Bear Found in Greenwich Was Young Female

Stamford Advocate- The black bear that roamed through Chickahominy on Wednesday was probably by itself, as state officials said they don't believe there is a family of black bears in the area.



"Although the bear was young, we think it was old enough that there weren't any other bears," said Dwayne Gardner, a spokesman for the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.



The 155-pound female bear, believed to be around 2 years old, was in a tree behind 58 Spring St., when DEEP officials shot it with a tranquilizer gun about 2:30 p.m. Gardner said a padded landing area was used to prevent injury. The bear was removed and relocated to an undisclosed state forest.



The last time this bear came into contact with a government agency was in October, when New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection officials found it feeding on dead livestock in the northwest part of the state, said Larry Ragonese, the department's press director.



It was discovered in Sandyston, N.J., in Sussex County near the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area and Pennsylvania, south of New York state.



Officials in New Jersey and in Connecticut tag bears when they can for research purposes, Ragonese said.



Bears are hunted in New Jersey, which is not the case in Connecticut.



"We have about 3,500 bears in the state," Ragonese said. "We have the most bears per square mile in the country, and that sometimes surprises people."



There are an estimated 500 bears in Connecticut.



Both Connecticut DEEP spokesman Dennis Schain and Ragonese said environmental officials believe the bear swam across the Hudson River some time in the last eight months.



"Our guys estimate that somewhere along the line the bear did some swimming," Ragonese said.



"Bears, like other animals, walk along the edge of rivers and sometimes they find an area where they can cross," Schain said.



While male bears tend to travel farther than females -- sometimes hundreds of miles away from where they were born -- females have also been known to roam, Ragonese said.



"Bears are looking for food and a place to sleep and a little exercise," he said.



New Jersey-tagged bears also have been found in western Pennsylvania, western New York state and Maryland, Ragonese said.

Newborn Dies in Jacksonville after Being Mauled by Pit Bull Terrier

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- A 3-day-old infant died after being attacked by the family pet pit bull, the state Department of Children and Families said today.

A Jacksonville Sheriff's Office report said the child was bitten by the dog inside a home on Dickson Road in Arlington Sunday night.

Police said when they arrived, a rescue worker was carrying a small baby from the home. The baby, identified as 3-day old Justin Valentin, was transported to a local hospital where he later died of his injuries.

Police said owners had secured the dog inside a cage at the home by the time they arrived.

Today, the infant's mother asked for privacy while the family mourned. DCF is investigating and said the pit bull "went after the infant."

"It was my understanding the parents had put the baby in a room and left it briefly to do something," said Scott Trebatoski, spokesman for Animal Care and Protective Services.

The male dog, named Biggs, was put down yesterday at the request of the owners, he said.

"This dog looked very well cared for. It didn't look abused. It didn't look like there were any outward signs that this dog would have done what it did," said Trebatoski, who added that the dog appeared to be a year and a half old.

"This is an active ongoing investigation," according to a JSO police report.

Mountain Goat Kills Hiker in Olympic National Park

BBC News- Robert Boardman was gored in the leg by the goat while out walking on Saturday with his wife and a friend on Klahhane Ridge in Olympic National Park.

The 63-year-old was transported by US Coast Guard helicopter to a hospital in Port Angeles, where he was pronounced dead.

Rangers later killed the goat, which was known for its aggressive behaviour.

Barb Maynes, park spokeswoman, told the Peninsula Daily News that in the past rangers had tried "hazing" the ram - inducing it to be frightened of people - by shooting it with bean bags and throwing rocks.

But there had been no reports of any incidents which would have warranted killing the goat, she added.

Witnesses said Mr Boardman, his wife and friend had stopped for lunch on Klahhane Ridge when the ram appeared and moved towards them.

Mr Boardman tried to shoo the animal away but it instead attacked him. After goring the hiker the goat stood over him, and had to be pelted with rocks by a ranger before finally moving away.

Some 300 mountain goats live in Olympic National Park. Found only in North America, they usually stand about 3ft (0.9m) at the shoulder and can weigh up to 300lbs (136kg).

Dog Risks Life In Rescue

Dog Walker Trampled to Death by Cows

LONDON, England (CNN) -- A woman was trampled to death by cows while walking her dogs in northern England, police said Monday.

The 49-year-old died at the scene, said a press officer for North Yorkshire police, where the incident took place on Sunday just after noon local time (7 a.m. ET).

"She had two dogs with her," said the spokeswoman, who declined to be named in line with police policy. They were not on a leash, she added.

"We believe the cows may have gotten protective of their calves," she said.

The woman was alone when she was killed in Gayle, near Hawes in Wensleydale, she said.

