Catch the pigeon
Got to be some kind of Coup?
I'll get my coat
An Oz man faces up to ten years' jail and "substantial fines" after Melbourne customs operatives discovered he'd flown in from Dubai with two live pigeons down his trousers. According to AAP, the unnamed 23-year-old was rumbled on Sunday when officers found two bird's eggs in his pocket, and a search quickly revealed "he was …
First, cruelty to living things. Even pigeons do not deserve this. Second, cruelty to his fellow pasengers -- I mean, we know how much pigeons can defecate in 2 minutes. Third, stupid and dangerous. Has nobody looked at what bird flu has done to Indonesia? You just can't cart birds around the world as if no bad thing can result.
And finally, just, eeeeuuuuwwwwwwwwwwww
You registered to say that, Steven?
The official standard response to enquiries as to the whereabouts of a tech angle in a story clearly categorised as non-tech (if you look, you'll see) is now... well, see the 'Playmobil founder dies' comments for details.
(ps You mean 'bizarre'. You're welcome.)
.. is worth two...
In the Aussie bloke's knickers...
See, now that just doesn't have quite the same ring to it as the usual saying. Mind you beyond "f*cking clueless fraggle" not much else to be said about the chap.
Hey Sarah... that's now El Reg's "Official Response"??? Outstanding :)
Oh and you owe me a new keyboard too......
According to the _Times_ the smuggler also had:
"an undeclared aubergine in his holdall"
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article5650627.ece
As they say:
"As an island nation [Oz] is particularly fearful of importing new animals or plant life, which could spread disease or threaten its native species."
But presumably there are large financial rewards awaiting Aussies who bring in contraband. Guess there are a few well-heeled pigeon/aubergine fanciers down under who'll pay over the odds for an unusual specimen.
Is this what you can expect if you bend a rule or two in Oz?
Are the Oz authorities allowed to take staged photos of the accused's nether regions & splash them all over the interwebby thing?
I bet the birds are underage so some other Oz policeman will probably nab them all for kiddyporn offences.
I'll keep my coat on thanks.
Unlike Steven Jack this article and many of the others like it are the reason I read El Reg. There's a million sites on the web which will regurgitate the latest news releases from disk manufacturers about the latest X platter disk with redundant whatsits and -1ms seek times. It's pleasant that El Reg occasionally has articles that are slightly off-beat and less relevant to tech workers.
A change is like a holiday, and that brings us back to Mr Pigeon Pants who I am sure will be spending some time explaining to his fellow inmates what possibly motivated him to smuggle two pigeons and a bunch of seeds into a country known for it's tight quarantine laws. As an aside, imagine the stench in those tights, and feel sorry for the passengers near him.
Paris, because she's only interested in cockatoos.
......a real man smuggles pigeons.
By the way there is really big money in international bird and animal smuggling, a breeding pair of rare cockatoos can bring in more than ten grand.
fail to see the value in pigeons, but no doubt there was good money involved.
@ etc ... the threat is not to the native species, Customs couldn't give a damn about them I'm sure, the threat is to commercial farming, worth billions to the economy.
...you landed back in Aus and before you were allowed off, the Quarantine lads would come on board and proceed to walk down the aisles of the aircraft spraying the aerosols of disinfectant in the air....
You knew you were back home then!!
Must have been to kill to smuggled pigeons.
I still haven't forgotton the incident involving the Oz and the pasta jar incident, or the violation of Jungle Jane, this is next on the list of weird crimes going on in the land of Down Under i thinks.
As for the man's Leg Hair Index he rates worse then a rainforest, if the pigeons were infact proxies for parrots to go with his leg jungle or something similar then it is a sad fail indeed...