Woman spends her birthday in a sinkhole

0:03 Hey there, I'm Johnny Mac with five new stories. There were two fishermen on the river in West Bengal. They saw something in the floodwaters. It was a trunk. Yeah, like an elephant trunk. The rest of the animal was submerged and struggling. The fishermen called Forest Service officials immediately. What they found was an Asian elephant calf estimated to be just three or four days old who had tried to cross the river with its herd and got caught downstream three miles. Forest teams arrived, worked alongside the fishermen to bring the calf safely out of the water. A vet examined the animal on the bank and found it to be healthy. Then they had to find the herd. They found the herd. When the mother found her calf, she came immediately. She nursed it and accepted it back without hesitation. Asian elephants are an endangered species. They inhabit the forested regions of West Bengal, and they frequently encounter monsoon-swollen rivers and the edges of human settlements. Zoe had a good job in Chicago, a mechanical designer at an engineering firm, made about $ 75, 000 a year, shared an apartment with a roommate. And then Zoe visited Yellowstone and said, it was what made me realize that life was too short and I was very unhappy at my corporate job.

1:13 She went home. She quit. She applied to work at the park. She now is a seamstress for the Zanterra Parks and Resorts Uniform Department at Yellowstone. Zoe mends and maintains gear for the thousands of park employees who work there. She earns $ 19. 25 an hour. Her housing costs $ 96 a month, dorm style at the Mammoth Village. She commutes by shuttle between Wyoming and Montana, depending on the day. Now, at Yellowstone, new story here. This is number three, in case you're keeping track. Every summer, strong winds move through Yellowstone's hydrothermal areas. Winds carry things away from people who are not expecting to lose them, mostly hats. This past season, the geology team collected 280 visitor hats from geothermal areas. They also collected 54 camera lens caps, 47 hair ties, 36 pairs of sunglasses, 6 Invisalign retainers, that's a good story, a pair of AirPods, I'm surprised it's only one, a lump of glittery slime, and just over $ 18 in coins. The hats included a FIFA 2026 Men's World Cup cap, a Roblox bucket hat from St. Kitts & Nevis, and a baseball cap with the words Cowboy Hat printed on it.

2:21 Let's head down to Brazil. It's the Cerrado, the world's most biodiverse savanna, a vast ancient grassland covering about a quarter of Brazil, home to 5% of all species on Earth. Unfortunately, it's also one of the most cleared landscapes on the planet over the last several decades. Roughly half of the original Cerrado has been converted to agriculture, ranching, and development. An initiative called Erraticum is trying to bring it back. More than 180 organizations, including indigenous peoples, local farming communities, researchers, and government institutions across nine Brazilian states have united around a single goal, restore 4.5 million acres of Cerrado by 2030. They've already mapped 50,000 acres. Currently under active restoration, seed collectors have gathered material from more than 150 native plant species, supplying nurseries, technicians, and monitoring teams working across the landscape.

3:11 Brazil's environmental minister said restoring native vegetation is a strategic priority for the country as it protects our water resources and strengthens the resilience of territories. All right, there's Danielle. She's on Long Island. She steps out in the backyard and the ground disappeared. The earth opened beneath her into an eight foot sinkhole. Turned out there was an old unmapped well beneath the lawn. She dropped straight in water and sod at the bottom. She said it was weird. It happened so fast. And I was just down an eight foot hole with water and sod. Christine, the neighbor, heard her calling for help, found her, filmed her, and called 911. Emergency responders showed up and lowered a ladder into the hole to bring her out. As she was being extracted, she shared a fun fact. It's my birthday.

3:54 The emergency responders gathered around her and sang, Happy Birthday. She said it was great. She is 47 and spent part of the day in a sinkhole. Those are your five good news stories for today. Have a great day.