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The skinny

By TIMES WIRES
Published April 13, 2007

Nibbles and more

Maybe throw a rock first

If you're going to reach out and touch a crocodile, be sure it's fully anesthetized. Veterinarian Chang Po-yu failed to notice that a 440-pound Nile crocodile was still fully functional when Chang stuck his arm through an iron rail to retrieve a tranquilizer dart from the reptile's hide at a zoo in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. The crocodile responded by chomping off Chan's forearm. Another zoo worker then shot two bullets at the crocodile's neck to retrieve the forearm. Chang was having his arm reattached Thursday. The crododile was doing just fine.

Any living thing will do just fine

Nibbles the 2,000-pound elephant seal is defying his tame nickname by killing smaller seals, menacing a kayaker and chomping on a surfer and a dog along the northern California coast. On Easter, the lone male grabbed an 80-pound pit bull, only letting go after he was attacked by the dog's owner. "This torpedo thing launched itself out of the water and grabbed her," said dog owner Angel Garcia. On Tuesday, Nibbles growled at a kayaker, scaring him out of the water. The seal has also been seen killing smaller harbor seals, said Brit Horn, a California State Parks lifeguard. They've now moved to other areas along the Sonoma County coast.

In the friendly Wild West

What's the best way to make a bank robber turn around and walk out the door empty-handed? Try a handshake and a smile. Excessive friendliness is the key to the "Safecatch" system created by FBI Special Agent Larry Carr. "If you're a bad guy, it scares the lights out of you," says Drew Ness, a vice president of Bellevue-based First Mutual Bank. Whoa, what bank robber wouldn't be scared by that language. But Carr, who has taught the method to employees at 16 Washington state banks over the past few years, pulls some stats out of his holster: He credits the system in part for the drop in Seattle bank robberies from 80 in the first three months of 2006 to 44 during the same period this year.

Fire and brimstone

Now it's the guard who's booked

A jail guard seems to have let his temper get the better of him. A video shows a Blue Earth County Jail guard entering the cell of Jeremy Hansen, 26, in Mankato, Minn. The guard then strikes him in the side of the face with a book. The two exchange words as the guard walks away. The weapon? A Bible. James Lee Sheppard, 56, who has been charged in the incident, "knew he violated policy and, to his credit, he turned himself in," said Dennis McCoy, Blue Earth County administrator.

Compiled from Times wires

[Last modified April 13, 2007, 00:48:11]