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19. 10. 12. - 14:00

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19. 10. 12. - 14:00

Police officer claimed smuggled turtles rescued from soup pot

A Czech police officer caught with 50 rare turtles stuffed into socks in his luggage claimed that he had purchased the live animals at an open-air market in Hong Kong because he didn't want to see them end up in the cooking pot.

Jiří Kolář, 42, was stopped by police at Vienna airport and said that he planned to sell the rare turtles which include specimens from six protected species once he got back home.

He claimed he had not realised they were protected and it simply felt sorry for the reptile's which were being sold as a delicacy by a Chinese man to locals in Hong Kong.

An expert from the reptile section of the nearby Schonbrunn zoo in Vienna which was given the turtles to look after said they would be worth around €20,000 on the black market.

None of the animals had died despite their ordeal but all were badly dehydrated and needed urgent attention.

The animals will eventually be put back into nature conservation programs for protected species.

Austrian Times

DJ Ötzi manager dies
A rap star died when he slipped on a platform in St Polten, Austria, and fell under the wheels of the train he was running to catch.

Pint Sized Rocky Helps handicapped Kids
Rocky the pint-sized pug dog is full of life despite being paralysed in his hind legs after falling down a set of stairs at his home in Absdorf, in Tulln, Lower Austria.

Birth balance negative once again
The birth balance of 2012 has been negative for the first time in three years. This was due to an increase in deaths. Another trend is that women give birth to their first child when they are older.

Holidays against burnout
The growing pressure in the working environment makes holidays even more important. This has been shown by a survey of the European Travel Insurance Company.

Record winter for tourism in Tyrol
Winter tourism in Tyrol (Western Austria) has set a new record for the season of 2012/13. Around 26.2 million overnight stays and almost 5.4 million arrivals were registered. Tirol Werbung stated that some regions have reached their capacity level.

Skimming conman jailed
The state court of Linz convicted a 33-year-old man for skimming, which is the manipulation of the cash machine in order to spy on the pin code. The man stole almost 5,800 Euros. He was sentenced to 24 months in jail on Wednesday.

Football manager fined 30,000 Euro
Adi Hütter, the manager of the football team SV Scholz Grödig (Salzburg state), was sentenced to a fine of 30,000 Euros on Wednesday due to tax evasion. Mr Hütter has to pay half of the amount.

Suspected fraud in community flats sector
Five recently renovated community flats are being taken apart again. The state-housing organisation "Wiener Wohnen" is examining whether the renovation works have been carried out properly.

New theatre alliance
Schauspielhaus Wien, Theater Phönix Linz, Schauspielhaus Salzburg, Klagenfurter Ensemble and Theater Kosmos Bregenz have formed an alliance. They want to reach a bigger audience and sustain the production.

Long Night of the Churches tonight
The programme of "Long Night of the Churches" offers hundreds of events in Vienna alone. It partly focuses on the topic of asylum. The question whether aliens go to heaven will also be discussed.

Don't moan alone, the Ombudsman Investigates.

Why suffer in silence. Let off steam by letting our readers share your troubles. File your complaints about anything and everything here.

Our ombudsman David Rogers will try and help solve some of the problems from lazy civil servants through to incompetent companies – and at the very least the worst transgressors will end up in our weekly special report.