Police and the National Farmers' Union both said it was very unusual for people to be killed by cows in Britain.

"There are perhaps a few incidents every year where people are injured by cattle," said Mike Thomas, a spokesman for the union. "People being killed by cattle is quite a rare occurrence."

But he said cows could become aggressive if they felt their calves were being threatened.

"If the dog is getting close to the animal, it's going to react in some kind of aggressive manner," he said.

People who feel threatened by cows while walking dogs should let their animals off the leash in order to put distance between themselves and their pets -- because cows are more likely to see dogs than people as a threat -- and move to the edge of the field, he said.

The average cow weighs about 1,760 pounds (800kg), he said.

Police Arrest Suspect In Cat Killings

PALMETTO BAY, Fla. -- Police have arrested the man they say is responsible for a string of cat killings in South Florida.

Tyler Weinman, 18, lives in the area and is now in police custody, police said. He is charged with 19 counts of animal cruelty, four counts of burglary and 19 counts of improper disposing of an animal body.

"Our communities of Palmetto Bay and Cutler Bay have been on edge for many weeks now because of the horrific and unspeakable slaughterings of many of their beloved feline pets. I sincerely hope that with his arrest, the residents will feel relieved and their cats will be safe once again. It is expected that the vicious crimes that have plagued these communities will not be repeated," said Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle.

"I commend the police officers of the Miami-Dade Police Department and senior trial counsel Michael Von Zamft who worked tirelessly and exhaustively with our law enforcement partners in order to put an end to these acts of cruelty. My heart goes out to the pet owners who have suffered such a great loss," Fernandez Rundle said.

On Sunday night one homeowner told Local 10, "I didn't think it would be somebody in this neighborhood. I never suspected anybody in this area."

On Saturday, Miami-Dade police issued arrest warrants for suspects and said they were working to make arrests in the case.

Circuit Judge Darryl Trawick signed the arrest warrant for Weiman.

Miami-Dade police said that since April, 33 cases involving dead cats have been reported. Eighteen of the cases, which involved a total of 19 dead cats, have been confirmed as animal cruelty, police said. Those cases happened in Palmetto Bay, Cutler Bay and Kendall.

Palmetto Bay officials said police plan to serve warrants to multiple suspects, but they did not say how many.

Palmetto Bay resident Wayne Edwards transformed his backyard into a playground for his cats. He had 17 of the animals, but he is down to 16 after one was found slain and mutilated in a neighbor's front lawn.

"Why come here in this area and kill innocent cats? They are not doing anybody any harm," Edwards said.

More than 150 residents gathered at a town hall meeting Saturday morning to discuss the cat killings.

"This terrible time has drawn us together as a community, further emphasizing the importance of knowing our neighbors, communicating with each other and always staying vigilant to suspicious activities whenever or wherever they may occur in our village," Palmetto Bay Mayor Eugene P. Flinn Jr. said in the news release.

The reward for information leading to an arrest in the case was up to $12,000. The investigation continues.

Pet's Death Linked to Miami's Serial Cat Killer

MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- He was black and white, the perfect gift for the 6-year-old daughter of Donna and Ronald Gleason. His name was Tommy.

The black and white tuxedo cat was one of a dozen pets that have been killed and mutilated recently by someone in the Miami area, police said.

The Gleasons do not want their daughter's name to be revealed. Donna Gleason asked the child to leave the room before telling CNN the gruesome details of what happened to their cat.

"Part of his skin was missing underneath ... and part of his legs," Gleason said. "He was partially skinned."

Miami-Dade County police say Tommy's demise is part of a string of sadistic feline fatalities that have occurred recently in the Cutler Bay and Palmetto Bay areas of southern Miami-Dade County, south of Miami.

Miami-Dade Police spokesman Bobby Williams said two of the cat carcasses were "posed." He said that anyone capable of such cruelty toward and torture of an animal "is disturbed at some sort of level."

The crimes began May 13. A reward of up to $10,000 has been offered for any information leading to an arrest.

Police have been inundated with dozens of phone calls from people who have discovered dead cats throughout the community. Investigators have determined that most of the cases are not related to the string of cat killings. The number, officially at 15, was initially believed to be much higher.

Ronald Gleason found Tommy lying in their yard May 25. At first, he thought his family's pet had been killed by a dog, but a closer look revealed the cruelty behind his death.

Tommy was a gift for the Gleasons' little girl. She desperately wanted a cat, Donna Gleason said. She searched for a cat that could get along with their dog, but none of the shelter cats they brought home was compatible.

"We prayed that we would find a nice cat that liked our dog, and a few days later, he just showed up at our front door," Donna Gleason said. Tommy was adopting them.

