China's Ace Ventura

Sun Jinrong has been pouring all his efforts as well as thousands of dollars into expensive equipment to help find lost pets across China. His firm is headquartered in Shanghai, but launches pet search operations across the country. Unfortunately, some pets get stolen, and most dogs end up as dinner.

Dubbed as the country's first pet detective, Jinrong started his business seven years ago and has since reunited 1,000 lost pets with their owners. He has a success rate of 70 per cent, and despite charging $1,130 (R80,000 approx.) per case, clients say he is worth it. He now has an entire team working for him.

Sun Jinrong and his assistant (left) Prepare a trap as they search for a missing cat in a residential compound in Beijing; the high-tech gadgets used by Jinrong. Pics/AFP

"Most pet owners get flustered, they don't even own a flashlight," Jinrong told AFP. "They can only look for cats in the dark by the weak light of their phones. We have advanced equipment and have accumulated cases over the years to analyse the data. We can think of 10 things to do while the owner can think of one or two."

Recently, while tracing a lost British shorthair cat that was last seen in an underground garage in Beijing, Jinrong used a heat-detector, inspected animal excrement and paw prints, and even blasted the cat owner's voice from a speaker to draw it out.

Jinrong has been able to trace over 1,000 lost pets in the last seven years

"You have to be extremely careful when capturing pets. You can't catch small dogs like pomeranians with a net. Their hearts are very small. It could kill them," the detective said.

Rs 80K
Amount Jinrong charges per case

VR for the moood

Russian cows are getting virtual reality headsets to reduce anxiety, improve milk production

A farm in Moscow has begun testing VR headsets on cows to help reduce anxiety levels among the herd. Russia's agriculture ministry confirmed that it has been conducting an experiment into how VR affected cows' mood and yield.

A prototype VR headset was tested on cows at a farm in Moscow. Pic cOURTESY/Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation

The VR simulates a "summer field" environment for the user, and takes into account a cow's better perception of shades of red in comparison to weaker perceptions of blues and greens, the ministry said. The results recorded in an initial round of testing found a link between the use of VR and "a decrease in anxiety and an increase in the overall emotional mood of the herd". The second stage will focus on how VR affects their cows' milk productivity.

What happened to her legs?

A photo of a young girl standing in the middle of a ground, with very thin and unnaturally long legs, has baffled social media users. It's only on closer look that you realise that it's actually an optical illusion. The girl was carrying a popcorn packet in her hand, which is of the same colour as the grass patch. The post has gone viral since it was shared on Facebook.

Munch a banana peel to burn that extra fat

The humble banana has long been hailed a health superhero, thanks to its potassium-rich content. But now, a dietitian Susie Burrell has claimed that we should be munching on the fruit's skin as well to reap true health benefits. Burrell says that eating the peel can enhance your skin and even boost weight loss. "Specifically, you will increase your overall fibre content by at least ten per cent as a lot of dietary fibre can be found in the skin of the banana," she said.

Kids given chicks to fight phone addiction

An Indonesian city is giving out pet chicks to 2,000 elementary and middle-school students in a bid to combat smartphone addiction. The local government in Bandung, West Java, announced that 12 school students were given the baby chickens in a bid to keep them off the Internet.

Wedding ring lost in '92 found 3,200 km away

A woman from Portland who lost her wedding ring during a 1992 ski trip has it back on her finger after it turned up more than 3,200 km away in the hands of a jeweller in Alabama. The man bought it from a customer who had found it in the 1990s; he then traced the owners based on the initials on the ring.

Officials blame bear for car destruction

A bear has been held responsible for a pair of vehicle break-ins at an Alaska airport parking lot that resulted in thousands of dollars in damage to one car, officials said. However, according to biologists, the vandalism was unusual because of a lack of fragrant items such as food or trash, which is a feature common to bear break-ins. The matter is still being investigated.

DARE TO EAT?

Cambodia's first insect tapas restaurant is mixing cocktail culture with creepy-crawly fare. At the recently-opened Bugs Cafe in Siem Reap, chef Seiha Soeun has been tossing up crickets, grasshoppers, tarantulas and scorpions in his sizzling wok. And, everyone seems to be loving it. Pics/AP

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