Toilet theme park opens in South Korea

Toilet theme park

All the best ideas are developed on the loo. Or so they say.

An establishment in South Korea has decided that more needs to be done to encourage people to value their public conveniences.

Built in memory of the former mayor of the southern city of Suwon, the art gallery and museum has proved a success with tourists in the region.

The mayor, Sim Jae-Duck – affectionately known as Mr Toilet – spent his life campaigning for improvements to the toilets in the sovereign state. His house, which was built in the shape of a toilet, forms the centre piece of the theme park and houses a museum dedicated to the loo.

Different toilets from around the world in various unusual styles are shown inside the museum as is the development of public conveniences over the years.

Lee Youn Souk told the BBC that the park hopes to encourage people to focus on the important things in life. “We just focus on eating everyday, we sometimes overlook the importance of the toilet,” she remarked. “We already know upon waking up in the morning we should go to the toilet but people don’t want to talk about this.”

She added that toilets are an important matter for health, sanitation and water conservation and the museum and theme park hopes to ensure that people don’t overlook this.

Hedgehog saved from crisp packet doom

Prickles Hedgehog Rescue saved the little guy from his crisp packet torment.

A hedgehog has been rescued from a salty fate after it became trapped in a crisp packet. The lucky little critter, now named Crispian, was trapped in the crisp packet and was trying to wriggle free when he was spotted by two passers-by in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset.

Jamie-Lee Poole and Amanda Debruin, the locals who came across the animal, were unable to reach the animal, which was behind a railed-off area beneath a stairwell. So they called on street warden James Clayton and local carpenter John Meare to assist in the rescue.

Even these professionals struggled and it was only with the help of two volunteers from Pickles Hedgehog Rescue that the Crispian was eventually set free.

Jules Bishop, founder of the rescue group, told the BBC that the adventurous little mammal is now happy and back on the road to recover. “He’s thriving now and will be here all winter as he’s so tiny,” she said.

“I want to thank all the people involved because obviously without their commitment and dedication this little hog would have had no way to survive. He was very, very cold and dehydrated when I emptied him out of the crisp packet,” Ms Bishop added.

It is unknown what flavour of crisps were in the packet.