation. “We brought in ground radar last night and more issues exposed themselves to our engineers,” Piazza told WCAU-TV. “There were some water main repairs in the past … but the actual reason has yet to be discovered.”

Angry birds

On the run from a pair of aggressive turkeys and with few escape options, a Canadian man opted to leap into a stranger’s car. The incident transpired when Ottawa resident Michael Bourgon noticed Feb. 19 a pair of large birds sizing him up. “I didn’t think too much of it,” he told CBC Radio. “I said, ‘Hey, what’s up, turkeys?’ And then they started coming at me.” At first, Bourgon tried crossing the street. The turkeys followed. Then he tried kicking snow at the birds. They were undeterred. Seemingly out of options, Bourgon jumped in a stopped car. “A complete and total stranger did not hesitate to just offer assistance,” he said. The birds pecked at the car door but were left behind when the light changed and the driver sped away.

Olympic gate-crasher

A two-year-old Czech wolfhound became an unlikely star during an Olympic skiing competition Feb. 18 when he slipped away from his home and onto a racing course in Northern Italy. NBC Sports aired footage of Nazgul the dog racing after a Croatian athlete and across the finish line during a qualifying round of the women’s cross-­country team sprint competition. Nazgul used his nose to investigate the skier before race officials caught him and returned him to his owner, who told NPR the dog “always looks for people” and is “stubborn, but very sweet.”