Ice bath world record, Charlotte the pregnant stingray, lost money, local manatee rehabilitation & a legal loophole

By Gavin Steele, Staff Writer

The health and wellness company One Life Live It set a Guinness World Record by creating an event where 509 people took an ice bath simultaneously on a beach in western Australia. The company set up large, inflatable pools on the beach, and the participants entered together. 

12 people shared a pool and were required to be submerged up to their necks for at least three minutes. While 537 people attempted the challenge, 28 people did not meet the time requirement. The 509 participants easily exceeded the previous record of 483 (Feb. 13). 

Team ECCO, an educational nonprofit which focuses on science, has announced that a stingray at its North Carolina aquarium is pregnant either asexually or from sharks it mated with. The stingray, named Charlotte, is predicted to give birth within the next two weeks to four pups. Charlotte’s pregnancy is possible through a process called parthenogenesis, which is an asexual reproduction method where unfertilized eggs develop, or from the stingray mating with one of the four young sharks added to her tank in July. The last time Charlotte was with a male of her species was eight years ago (Feb. 14). 

Two New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (NYMTA) employees returned a lost bag with $30,000 inside to a train traveler who misplaced the bag. NYMTA assistant conductor Christopher Nocito found the bag left behind on a Long Island Rail Road train and gave it to NYMTA police detective Kristin Riker, who used the owner’s planner in the bag to return it (Feb. 15). 

Three Cincinnati manatees were released back into the wild. The Cincinnati Zoo hosted Calliope, Piccolina and Soleil, all of whom are baby manatees rescued in 2021 and rehabilitated at the zoo through the facility’s food and veterinary care. The manatees gained over 250 lbs. before they were released into their natural habitat in Florida (Feb. 16). 

Mickey Barreto, a New York resident, spent five years in the New Yorker hotel living rent-free after being granted a lease on technicality. The legal loophole, that allowed occupants of single rooms in buildings before 1969 to demand a six-month lease, helped Barreto argue that because he paid for a night in a hotel, he counted as a tenant. In 2019, he began legal proceedings to take ownership of the building. Last week, he was arrested and charged with fraud and criminal contempt (Feb. 16).