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This Week In the News
[4-legged
duckling puts best foot forward] [Animal
lover mauled to death after entering cheetah cage
] [Turtle swallowed by dog, and both live
] [Plane makes emergency landing thanks to
squirrel
] [Donkey on the lam may be heartbroken
] [Newfound fame for fat cat who got stuck
in doggie door
] [Crying' dog alerts couple to house fire
] [Cat survives after being frozen in
trough
] [Woman, bear face off at kitchen window
] [Snorkeler shot after being mistaken for
rodent
] [Pit bull swallows woman's ring
] [Chihuaha OK after burglars put her in
freezer
] [Elderly woman dies trying to save cats
from fire
] [Suspect bites dog, but dog wins fight] [Man
arrested for beating dog, stuffing it in suitcase]
Associated Press
Feb. 18, 2007 04:50 PM
 LONDON
- Webbed feet run in Stumpy's family, but he's the first to have
four of them.
A rare mutation has left the eight-day-old duckling with two nearly
full-sized legs behind the two he runs on. Nicky Janaway, a duck
farmer in New Forest, Hampshire, 95 miles southwest of London,
showed the duckling to reporters Saturday.
"It was absolutely bizarre. I was thinking he's got too many
legs' and I kept counting one, two, three, four,'" Janaway
said.
Stumpy would probably not survive in the wild, but Janaway, who runs
the Warrawee Duck Farm in New Forest, says he is doing well.
"He's eating and surviving so far, and he is running about with
those extra legs acting like stabilizers," Janaway said.
The mutation is rare, but cases have been recorded across the world.
One duckling named Jake was born in Queensland, Australia, in 2002
with four legs but died soon after.
Turtle
swallowed by dog, and both live
Associated Press
, Feb. 16, 2007 10:10 AM
BRANDON, Fla. - A palm-sized pet turtle
and the golden retriever that gobbled it up survived the
misadventure thanks to the quick actions of a 12-year-old girl, a
veterinarian said.
The saga of Pepper the red-eared slider
turtle and Bella the golden retriever started last week. Shelby
Terihay, 12, moved her pet pond turtles indoors to protect them from
a cold snap — a plan that worked well until Bella found some of
the turtles in a bathtub, The Tampa Tribune reported.
A quick headcount confirmed Bella had
swallowed one of the turtles. Shelby insisted on a rescue mission
and, on the advice of a vet, her parents made Bella vomit. Out came
Pepper, still alive despite a shattered shell and an estimated 10
minutes inside Bella's belly.
"This was definitely a first for
me," veterinarian David Thomassy said.
Thomassy patched up Pepper's shell and
credited Shelby with saving Bella, too.
"The turtle would definitely have
caused an obstruction," Thomassy said. "Without cutting it
out directly, it eventually would have killed the dog."
Animal
lover mauled to death after entering cheetah cage
Associated Press
, Feb. 12, 2007 04:17 PM
BRUSSELS, Belgium - An animal lover was
mauled to death by cheetahs after entering their cage at a zoo in
northern Belgium, authorities and zoo officials said Monday.
Karen Aerts, 37, of Antwerp, was found
dead in the cage, Olmense Zoo spokesman Jan Libot said. Police said
they ruled out any foul play.
Authorities believe Aerts, a regular
visitor to the zoo, hid in the park late Sunday until it closed and
managed to find the keys to the cheetah cage.
"Karen loved animals. Unfortunately
the cheetahs betrayed her trust," Libot said.
One of the cats that killed Aerts was
named Bongo, whom the woman had adopted under a special program. She
paid for Bongo's food, Libot said.
Animal rights group GAIA called for the
immediate closure of the zoo, located 55 miles northeast of
Brussels, saying it was unsafe for both visitors and the cats.
Rudy Demotte, the Belgian minister
responsible for animal welfare, sent a team to investigate.
Plane
makes emergency landing thanks to squirrel
Associated Press
, Feb. 15, 2007 07:52 AM
HONOLULU - An American Airlines flight
made an unscheduled landing after pilots heard something skittering
about in the wire-laden space over the cockpit.
The airline blamed the emergency landing
of the Tokyo-Dallas flight with 202 passengers on a stowaway
squirrel.
"You do not want a varmint up in
the wiring areas and what-have-you on an airplane. You don't want
anything up there," said John Hotard, spokesman for the Fort
Worth, Texas-based airline.
He said pilots feared the animal
would chew through wiring or cause other problems.
"So, as a precaution, we
diverted," Hotard said.
Once on the ground late Friday,
the Boeing 777's human passengers were put up in hotel rooms and
later rebooked on other flights.