The Gleasons put signs up in the neighborhood, and when no one claimed him, they kept Tommy.

"It's disturbing to know that this happened right in front of your house, while you're sleeping inside," Donna Gleason said. "I'm not terrified, but I'm not sleeping as well as I used to."

Others in south Miami-Dade County are telling similar stories. A woman whose Siamese mix cat, Caesar, was killed and mutilated didn't want her name published.

"This person killed my cat. He doesn't need to know anything else about me," she said. "I don't know if it's a gang initiation thing or a satanic ritual thing, but to do what he's doing, he has to be extremely sick."

The month-long cat-killing spree has police concerned.

"We're telling people to be aware where their cats are at. Keep your pets inside," said Williams, the police spokesman.

"If anyone looks or acts suspicious, call police," he added. "Have us come out there and check them out. This could be the missing link we're looking for."

For the Gleasons and 11 other cat owners, it's too late. All they can do is break the news gently to a little girl who always wanted a kitty.

"She loved him and played with him every morning. ... She just misses him," Donna Gleason said.

"We told her that Tommy was killed by an animal," she said.

Then she added, "Well, an animal did kill him."

Teenager Thomas Fletcher Sentenced for Dog Sex

GR.co.uk- A former Reading teenager has escaped jail after having sex with a dog.

Nineteen-year-old Thomas Fletcher sexually abused Rosie the sheepdog who belonged to his foster carers.

His sick act was recorded on a voice-activated dictaphone during the incident at the house in Eton Wick in March, last year, when his foster mother became suspicious of why her two dogs were acting as if they were frightened of Fletcher.

Retriever collie cross Ralph was forced to watch as Fletcher struck after breaking into the locked bedroom.

The disturbed youth maintained his innocence but was unanimously convicted of two acts of bestiality after a trial in March this year.

He faced sentence this morning.

Suzanne Francis, defending, said her client’s actions was due to a huge testosterone surge following years of anorexia.

She said: “Mr Fletcher was in hospital for more than three years suffering from the eating disorder after witnessing an incident that led to the separation of his parents which I will not go into in court.

“He was incredibly close to death at one point weighing only three-and-a-half stone but almost 5ft tall and was discharged shortly before the incident took place.

“His doctor has explained it to me like a Russian gymnast who after years of training suddenly stops and goes through an intensely quick puberty leading to a huge testosterone surge.”

Fletcher had been predicted a B and two Cs in his A-levels at Henley College before he was advised to leave.

Following his conviction he was advised to leave Reading YMCA where he was staying and Henley College for his own safety. He is now living in Gloucester.

Alexander Mills, prosecuting, also advised Fletcher is banned from owning, keeping or working with dogs.

Sentencing, Judge Charles Elly said: “You were convicted by a jury of two counts of sexual intercourse with an animal.

“Both took place one afternoon on March 19, last year, when you were left alone in the home by Mr and Mrs Sharp.

“The dogs had been locked in the bedroom due to the concerns the couple had with your behaviour and a digital audio recorder was left on.

“Although there were two dogs in the room, the offences committed were only on Rosie.

“Your actions have destroyed an opportunity that was given to you.”

Fletcher, who the court heard had also tried to commit suicide by slashing his neck, warned he would kill himself if he were imprisoned.

He was given a two-year supervision order with a 60-day education and training activity requirement and an ASBO preventing him from owning, keeping or working with dogs.

Unruly Dog Drags Owner To Tragic Train Death

SO sad..

HAYWARD, Calif. -- A woman was struck and killed by a Capital Corridor train in Hayward when the dog she was walking dragged her onto the tracks and into the path of the oncoming locomotive, according to authorities.

The fatal accident took place just hours after a pedestrian died from being struck by an Amtrak train in Berkeley.

According to Alameda County Sheriff’s Department Sgt. J.D. Nelson, at about 2:15 p.m. two people with a dog were attempting to cross the tracks ahead of an approaching train just north of the Hayward Station near the intersection of West Blossom Way and Meekland Avenue.

"The crossing guards were down. The gentleman was able to make it through," Nelson explained. "She tried to stop, realizing she probably couldn’t make it and the dog dragged itself and her into the train."

Amtrak's Capitol Corridor train No. 535, bound for San Jose, was likely traveling at approximately 70 miles per hour when it struck and instantly killed both the woman and the dog, a pit bull.

Nelson said the woman, in her early-to-mid 30s, was unable to simply let the dog go because of how she had the leash wrapped around her hand.

A number of distraught family members were on the scene of the crash early Thursday evening. Family members identified the woman as 31-year-old Vida Silver. Relatives told KTVU Silver and the 100-pound pit bull named Mama were inseperable.

