Rare piebald squirrel spotted

Wildlife officials in Colorado shared photos of a rare piebald squirrel spotted in a tree near Denver. Colorado Parks and Wildlife Northeast Region said in a Twitter post that Jerry Baines spotted the unusually-coloured squirrel west of Denver and snapped photos.

The piebald squirrel has normal brown and grey fur on its tail and underside, but white fur on its head and back.

“That is a genetic mutation causing varying amounts of white hair. Some can be almost pure white while others carry just patches of white,” the department tweeted.

Lost wallet returned 46 years later

An employee working on a remodelling project at a historic theatre in California found a wallet that was lost by a patron 46 years earlier.

Tom Stevens was in a crawl space underneath the balcony at the Majestic Ventura Theatre, in Ventura, when he found a wallet among the ticket stubs, empty drink containers and candy wrappers.

The wallet contained some old photos, a ticket stub for a 1973 concert and a California driver’s license that expired in 1976.

Stevens searched in vain online for Colleen Distin, the name on the driver’s license. Then he used the theatre’s Facebook page to find the owner. The post was widely shared and finally reached Distin, a lifelong resident of Ventura.

Distin said she lost her wallet while watching a movie at the theatre in 1975. She was delighted to reunite with her wallet, which brought back old memories.

Tomato puree spill turns highway red

Police in England said a truck crash left a highway looking “like the set of a horror film” when tomato puree was spread across the roadway.

Cambridgeshire Police said two vehicles were involved in the crash on the A14 highway in the Manchester area and one of the vehicles lost its load of olive oil and tomatoes. The resulting spill left the roadway covered in a layer of red liquid.

A 23-mile stretch of road was closed after the evening crash, and the highway wasn’t fully reopened until next day. Officials said, “emergency resurfacing” work was required due to damage to the pavement.

Visitor makes 2.2-carat discovery

A Washington state man’s three days of search at Arkansas’ Crater of Diamonds State Park paid off when he uncovered a 2.2-carat yellow diamond. Christian Liden had come to the park to find raw materials to make his own engagement ring.

“I saw it shining as soon as I turned the screen over and immediately knew it was a diamond. I was shaking so bad,” Liden told park officials.

He took the gem to the park’s Diamond Discovery Centre, where it was identified as a 2.2-carat yellow diamond, the largest discovery at the park since a 4.49-carat yellow diamond was found in October 2020. Liden said he hadn’t expected to make such a significant find at the park.

Published in Dawn, Young World, June 19th, 2021