State and federal agriculture and
wildlife officials boarded the plane, set traps and captured the
eastern gray squirrel.
Hotard said the plane had flown to
Tokyo from New York before the Dallas flight.
Honolulu, however, proved to be
the squirrel's final destination. Fearing it may have been carrying
rabies, authorities had the rodent killed.
Donkey
on the lam may be heartbroken
Feb. 15, 2007 10:43 AM
PITTSFIELD, Maine - Jenny the donkey
remains on the lam but her owners may be closer to corralling the
incorrigible critter. Ever since she escaped on Jan. 18, the donkey
has stymied efforts to get her back including tranquilizers and a
horse whisperer.
The speculation is that Jenny has
been roaming the woods behind the farm looking for a partner from
whom she was separated at auction.
Gail Lever of Princeton, Mass.,
believes she has found the mate. Both donkeys — Lever believes
both are actually mules, the offspring of a jackass stud and a
female horse — were considered too ornery and were passed off to
another owner.
Jenny went to Pittsfield to live
with Joe Varricchio and Mary Gaeta. Isabella went to Lever, who
found a home for her in Acworth, N.H.
As a last resort, Lever said she's
thinking of putting Isabella in a trailer and bringing her to
Pittsfield in hopes of luring Jenny back into the corral.
Lever believes Jenny and Isabella,
who were likely lifelong companions and probably even sisters, have
been heartbroken since the auction. "These animals bond and
they become such close friends," Lever said.
Newfound
fame for fat cat who got stuck in doggie door
Associated Press
, Feb. 14, 2007 10:23 AM
PORTLAND, Ore. - Hercules, the fat cat
who became famous after getting stuck in a doggie door while
plundering another pet's food, has found his rotund self heading for
the big-time.
A video of Hercules stuck in the
door became a Web sensation. Martha Stewart Living will feature him
in an upcoming issue in an article about how to help pets lose
weight, which Hercules has done, sort of.
He may become spokescat for a
low-cal cat food and a Canadian admirer has made a belated try to
buy Hercules' sperm for breeding purposes. Unhappily, Hercules went
to the vet some time back.
But Hercules seems happiest with his
owner, Geoff Earnest, who had given him up for lost.
"I think he's one of the best
things that's ever happened to me," Earnest said. "He's
like a brother to me. I just love him to death."
He was Earnest's constant companion for
four years.
But Earnest, 31, has cystic fibrosis,
and in June flew to Seattle for a rare but lifesaving double-lung
transplant.
A housesitter watched Hercules,
but the cat disappeared and Earnest assumed his beloved pet was
dead.
But Hercules was doing just fine,
sneaking into a stranger's garage, pigging out on pet food and
leaving through a doggie door until the day he got stuck — and was
videotaped.
He landed at the Oregon Humane
Society, which alerted reporters and Hercules leaped, sort of, to
stardom.
In January Earnest saw Hercules on
television.
These days, Earnest speaks often
to schools and community groups and sometimes the cat tags along.
Earnest, who was told at 29 that
he would die without a lung transplant, talks of his experience and
encourages others to become donors.
And Hercules always gets a plug
because he and the cat, he says, have something in common. "He
came back from the dead like I did," he said.
Earnest walks Hercules for
exercise every morning. Hercules has dropped about a pound but still
weighs 19.6 pounds.
His veterinarian, Dr. Joshua
Horner, says the cat could stand to drop three or four more.
But to Earnest, he's fine the way he is.
"He's just a big, big cat," he
said. "I don't want to see him get any smaller."
Crying'
dog alerts couple to house fire
Associated Press
, Feb. 13, 2007 07:43 AM
KENTON, Ohio - Someone's getting some
extra kibble. A man in western Ohio said the family dog likely saved
him and his fiancee from a weekend fire at their home.
The dog, named Katie Bell, was
sleeping near the couple after they went to bed in an upstairs room.
She woke them around 4 a.m. Sunday by whining and acting restless,
said Greg Weaver.
When Weaver tried to let the dog out of
the bedroom, she tried to stop him by blocking the doorway, Weaver
said. When he did open the door, he was greeted by black smoke.
Weaver and Misty Parker escaped the fire
by climbing out a window and jumping into the bed of Weaver's pickup
truck below, he said.
"We lost a lot of things that are
unreplacable," Weaver said. "But if it weren't for Katie
crying, we wouldn't have woken up."
Kenton Fire Chief Russ Blue said
the fire started on the first floor, where an extension cord was
plugged into a space heater
Cat
survives after being frozen in trough
Associated Press
, Feb. 12, 2007 10:20 AM
LOSANTVILLE, Ind. - A cat found
half-frozen in a water trough is recovering, but may lose his tail.
