More Animal News

Yesterday's news included another exciting story about animals. "Man hurls hedgehog at teen, pays fine," was the story picked up by the Associated Press and reported in my local news. It seems a teenager in Whakatane, New Zealand was "attacked" by a man wielding a dead hedgehog. The man received a fine for his indiscretion. It was not clear what the teenager did to deserve this treatment.

Read the story on MSNBC.

This just in from National Nine News in Australia:

William Singalargh, 27, was fined for assault and offensive behaviour by a court in the east coast North Island city of Whakatane after a more serious charge of assault with a weapon -- the hedgehog -- was dropped.

Singalargh claimed he was not the phedgehog hurler, but judge Ian Thomas preferred the evidence of other witnesses who identified him by the bright orange trousers he was wearing.

The 15-year-old boy was returning home with two friends when he was confronted by four men on the road outside his home, the court was told.

Singalargh was holding a hedgehog and asked the boy: "Do you want to wear a hedgehog helmet?"

After the boy declined, Singhalargh threw the prickly weapon, leaving a large red welt and four quills lodged in his hip.

When the boy's mother intervened to prevent a second throw, Singalargh pulled down his trousers and exposed his buttocks.

"He admitted to having been in possession of a hedgehog," police Constable Lyndon Reid said.

~j