'Possibly Aggressive' Peacock On A Mission: Weird News & Oddities

So, police in Barnstable, Massachusetts, had to take Walter into custody again after receiving reports that he was wandering around people’s homes.

Walter is a repeat offender and a known trespasser. Barnstable police put up a roadblock to head him off, found out where he lived, and sent Walter home.

Did we mention Walter is an emu?

And here’s the best part: Walter went wild on Wild Way.

• Read the story: Walter Goes Wild On Wild Way

Zoom Court Isn’t This

For the record, if you’ve been called to testify in “Zoom court,” that doesn’t mean you can appear while zooming down the highway.

A Michigan judge had to remind a defendant of that.

“Am I crazy, or does it not look like you are driving that car?” 33rd District Judge Michael K. McNally said when the woman turned on her camera after previously stating she was seated in a room.

“I’m sorry. I have an emergency. I’m going out of town for a family member, but I will have my driver pull over,” she said. “Hang on.”

McNally asked what side of the car she was seated on. The left side, she responded.

“How would you be on the left-hand side if you're a passenger in the front seat?” McNally pressed. “Am I missing something?”

When the judge asked to see the driver, the woman said she would have to get his permission. The car stopped, the woman exited, and no one else was shown on the camera.

“You think I’m that stupid?” McNally demanded. “I’m going to go ahead and enter a default judgment. ... You lied to me.”

• Read the story: Zooming Along In A Zoom Hearing Isn’t Cool, Judge Says

Did You See And Hear It?

Residents of New Jersey and other states in the Northeast were rattled on April 7 when they saw a fireball streaking across the sky, followed by a loud boom.

Robert Lunsford, fireball report coordinator with the American Meteor Society, confirmed to Patch that the object was a fireball, a meteor that is larger and brighter than normal.

“One unusual aspect of this fireball, besides occurring in daylight, was the fact that so many people reported a distinct green color,” he said. “Bright meteors can be colorful at night, but this is unusual to notice this during the day. The green color could also signify a high concentration of the element nickel in this meteor.”

NASA also confirmed the fireball.

Cory Anzalonecosta of Toms River, New Jersey, shared photos with Patch of the fireball that her daughter captured as it zipped past, followed by the booms.

“It was 60 seconds before multiple big bangs,” she said.

• Read more: Fireball Flies Across Daytime Skies; Rattles Residents With Boom

Slip Sliding Away

A suspect in Michigan slipped away from police shortly after she was detained, almost before their eyes.

Police in Muskogean Heights in the western part of the state stopped to investigate a parked car at an abandoned business. Police said they determined one of the occupants had an outstanding warrant for a parole violation, handcuffed her and placed her in the back of their patrol SUV.

While they were searching the car, the woman squeezed through a partially opened rear window and ran away, her hands still cuffed behind her back, according to a widely shared video.

Police searched for her for several days before taking her into custody.

• Read more: Woman Slips Away After Squeezing Through Police SUV Window

Possibly Aggressive Peacock Had A Mission

Peacocks have spectacular moments, some of them when males fan their long, colorful, and ornamental “trains,” and others when they inspire terror.

Right now, peacocks are on the prowl for peahens and are especially territorial. Anything or anyone who gets in their way is fair game. They’re known to chase and flog people.

Police in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, warned residents to be on the lookout for the peacock that had escaped his home and said it “can/may become aggressive during this time of year.”

Wildlife experts said it was likely the peacock would roam the area for a time but that he would eventually return home. People from across the area reported seeing the bird running through yards and local streets.

• Read more: Possibly Aggressive Peacock Roams Neighborhood

April Fools’ Joke Backfires

What started out as an attempted April Fools’ Day joke by a Detroit-area bakery ended up backfiring, in a sense, when customers enthusiastically embraced the design of an intentionally ugly “Easter lamb” cake.

Homestead Kitchen Artisan Cakery's Instagram account posted a photo of a disturbed-appearing lamb confection in the “cake fail” style of the TV show “Nailed It!”

The cake depicted in the photo featured googly eyes, misshapen buck teeth, nondescript gray frosting piled haphazardly and appearing to be melting, and a light dusting of coconut shavings to suggest wool.

• Read more, see the cake: Very Ugly Easter Lamb Cake Is A Sensation

Probe Into Decaying Body Turns Up This

Authorities had to walk back a publicized report of a decomposing body found in the woods near Pontiac, Michigan.

Deputies with the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office cordoned off the area with police tape and began their search.

Authorities found nothing grisly. The decaying body turned out to be a doll.

• Read more: Instead A Grisly Scene, Deputies Found This After Report Of Decomposing Body

Parting Shot (A Hopeful One)

There’s another hopeful sign that one of the world’s most endangered marine mammals might be making a comeback.

An aerial survey by the Center for Coastal Studies has spotted two North Atlantic right whales – a mother and her newborn calf – in Cape Cod Bay.

So far this season, the Provincetown-based scientists have identified seven mother-calf pairs in the bay, including a pair seen in March.

There’s more good news, too.

• Read the story: New Whale Calf Creates New Hope For Species Comeback