Montana students were just horsing around

According to the Conrad Public School District in Conrad, Mont., there's an old law on the books that stipulates that a school principal is responsible for feeding and tending a horse if a student rides it to school. On May 23, WTHR-TV reported, 12 students at Conrad High School put the statute to the test, riding their steeds up to the school and leaving them in the care of Principal Raymond DeBruycker throughout the school day. Apparently DeBruycker had no time to comment while he kept his charges watered and fed and (presumably) mucked the parking lot.

A man in Japan identified as Toko has spent almost $16,000 to make himself look like a collie, fulfilling his dream and depleting his savings in one fell swoop, Wionews reported. Toko contracted with a professional company called Zeppet, which makes sculptures and costumes for movies and amusement facilities, to create a costume that is extremely realistic. It took 40 days to build. "I made it a collie because it looks real when I put on," Toko said. "Long-haired dogs can mislead the human figure. I met such a condition and made collie, my favorite breed of dog."

In South Sudan, a sheep was arrested and convicted in May of murdering a woman "by hitting her in the ribs and the old woman died immediately," said police chief Major Elijah Mabor. "The owner is innocent." However, the owner has also been ordered to pay five cows to the victim's family.

Florida International University recently published a three-year study of bonefish living off the South Florida coast that might make you rethink your entree order. The fish they studied averaged seven pharmaceutical drugs, with at least one containing 17 different substances, ClickOrlando.com reported. Lead researcher Jennifer Rehage said the drugs are entering the fisheries through the wastewater systems and include blood pressure medications, antidepressants, antibiotics and pain relievers, among other medicines.

Marilyn McMichael, 54, of New York City, was reported missing in January by two of her foster sisters, Simone Best Jones and Sharman McElrath, WPIX-TV reported on May 24. They had not seen or heard from her since June 2020, when she called them during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, saying she wanted to go to the hospital. McElrath said they did go to her apartment, but she didn't come to the door. Best Jones said this wasn't unusual for McMichael: "She wouldn't talk to us for years, because she didn't want to." In January of this year, the sisters asked the building manager to go with them to the apartment, but when the master key didn't work, "they never tried again," Best Jones said. But on April 26, as New York City Housing Authority construction workers did maintenance on scaffolding outside her bedroom window, they saw McMichael's skeleton on her bed.

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