NAIROBI, KENYA — The Kenya Electricity Generation Company reported last month that a monkey climbed onto the roof of the Gitaru Hydroelectric Power Station, shorted out a transformer, and caused a nationwide power blackout.
According to the company, the monkey incident resulted in the loss of 180 megawatts of Gitaru’s 225-megawatt capacity. The power blackout lasted three hours before repairs could be made.
A Gitaru statement noted that the facility is surrounded by an electric fence. “We regret this isolated incident,” the statement said, “and the company is looking at ways of further enhancing security at all our power plants.”
The statement did not address the fate of the monkey.
GASTONIA, NORTH CAROLINA — Police arrested and jailed a North Carolina couple earlier this month for assaulting each other with pizza rolls.
When officers arrived at the couple’s Gastonia apartment at 1:30 a.m., they interrupted a fight between a man and a woman in their early 20s who were throwing pizza rolls at each other.
Police said the altercation began as an argument and escalated. Officers did not elaborate further or speculate on the involvement of alcohol or drugs.
The alleged perpetrators were arrested for misdemeanor simple assault and booked into the Gaston County Jail. They face 30 to 60 days in jail if convicted.
ST. ANDREW, GUERNSEY — An animal shelter on the British island of Guernsey said a “dead cat” brought in by a concerned citizen was neither dead nor a cat. It was a cuddly dog hand puppet, wet and covered with mud.
Steve Byrne, manager of the Guernsey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said someone found the “dead cat” beside a road, wrapped it in a blanket, and delivered it to the GSPCA. Byrne examined it and pronounced it to be a very dirty canine hand puppet with a missing nose.
The hand puppet was washed, dried, and fluffed and now has a home in Byrne’s office.
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