WEIRD NEWS

Guess What Eats Twice As Much Meat as We Do?
When it comes to eating meat, spiders apparently reign supreme! Zoologists at the University of Basel in Switzerland and Lund University in Sweden report in the journal the Science of Naturethat, according to their calculations, spiders kill upwards of 800 million tons of prey every year. The planet's 7.5 billion humans, by comparison, consume 400 million tons of meat and fish a year, per the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization. They may be small and light, but there are 45,000 different species of spiders that can reach population densities of 1,000 per square meter and taken together, they weigh roughly 25 million tons. Obviously they far out-eat their own weight. Humans' animal consumption is closer to that of our own weight, which per a 2012 study cited by Live Science is 316 million tons) And while spiders do eat some vertebrates, including small mammals, frogs, and birds, their primary role is as insect predator; 90% of their prey are either insects or springtails, which are insect-like arthropods. Per the study, the researchers hope to "raise public awareness and increase the level of appreciation for the important global role of spiders in terrestrial food webs." (Science of Nature)

Teen Sues Motel. You Won't Believe Why.
From the outside, Philadelphia's Roosevelt Inn may look any just any other run-of-the-mill motel. But prosecutors say It's actually the city's "epicenter of human trafficking!" In a lawsuit filed Friday, a 17-year-old girl details how she was "sold into sexual slavery" at the 107-room motel in 2013, held there for months at a time over two years, and forced to engage in sex acts with 1,000 men "double, triple and quadruple her age." The suit is the first to be brought under a Pennsylvania law allowing sex trafficking victims to seek compensation from establishments that profited from the abuse. However, the motel's resident manager, also named in the suit, says he was unaware anything of the kind was taking place. "I was always in the office," says Yagna Patel, 72. "I didn't see anything wrong." The men responsible for forcing the teen to work as a prostitute have already been convicted, but now the teen is seeking $50,000 in damages from the motel for essentially allowing it to happen. "It is a flagrant and blatant example of a motel looking the other way," says a lawyer for the teen, who has escaped the life and is living elsewhere in the city. (Philadelphia Inquirer)

A Well Dressed Deputy is a Well Respected Deputy
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department is drawing criticism from its own deputies over the decision to replace their uniforms' silver-colored belt buckles for gold-colored ones - at a cost of $300,000! But Sheriff Jim McDonnell says they're a better match for the bronze badges, lapel pins, and tie clips worn by deputies and will make them look more professional, which will in turn lead to suspects giving them more respect. But those deputies aren't so sure new belt buckles are the way to do it. The president of the Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs says the department is "in turmoil" and has more pressing needs. The union says the sheriff's department has an annual budget deficit of $250 million, which has left it with 300 deputy positions and 1,000 professional staff positions unfilled. Deputies work back-to-back shifts, and detectives and administrators are pulled away from their regular work and sent out on mandatory patrols. In other words, this may not be the time to spring for new belt buckles! (Los Angeles Times)

When Your Baby Daddy's a Baby
A pregnant woman in Alabama has been charged with raping the underage father of her unborn son. It seems 19-year-old Mekenzie Guffey applied for Medicaid this month and listed a 14-year-old boy as the father. Authorities say Guffey was introduced to the boy by a mutual friend at a McDonald's in December. Police chief Jason Hepler said that Guffey estimates she had sex with the boy about 20 times since then. Guffey would allegedly pick up the boy from his house, drive to a remote area near a nuclear power plant, and have sex in her car. Police say she and the boy also exchanged nude photos. Guffey was arrested on Friday and charged with rape, sex abuse, enticing a child for immoral purposes, traveling to meet a child for an unlawful sex act, possession of child pornography, and dissemination of child pornography. She faces up to 20 years in prison. (WAAY)

Why I Gave Jarrod Fogle a Beat Down
The guy who attacked former Subway spokesperson Jared Fogle in prison has "no regrets," according to a letter he apparently wrote that has been obtained by TMZ. The gossip site doesn't explain who the letter was written to or why, but in it, Steve Nigg says Fogle is a "hero" to other pedophiles in prison. "You would not believe how arrogant Jared was. He hired bodyguards, and the other child molesters looked at him as if he was a god," writes Nigg, who was transferred from the Colorado prison to one in Oklahoma after the attack. Nigg previously said he wanted to send a message with the beating. (TMZ)

Worst Mother of All Time?
In Florida, Gina Caze allegedly encouraged her 14-year-old daughter to commit suicide with comments posted on a live stream before the poor girl hanged herself in a bathroom. A horrifying report from the Florida Department of Children and Families outlines the details. But Naika Venant's mother says she only commented on the Facebook Live video after Naika's death, which she blames on the foster-care system. Naika first entered foster care in 2009 at age 6 after she was beaten with a belt for engaging in a sex act at a male babysitter's house. The Miami teen later told a therapist she slept in the same room as her mother's boyfriends and watched "sex movies." Her mother gave up custody in April 2016. Before her death, Naika told a case manager she missed her mom, who opted to contact her through social media rather than attend court-ordered weekly visits. As Naika contemplated suicide on Facebook Live on Jan. 22, officials say Caze, using the name "Gina Alexis," was one of hundreds watching. But while many tried to dissuade Naika, Caze posted comments that could be "mentally injurious to her suicidal child," per the DCF. In one, she allegedly called Naika a "sad little DCF custody jit," jit meaning young gangster. "U keep crying wolf u dead u will get buried life goes on," she added, according to DCF. Caze says the comments came after Naika's suicide, which she didn't watch but thought was fake. (Miami Herald)

What the What?
Rescue workers had to remove part of a wall to pull a naked man out of a sandwich shop where he spent the night trapped inside a narrow passage. A construction crew arriving at a job site Tuesday in Napa, California, heard faint calls for help coming from the closed shop. Authorities say it appears the man fell into the shaft from the roof of the building. A construction worker says the man said he was looking for a wishing well when he became trapped. Workers removed a portion of the shop's front wall to rescue the man. He was not identified and taken to a hospital for treatment. And no explanation as to why he was naked! (KRON)

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