"Her dog was her baby. Everywhere she went, the dog went," said Silver's cousin Tonya Neves. "The dog was always there."

Hawaii Fish Coughs Up Gold Watch

ELEELE, Hawaii - Hawaii resident Curt Carish boasts a timely fish tale: a 10-inch reef fish he caught by hand in shallow water coughed up a ticking gold watch.

Carish says he was enjoying a picnic Wednesday on Port Allen beach when he saw the nenue fish awkwardly swimming close to shore.

He says a friend gave him a bamboo stick and told him to get the fish. So he jumped into the waist-high water and hit the nenue until it went limp.

He noticed the fish had an abnormally large belly as he tossed it into a cooler.

A friend opened the cooler later to discover a gold watch next to the fish's mouth.

Carish says the watch was ticking and keeping correct time.

NFL Roundup Falcons Owner Suggests Vick Could Eventually Play Again

Fuck hiiiim!

Instead of letting him play again and get paid his millions, they should do it Gladiator-style and make him play himself to death like the dogs that he had kill eachother..

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Arthur Blank, the owner of the Atlanta Falcons, suggested on Wednesday that his team’s former star quarterback, Michael Vick, deserved a chance to play in the N.F.L. again — eventually.

Vick left a federal prison Wednesday to head to Virginia for two months of home confinement. He has missed two seasons because of his role in a dogfighting ring.

“There is no question Michael has paid his debt to society,” Blank said. “But the commissioner has to decide if Michael has not only personal remorse, but has conducted himself not only personally but who he is associating with in a way that is going to allow him to be a player in the N.F.L. and represent our league well.”

He added: “Clearly based on what happened over a number of years, a lot of issues were related to acts he has to take responsibility for, and I believe he has. But what contributed a great deal is people Michael spent time with and the influence they had on him. His ability to separate those people who can be helpful and those who have another agenda — that’s going to be very critical for Michael now.

“You are what you eat? To some extent, you are who you hang with, too.” (rest of article)

Chizzin To Some Phat Beats

When I get bored on MS Paint..

Dance, Bird, Dance!

(CNN) -- A head-banging parrot who became a YouTube sensation has demonstrated that an ability to appreciate music and keep a rhythm is not unique to humans, scientists say.

Snowball the cockatoo, who appears to bop his head, tap his claws and squawk enthusiastically to the Back Street Boys' "Everybody" is one of several birds apparently capable of dancing to a beat, according to two studies published in the latest edition of the journal Current Biology.

In a study lead by Adena Schachner of Harvard University, researchers examined more than 1,000 YouTube videos of dancing animals and found 14 types of parrot species and one elephant genuinely capable of keeping time.

The video of Snowball has been viewed more than two million times since it was posted in 2007. Another video of Snowball shows him dancing to Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust."

Schachner analyzed the videos frame-by-frame, comparing the animals' movements with the speed of the music and the alignment of individual beats. The group also studied another bird, Alex, an African grey parrot, which had exhibited similar abilities to Snowball, nodding its head appreciatively to a series of drum tracks.

"Our analyses showed that these birds' movements were more lined up with the musical beat than we'd expect by chance," says Schachner. "We found strong evidence that they were synchronizing with the beat, something that has not been seen before in other species."

Aniruddh Patel of The Neurosciences Institute in San Diego, who led another study of Snowball's performance, said that the bird had demonstrated an ability to adjust the tempo of his dancing to stay synchronized to the beat.

Scientists had previously thought that "moving to a musical beat might be a uniquely human ability because animals are not commonly seen moving rhythmically in the wild," Patel said.

Schachner said there was no evidence to suggest that animals such as apes, dogs or cats could recognize music, despite their extensive experience of humans.

That leads researchers to believe that an ability to process musical sounds may be linked to an ability to mimic sounds -- something that each of the parrots studied by researchers was able to do excellently, she said.

Other "vocal-learning species" include dolphins, elephants, seals and walruses.

"A natural question about these results is whether they generalize to other parrots, or more broadly, to other vocal-learning species," Schachner said.

Researchers believe a possible link between vocal mimicry and an ability to hear music may explain the development of music in human societies.

"The question of why music is found in every known human culture is a longstanding puzzle. Many argue that it is an adaptive behaviour that helped our species to evolve. But equally plausible is the possibility that it emerged as a by-product of other abilities -- such as vocal learning," music psychologist Lauren Stewart of Goldsmiths, University of London told CNN.

"Parrots and humans both have the ability to imitate sounds that they hear, unlike our closer simian relatives. Once a species has the neural machinery in place for coupling the perception and production of vocal sounds, it may be only a small step to use the same circuits for synchronizing movements to a beat."

