Spaghetti and monkey balls?

Foodie news from Reuters…

Indonesian police have arrested a couple who made meatballs from the flesh of protected monkeys, an animal conservation group said on Wednesday.

The pair poached dozens of rare Javan langurs, also known as silver-leaf monkeys, from Baluran National Park in the east of Java island, according to a statement released by Indonesia-based animal protection group ProFauna.

“Police found 30 kilograms (65 pounds) meat estimated to come from 20 – 25 individuals, two rifles and a live langur,” the statement said.

“The couple admitted that they had known what they did was against the law and they hunted the monkeys for their meat because beef and chicken were more expensive than the protected monkeys.”

Meatball soup, known locally as bakso, is a popular dish in Indonesia.

The statement said police were now broadening their investigation to include checks on vendors suspected of selling the monkey meatballs, while ProFauna was in talks with the national park caretakers to prevent further poaching.

Indonesian law states that perpetrators of wildlife crimes face a maximum five year prison term and a fine of 5 million rupiah ($555), but the law is not always strictly enforced.

Dognappers supply cadavers to medical school

More from Reuters…

LIMA (Reuters) - At least two stolen dogs were found in an operating room used for dissections at the medical school of South America’s oldest university, but its dean denied relying on dognappers to collect specimens for classes.

The University of San Marcos does not have access to enough human cadavers for its students, so they sometimes cut open dogs instead.

Carmen Valverde’s dog Tomas was stolen by two men while she was walking in the working-class Brena district of Lima, and a friend who works at the school’s teaching hospital spotted him by chance in a surgery room where dogs are dissected.

Valverde donned a lab coat and snuck into the hospital to rescue Tomas. Video her friend shot a week ago, aired on local television, shows him sedated, splayed, and strapped to a stainless steel table — just moments away from the knife.

After local newspapers published the story, other people missing dogs rushed to the hospital’s door and one owner found her dog Chico.

“The University of San Marcos still hasn’t apologized for what it has done,” Valverde told Reuters Thursday.

Ricardo Rubios, dean of the medical school, acknowledged that stolen dogs had wound up in the surgery room, but said the school only uses strays for classes.

“I assure you we would have returned the dog. All our experimental surgeries are done to dogs that don’t have owners,” Rubios told Reuters.

Romila Briones, a member of ASPPA, a Peruvian animal rights group, said the law does not protect strays.

“In Europe, they don’t kill animals for education, they use dummies. Unfortunately, animals are just property in the eyes of the law here, like furniture,” Briones said.

Maybe a little meat in his diet would calm his crankiness

Thank you, Reuters…

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – A Dutch animal rights activist, known in the Netherlands as the ‘vegan streaker’, has been arrested on suspicion of planning an attack against Queen Beatrix because she wears fur.

The prosecution office said Tuesday it was investigating whether the man was planning an attack against Queen Beatrix following a witness statement alerting authorities.

A decision will be made Wednesday whether to keep him in remand detention.

“He is also under suspicion of possession of a gun,” public prosecution spokesman Wim de Bruin said.

But a defense lawyer for suspect Peter Janssen has told public broadcaster NOS the allegations he planned an attack were rubbish and the tip-off was designed to discredit him.

Police arrested Janssen Monday on suspicion of planning an attack on the queen, who was the target of an attack in April when a man rammed his car into a royal parade in the city of Apeldoorn on the Queen’s Day national holiday.

The attacker and seven other people were killed in that attack.

De Bruin said police raided Janssen’s house and the house of an associate Monday following a witness statement made in a separate inquiry, but that no firearm was found.

The witness statement suggested Janssen planned an attack because Queen Beatrix wears fur, he said.

Janssen previously made a stir when he burst into the live TV show of presenter Paul de Leeuw wearing only string underpants and the Dutch words for “Stop Animal Suffering” written in large black lettering on his bare chest.

De Leeuw responded by ripping the man’s pants off, prompting Janssen to dash out of the theater.