FLUSHING, N.Y. (New York Post) — One lucky baby goat escaped becoming the main course, thanks to one plucky little girl.
A Flushing, N.Y., family bought Meadow the goat to be cooked and eaten, but the agile animal escaped from their yard, setting off a neighborhood chase.
After chasing Meadow for 20 minutes, neighbor Heather Lodico, 10, cornered him between a garage and a fence. City animal rescuers stood ready with a lasso while she wedged herself behind Meadow and pushed.
"They pulled him out and he was screaming," said Heather, who was reunited with the goat Wednesday at his temporary home in the Animal Care and Control center in Brooklyn.
The goat will be taken to an animal sanctuary in Suffolk County, said Mike Pastore of Animal Care and Control. He'll likely end up in a petting zoo — unless Heather convinces her parents to adopt Meadow.
It's illegal to keep farm animals in New York City, but the Lodico family happens to be moving to a 75-acre farm upstate. "We'll have chickens and a rooster on the farm," said Heather. "I wouldn't mind a goat."
Sleepy Air Controller Causes Delays
SYDNEY, Australia (AP) — A sleepy air traffic controller left dozens of airline passengers up in the air over Australia's national capital after oversleeping and arriving late at work.
"The guy slept in," acknowledged Ben Mitchell, spokesman for Air Services Australia, the government-funded organization that oversees air traffic control towers throughout Australia.
As a result, the tower at Canberra International Airport opened 20 minutes late Wednesday morning and a Qantas Boeing 737-800 from Perth was forced to circle over the city before getting clearance to land.
The plane, carrying 68 passengers, touched down 12 minutes after its scheduled arrival time.
Mitchell said the passengers were never in any danger.
"There was another controller in the tower, but he was not senior enough to bring the plane in," he said.
Authorities have changed the roster to ensure that two senior controllers are present when the tower opens — assuming they get up in time.
Briton Finds Venomous Centipede in House
LONDON (AP) — Aaron Balick expected to find a tiny mouse rustling behind the TV in his apartment. Instead, he found a venomous giant centipede that somehow hitched a ride from South America to Britain.
"Thinking it was a mouse, I went to investigate the sound. The sound was coming from under some papers which I lifted, expecting to see the mouse scamper away," the 32-year-old psychotherapist said Wednesday. "Instead, when I lifted the papers, I saw this prehistoric looking animal skitter away behind a stack of books."
He trapped the 9-inch-long creature between a stack of books and put it in a plastic container.
The next day he took it to Britain's Natural History Museum, which identified the insect as a Scolopendra gigantea — the world's biggest species of centipede.
Stuart Hine, an entomologist at the museum, said it was likely the centipede hitched a ride aboard a freighter, likely with a shipment of fruit.
"Dealing with over 4,000 public and commercial inquiries every year, we have come to expect the unexpected. However, when Aaron produced this beast from his bag I was staggered," Hine said. "Not even I expected to be presented with this."
The Scolopendra gigantea has front claws that are adapted to deliver venom when it stings, which can lead to a blistering rash, nausea and fever. The sting is rarely life-threatening, but painful.
Click on the photo box near the top of this story to see the questionable centipede.
Tomato Fight! Spaniards Hold Annual Rite
MADRID, Spain (AP) — It is said to be the world's largest tomato battle. Tens of thousands of people hurled truckloads of tomatoes at each other Wednesday, sending knee-deep rivers of tomato sauce down the streets of the small Spanish town of Bunol during its annual food fight — The Tomatina.
At noon, municipal trucks dumped about 130 tons of ripe, juicy plum tomatoes at the feet of adrenaline-charged crowds in town's main square. Within minutes the area was covered in red slime, and clouds of tomato sauce filled the air.
A rocket fired from a balcony signaled the fight's end one hour later, after which giddy participants hosed each other clean.
A record 40,000 people took part this year's Tomatina, held annually on the last Wednesday in August, city Major Fernando Giraldos said. It is said to be the world's largest tomato fight.
Local lore says it began in the mid-1940s with a food battle that broke out between youngsters near a vegetable stand on the town square in Bunol, 300 kilometers (190 miles) southeast of Madrid. The next year, they met again, this time pelting passers-by.
Police Find Shooting Is Only a Movie
ST. PAUL (AP) — A gory scene staged for a low-budget horror movie proved a little too realistic for police. When officers were called to the Dayton's Bluff neighborhood overlooking downtown Sunday night about a possible shooting, they found a parked car with what looked like brain matter and blood on the front seat, dashboard and windows — but no victim.
Police began knocking on doors and found Lance Hendrickson, the car's owner. He was OK.
The scene had been staged by Hendrickson, 23, and his friends for their horror movie, "Summer School," he told officers. He backed it up by letting police watch the scene.
"They were really kind of grilling me, but I completely understood," said Hendrickson, a Hamline University sophomore.
Hendrickson, along with Ben Trandem and Mike Nelson, both Minneapolis College of Art and Design students, began filming "Summer School," their first feature-length movie, in June. In one scene, a character named Dennis is shot in the head.
Hendrickson's car, which was no longer working, was towed to Spooner, Wis., where principal photography wrapped on Aug. 21. To represent Dennis' head, a cantaloupe filled with liquid latex and stage blood was shot through the car's window with a 16-gauge shotgun, Hendrickson said.
"We were happy that it looked real and a little worried that it was freaking out our neighbors," said Hendrickson, who hopes to premiere the film next year.
Compiled by FOXNews.com's Jennifer D'Angelo.
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