Egyptian Farmers Protest Mandatory Swine Slaughter

AS THEY SHOULD!!

(CNN) -- Pig farmers threw rocks at police officers in Cairo, Egypt, on Sunday as health workers gathered the farmers' herds for slaughter in what the government says is a precaution against the spread of swine flu, an interior ministry official told CNN.

Brig. Gen. Hani Abdel-Latif said 50 to 60 protesters gathered in Cairo's Manshiyet Naser slum because they were upset with the health ministry's decision to slaughter all pigs in the country.

But local media reported the number of farmers clashing with police on Sunday was in the hundreds.

Experts have criticized the Egyptian government's move, announced last week, to slaughter all pigs regardless of whether they are infected.

There have been no confirmed cases of the virus in Egypt.

And according to the U.S.-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, humans cannot get the swine flu virus, known to scientists as the H1N1 virus, by eating pork. The CDC says human infection from pigs most likely occurs when people are in close proximity to sick animals, such as in pig barns.

But Egyptian officials cite how avian flu still exists in the country because, they say, the government did not take sufficient protective measures when that disease was first discovered there in 2006.

Most Egyptian pig farmers are Coptic Christians, a group that makes up about 10 percent of the 80 million people in the mostly Muslim nation. Coptic Christians do not observe the Muslim ban on eating pork, and historically they have coexisted peacefully with the Muslim majority in Egypt.

The farmers also work in the garbage industry and use their daily collections to feed their herds, which number about 300,000 animals in the country.

With the government-mandated slaughter under way, Egypt's Health Ministry declared Saturday that "Egypt is free of the swine flu."

Dr. Hamid Samaha, head of the country's Public Institute for Veterinary Services, said that starting Sunday the government will compensate pig farmers by paying as much as $45 for a disease-free pig and about $5 for diseased ones.

The health ministry told CNN its workers are freezing all the disease-free meat and plan to give it back to its owners once the ban on pigs is lifted. But according to Egypt's state-run al-Akhbar newspaper, ministry sources said the country does not have enough facilities to store the frozen meat. Ministry spokesman Dr. Abdel-Rahman Shaheen said the government will open two new slaughterhouses in two provinces near Cairo, al-Alioubiya and al-Giza.

Shaheen also announced Saturday that the ministry has enlisted 100 additional doctors and nurses to help in health quarantines at Cairo Airport, where travelers are being questioned if they have been to Mexico recently. And more are expected to be hired to help at Alexandra's main seaport, where the government declared a state of emergency last week.

Poor Horsies..

Breaking News on this:

Pharmacy says it wrongly prepped horse meds

A veterinary pharmacy in Florida acknowledged today that it incorrectly prepared medication used to treat 21 horses who all died around the time of an international polo match last weekend. The deaths of the ponies was witnessed in full view by spectators Sunday in a dramatic scene where horses collapsed one after another. developing story

This Day In History

Apr 20 1889
In Braunau, Austria, Klara Hitler gives birth to a bouncing baby boy named Adolf.

Apr 20 1979
President Jimmy Carter is attacked by a Killer Swamp Rabbit, while on vacation in Plains GA. The rabbit swam menacingly towards him, and he had to repel the ferocious creature with a paddle. There were no injuries. Press Secretary Jody Powell leaked the story to the press, and the White House had a lot of explaining to do.

Apr 20 1992
Alone in his apartment watching TV, British comedic legend Benny Hill suffers a fatal heart attack. His body goes undiscovered for four days.

Apr 20 1999
After their homemade timebombs fail to detonate in the school cafeteria, the heavily-armed duo of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold decide to prowl through Columbine High School, indiscriminately gunning down classmates. A total of 15 are killed in their shooting spree. Contrary to news reports, their selection of victims is apparently random; they aren't hunting for jocks or blacks. Nor do they execute that Christian girl -- Valeen Schnurr in fact manages to crawl away and live to tell her story. They are not goths, they aren't gay, nor were they ever members of that dorky clique calling themselves the "Trenchcoat Mafia." They don't even listen to Marilyn Manson. Harris and Klebold are just a couple of extremely pissed-off kids with an arsenal.

That'll Do, Pig..That'll Do.

Weeeeeee!!

A pig jumps through the air at the Pig Racing and Diving show in Sydney, Australia, April 10.
Lol, looks like urine's kinda coming out of him, but that's a reflection off of someone in the audience's body, haha!

Woman Finds $10,000 Tiger Head

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You Want Something, You Just Take It.

Sneezing Panda

This one's dedicated to Christopher.