Melissa Jones said she found the
cat last week when she stepped onto her porch for a cigarette. His
tail and hind legs were stuck in about three inches of ice. She and
her husband used buckets of hot water to free him.
"His little ears are droopy
and purple and so are his little feet," Jones said, adding that
his new nickname is "Droopy."
In the morning, she took the
seven-month-old yellow and white tiger cat to a veterinarian, where
he was given an antibiotic. The vet recommended a regimen of warm
water and foot and tail massages to help its circulation, but still
may lose its tail.
Jones says the family will probably keep
the cat indoors from now on.
Woman,
bear face off at kitchen window
Associated Press
, Feb. 12, 2007 08:16 AM
MAPLEWOOD, N.J. - The last thing
Lorraine Grossman expected to see as she gazed out the kitchen
window of her daughter's home was a 211-pound bear.
"I was making a pot of
coffee, and I turned around and there he was in the window looking
at me," said Grossman. "For a minute I didn't realize
there was a glass between him and me."
The scream Grossman let out was
loud enough to startle the wandering bear, who turned tail and
scurried some 40 feet up a tree.
More than 50 neighbors gathered to watch
and the beast soon grew tired. As the bear gave a lazy yawn, the
crowd cooed loudly in appreciation.
"He's really kind of
cute," said Joanne Penaluna.
The bear remained wedged in a web
of branches until it was shot with a tranquilizer dart Sunday. The
bear hung on for 10 minutes before dropping neatly into a taut net
set up below.
The bear, a male estimated to be 2
or 3 years old, was released at a state wildlife-management area.
"It's not something you get
to see every day," said Pete Samek, who hoisted his 5-year-old
daughter, Lucy Rose, on his shoulders. "Bears falling out of
trees."
Snorkeler
shot after being mistaken for rodent
Associated Press
, Feb. 9, 2007 10:26 AM
REEDSPORT, Ore. - A man accused of
shooting a snorkeler in the head has told investigators that he
mistook the swimmer for a water-dwelling rodent.
According to a sheriff's
spokesman, William Roderick told detectives he saw what he thought
was a nutria swimming in the Smith River, so he grabbed a rifle and
shot at it from a deck overlooking the water.
After realizing that it wasnot a
nutria, Roderick helped pulled the victim from the water. Roderick
was arraigned Thursday on assault and other charges.
The snorkeler is in serious
condition at a hospital in Portland.
Pit
bull swallows woman's ring
Associated Press
, Feb. 9, 2007 08:12 AM
RAISINVILLE TOWNSHIP, Mich. - Tina
Burlett thought someone broke into her house and stole her custom
made, $5,000 wedding ring, so she called the police. But Burlett's
grandmother had a different suspect in mind: the family pooch.
X-rays proved the grandmother
right. The valuable bauble was inside the belly of Burlett's pit
bull, Missy, who has a taste for diamonds.
"I couldn't believe it,"
Burlett told The Monroe Evening News for a story Thursday. "I
didn't think so at the time, but it's funny now."
Missy had previously been caught gnawing
on VCRs, electric blankets and even Burlett's diamond earring.
Dr. Linda Fung of the Country
Creek Animal Hospital said she was not surprised to learn that Missy
swallowed jewelry.
"I did have a dog eat a watch
once," Fung said. "Animals swallow a lot of stuff. It's
not an unusual thing. We just made her throw it up."
Fung gave Missy some peroxide and
the ring came out intact.
Chihuaha
OK after burglars put her in freezer
Gideon Rubin
, Los Angeles Daily News
, Feb. 2, 2007 10:28 AM
LANCASTER, Calif. - Roxy was still
shivering Thursday -- the tiny Chihuahua was OK, but the day before
had spent hours in a freezer, dumped there by burglars annoyed by
her barking as they rifled her family's Lancaster home.
The 2-year-old dog stayed close to
her mistress, Kimberly Holzer, whose own tears streamed down her
face.
"I know why they did
it," Holzer said. "They probably just wanted to shut her
up, but it boggles my mind that they would throw an animal into a
freezer."
"It was just really cruel."
A team of five burglars broke into
Holzer's house Wednesday morning while she was at work. A neighbor
saw youths jumping the fence, called the Lancaster sheriff's
station, and five suspects were arrested a short time later.
Holzer, who is pregnant with twins
and whose Air Force husband is stationed in Afghanistan, was
notified at work and asked her mother to check on Roxy.
"That was my main
concern," Holzer said.
Sheriff's deputies searched the
home exhaustively and were about to leave, having assumed Roxy had
run away. Then, on a whim, Deputy Melissa Sullivan checked the large
freezer next to the living room and found the frigid Chihuahua,
barely alive.
