Delaware County, Pennsylvania’s newly sworn-in district attorney told reporters last week that detectives “walked into a horror movie come to life” when they searched the home of a man they had just caught leaving a cemetery with skulls and bones in the back seat of his car.
Jonathan Gerlach, 34, of Epharta, faces hundreds of charges, including 100 counts of abuse of a corpse and 26 desecration charges. Authorities believe he is responsible for a slew of burglaries of graves and mausoleums between Nov. 7 and Jan. 6 at the historic Mount Moriah
Cemetery in Yeadon.
District Attorney Tanner Rouse said at a Jan. 8 news conference that Gerlach admitted he had stolen about 30 sets of human remains. In a search of his home and a storage unit in the Lancaster County borough, authorities found more than 100 sets of human and skeletal remains, including the mummified corpses of children.
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“It is truly, in the most literal sense of the word, horrific,” Rouse said. “I grieve for those who are upset by this, who are going through this, who are trying to figure out if it is in fact one of their loved ones.”
Some of the affected burial sites date back to the late 1800s, authorities said.
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“I’ve been a cop for 30 years, in Philly, with the state, and here,” Yeadon Police Chief Henry Giammarco told Patch. “Never in my wildest dreams would I see this. When I saw an infant’s body laid out, it infuriated me. I feel for the families.”
Eatery’s Beloved Walrus Penis Stolen 
(Google Maps)
An iconic South Jersey restaurant has a bone to pick with a patron who allegedly stole their prized walrus anatomy.
Donkey’s Place in Camden, which the late celebrity chef and travel documentarian Anthony Bourdain once said has the best Philly cheesesteaks, has another part unknown to less of the public: a walrus penis bone.
Scientifically, it’s called a baculum — a bone in the penis of many mammals, but not humans, displayed behind the bar at Donkey’s Place.
Not surprisingly, the walrus penis has long been a source of conversation among patrons and as much a part of the eatery’s charm as the cheesecakes — that is, until someone jacked it.
Bartender Mia Panella said in a TikTok video that three guys had been drinking there for hours. While she was in the back, one of them grabbed the walrus bone and the group fled.
“I wasn’t thinking that they would do something like this,” Panella said. “It’s something that we do at Donkey’s, and this guy just decided to ruin it.”
‘No Animal Should Be Living Like This’
Animal-welfare rescuers recently called to a Rocky Point, New York, home said it looked like a bomb had exploded inside. The place was a mess. Couches were tipped over, and laundry and bundles of clothes appeared to have been dumped and left where they sat.
The rescuers also found hundreds of domestic rats. Left to fend for themselves, the rats had ripped open bags of food. Friendly and curious, they retreated from their hiding places at the sound of humans, and welcomed the proffered water.
Frankie Floridia, who has been rescuing creatures on Long Island for 20 decades, told Patch he’s seen worse. “But it’s horrible to me that there’s so many animals that need to be saved, and how difficult it is, and that is what disgusts me,” he said, telling the reporter later, “No animal should be living like this.”
Placing 200 rats in loving homes isn’t an easy task. Some of them are sick and have been taken to the vet for treatment of everything from parasites in their ears and bodies to eye injuries from fighting.
Floridia estimates hundreds of rats remain; the population will grow exponentially if left alone, but he lacks permission to “wreck the walls.”
A Hissing Surprise 
(Photo courtesy of Alameda Police Department)
Police in Alameda, California, got a hissing surprise recently when they responded to a call about an abandoned Komodo dragon.
Now, this species is the world’s largest living lizard, so police put together a capture plan and took animal control officers along for backup. The reptile was taken into custody without incident, but not without a twist.
The reptile was not a Komodo dragon, but a young Ornate Nile Monitor, a species with a venomous bite that can grow up to 7 feet in length. And it was aggressive.
“They have powerful bites, strong claws, and forceful tails that can cause injuries,” police said. “For these reasons, Ornate Nile Monitors are not suitable for beginner reptile keepers and are never appropriate pets for children.”
That’s not to say Komodo dragons are harmless. They’re larger than monitors and also have a venomous bite that can be fatal to humans. They also have sharp teeth and claws, and will defend themselves if they feel threatened.
Horse Nearly Tramples NYC Pedestrians
A startled Central Park carriage horse named Destiny recently bolted into incoming traffic in Midtown Manhattan, narrowly missing multiple pedestrians who had to jump and run out of the way to avoid getting hit.
The horse hit about five unoccupied vehicles before crashing into a taxi. Destiny was not injured.
New Yorkers for Clean, Livable, and Safe Streets, or NYCLASS, which posted a video of the runaway carriage horse, said the incident makes a strong case for passage of Ryder’s Law, which would phase out horse-drawn carriages in New York City.
“These violent incidents keep happening because forcing horses attached to carriages into chaotic city streets is fundamentally incompatible with their nature. It is not going to change,” Edita Birnkrant, executive director of NYCLASS, said in a statement. “People have already been injured, including carriage passengers, carriage drivers, and pedestrians, and many have had to run for their lives to avoid being trampled.”
Cat Boarding Gone Wrong 
(Photo courtesy of Emily Gordon)
Delilah and Molly are back where they’re supposed to be after a cat-lodging mix-up.
The Gordon family returned from vacation and picked up their 5-year-old cat named Delilah from a boarding facility in Mount Prospect, Illinois.
When they got home, they opened the carrier and discovered a cat that turned out to be Molly, a 15-year-old cat that belongs to an Evanston couple.
Susan Gordon called the pet store and was placed on hold for so long that she worried Delilah might be dead. She called police, and store officials eventually admitted the mix-up.
The two families agreed to meet and make the switch, but when the Gordons got to the other family’s home, Delilah was nowhere to be found. Animal shelters were notified, flyers were printed, and trail cameras were mounted, but it seemed Delilah had vanished in the late-December cold.
The couple was leaving on their own vacation but gave the Gordons permission to enter their home. Delilah had been inside and warm all along, and was home in time for New Year’s Eve.
A Toilet Seat Fail
A Florida man is suing an Outback Steakhouse after a toilet seat he was using in the handicapped stall at an Ocala location “suddenly shattered and collapsed.”
In the lawsuit, plaintiff Michael Green said he suffered “severe bodily injury,” permanent loss of an “important bodily function,” and “loss of capacity for the enjoyment of life.”
In the lawsuit, Green accuses Outback Steakhouse of Florida LLC of negligence by failing to ensure the toilet was “properly secured to the floor.”
This Is Not Food In The U.S. 
(Photo courtesy of Customs and Border Protection, Chicago)
Customs and Border Protection recently seized four pounds of nonhuman primate meat and other food items from the suitcase of a passenger who had arrived at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago from Congo.
Bushmeat is a common source of protein and income for the people in the Congo Basin, where it is estimated 1 to 6 million tons of bushmeat are consumed annually in the region, according to the World Wildlife Fund and other leading conservation group. Bushmeat is primarily that of chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas and various monkeys.
CBP officials also seized and destroyed 11 pounds of beans with pests and 17 pounds of unknown plants.
“A passenger from Congo believed the food they were bringing was fine; it was not,” CBP Chicago said in a social media post.
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