■ MEXICO
Tiger lounges on patio
A family in western Mexico was in shock on Thursday after finding a tiger, which had escaped from a circus, lying on their patio, police said. The tiger terrified the town of Zitacuaro, in western Michoacan State, as it wandered the streets for an hour and a half before entering a house, a local police officer said. The tiger “went through the house and lay down on the patio,” the officer said. “The family was terrified and they hid, but these tigers are peaceful, they don’t attack,” he said. A total of three tigers escaped from their circus cages when the doors were left open on Wednesday. A trainer recovered two of them quickly, using chickens as bait, while the local pound picked up the third tiger after its excursion around town.
■ UNITED STATES
Rabid fox attacks jogger
Authorities in Arizona say a jogger attacked by a rabid fox ran 1.5km with the animal’s jaws clamped on her arm and then drove herself to a hospital. The Yavapai County sheriff’s office said the woman told deputies she was on a trail near Prescott on Monday when the fox attacked and bit her foot. She said she grabbed the fox by the neck when it went for her leg but it bit her arm. The woman wanted the animal tested for rabies so she ran to her car with the fox still biting her arm, then pried it off and tossed it in her trunk and drove to the Prescott hospital. The sheriff’s office says the fox later bit an animal control officer. He and the woman are both receiving rabies vaccinations.
■ UNITED STATES
Crew duct-tape passenger
An airline crew used duct tape to keep a passenger in her seat because they say she became unruly, fighting flight attendants and grabbing other passengers, forcing the flight to land in North Carolina. Maria Esther Castillo was due in court on Thursday, charged with resisting arrest and interfering with the operations of a flight crew aboard United Airlines Flight 645 from Puerto Rico to Chicago. Castillo, 45, struck a flight attendant on the buttocks with the back of her hand during Saturday’s flight, FBI Special Agent Peter Carricato said in a criminal complaint filed in US District Court in Charlotte. She also stood and fell onto the head of a blind passenger and later started pulling the person’s hair, the complaint stated. Ankle cuffs kept slipping off Castillo, so the flight crew and two passengers were forced to use duct tape to keep her in her seat, the complaint states. She calmed as the pilot diverted the flight to Charlotte-Douglas International Airport, but became disruptive again when authorities boarded the plane to remove her, authorities said. Carricato states that a passenger saw Castillo having drinks in an airport bar before boarding. She bought another drink on the plane. Flight attendants stopped serving her alcohol because of her behavior, the complaint states.
■ UNITED STATES
Clean up leads to blaze
Would-be cleaners take note: A blowtorch is not a good substitute for a broom. Coweta County authorities say Galen Winchell set fire to his west Georgia home Wednesday as he cleaned cobwebs from exterior eaves with a blowtorch. Winchell noticed the blaze when he saw smoke pouring from the attic. Local fire investigator James Gantt says the fire was confined to one part of the house, but the entire home had smoke and water damage. No one was hurt.
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