And other stories from the stranger side of life
A “phantom post snatcher” is “prowling” the remote Welsh countryside by night and removing marker signs from a popular hiking trail in Snowdonia, said The Times. After the signposts, which are essential for those hiking the 83-mile Snowdonia Slate Trail, disappeared, a spokesperson for the trail said they were baffled. “I think that as they are so heavy, if they were vandals they would have been left on the side,” they said. “It would need a quad bike or a similar sort of transport to remove them.”
Man used dead brother’s identity
An 86-year-old man assumed his dead brother’s identity for more than half a century, said Fox News. Napoleon Gonzalez, of Maine in the US, started the process in the mid-1960s, using it to obtain a second passport and “double dip” on Social Security benefits. He was convicted of one count of identity theft, two counts of passport fraud, two counts of Social Security fraud and one count of mail fraud. He faces up to 20 years in prison at sentencing.
Giraffe born without spots
A rare baby giraffe has been born without spots, said a zoo in Tennessee. The “six-foot wonder” was born “sans spots” at a privately owned facility in Limestone, and “made her public debut this month”, said CNN. The establishment said she’s “thriving” under the supervision of her attentive mother and its human staff. Now she just needs a name, which the public can vote on before the winning name is announced on 4 September.
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