"I don't know why I decided
to open it," Sullivan said. "I really didn't think people
could be so cruel. It was disgusting."
Roxy immediately was taken to a
veterinarian, who gave her a clean bill of health.
Five suspects -- Devean Irvin, 20,
and four juveniles, all from Lancaster -- were arrested at the house
or nearby, deputies said. They were booked on suspicion of animal
cruelty, burglary and receiving stolen property.
Thousands of dollars worth of items had
been taken from the house, most of it recovered at a house a block
away.
Holzer said Roxy remained traumatized,
noting that the normally independent dog follows her wherever she
goes and is fearful of strangers.
"I don't even know what to
say at this point," Holzer said. "Everything in my house,
whatever's damaged, whatever's lost, is stupid replaceable stuff,
but she's not."
Elderly
woman dies trying to save cats from fire
Associated Press
, Feb. 2, 2007 10:28 AM
TEXAS CITY, Texas - Friends say a Texas
woman was devoted to her seven cats -- and she died trying to rescue
them from her burning house.
Firefighters found the body of
77-year-old Mary Lou Henry in a hallway in her Texas City home. She
was still holding one of her cats. That cat and another also died in
the fire early Thursday.
Medics administered oxygen to two
other cats, who are now at a veterinary clinic. A fifth cat has been
taken in by family members, and two other cats are missing.
The fire marshal says the fire was
probably started when one of the cats knocked over a candle in the
living room and it fell on a stack of papers and magazines.
Suspect
bites dog, but dog wins fight
Associated Press
, Feb. 8, 2007 10:25 AM
WELLINGTON, New Zealand - Man bites dog;
dog bites back. That was the sequence when Alsatian police dog Edge
cornered two suspects on a cliff side after a grocery store robbery
in Napier, New Zealand, police said on Thursday.
One of the suspects leaped down the
slope and landed almost directly into the hands of police officers
waiting at the bottom. The other suspect, who was armed with a knife
took on Edge, and bit the dog in the struggle.
"He bit the dog first,"
Detective Sergeant John McGregor told the Associated Press.
Edge was unfazed, sinking his teeth into
his attacker.
"The dog did win the fight, the
offender ended up with one or two lacerations," McGregor said.
"I think he knew he was going to get bitten — so he bit the
dog first."
Two men were arrested and appeared
in Napier District Court Wednesday charged with aggravated robbery
for the attack on the grocery store on Tuesday, during which the
owner was stabbed. They were ordered to remain in police custody
until Feb. 21.
In June 2006 Edge underwent
emergency surgery after an offender stabbed him in the chest with a
hunting knife. After surgery and a blood transfusion, the dog made a
complete recovery.
Napier is a coastal city 125 miles
north of the capital, Wellington.
Man
arrested for beating dog, stuffing it in suitcase
Lindsey Collom
, The Arizona Republic
, Feb. 7, 2007 06:45 PM
A Phoenix man was in a Maricopa County
jail Wednesday after witnesses told police he beat a dog and put it
in a suitcase.
Gerald Getz, 41, was arrested on
suspicion of cruelty to animals and possession of marijuana and drug
paraphernalia. He is being held on an $1,800 bond.
The victim, a 2 ½ year old
Dachshund mix named Rosie, was in stable condition Wednesday at the
Arizona Humane Society's Second Chance Animal Hospital.
According to a police report, several
employees of Kohl's department store at 19th Avenue and Bell Road
heard a dog's cries outside the store about 10:30 p.m. Tuesday. They
searched the parking lot and found the source near the street, where
they saw a man repeatedly punch a Dachshund mix in the head and
throw it to the ground several times, the report said.
The man put the dog in a suitcase after
it went limp. When one of the witnesses confronted the man, he
"started getting aggressive and made profanities," the
report said.
Officers found Getz several blocks away:
He matched the suspect's description and was holding the leash of a
bleeding, cowering dog. Police said he was also holding a suitcase
containing marijuana and various drug-related items.
Getz admitted to hitting the dog as
punishment for trying to bite him, according to officer accounts.
Rosie has abdominal bruising, and
veterinarians worry she could have internal injuries. She will
remain in the care of the Arizona Humane Society pending the outcome
of the case.
"Although we are outraged when such
a deliberate crime is committed against an innocent animal, we
applaud the efforts of the Phoenix Police Department for treating
animal cruelty as the serious, heinous crime that it is,"
Cheryl Naumann, humane society president, said in a released
statement. "Animal cruelty is not a joke and should never be
ignored. It is a gateway crime that often leads to even greater and
more violent offenses against human beings.
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