COLUMBIA, S.C. — Authorities have charged a South Carolina woman with felony animal cruelty, saying she hanged her nephew's pit bull from a tree with an electrical cord and burned its body because the dog chewed on her Bible.
Animal control officers said Monday that 65-year-old Miriam Smith told them she killed a female dog named Diamond because it was a "devil dog" and she worried it could harm neighborhood children.
Source
Colombian police say they have captured a carrier pigeon that was being used to smuggle drugs into a prison.
The bird was trying to fly into a jail in the north-eastern city of Bucaramanga with marijuana and cocaine paste strapped to its back, but did not make it.
Police believe the 45g (1.6oz) drug package was too heavy for it.
Police, who believe the bird was trained by inmates, say they've caught other pigeons attempting to carry phone cards into the jail.
Source
A Middletown, Ohio, court has sentenced a woman to a month in jail after she admitted to chasing children and blocking traffic while dressed as a cow.
Michele Allen, 32, pleaded guilty to one count of disorderly conduct after police said she dressed as a cow Saturday night and chased children after urinating on a neighbor's porch.
Allen was ordered by an officer to go home and remain there for the evening, but later in the evening authorities received a call that a woman in a cow costume was blocking traffic. Police said she had alcohol on her breath when an officer arrived and she shouted and swore at the officer.
She was sentenced to one month in the Middletown Jail.
Source:
700wlw(via
Boing Boing)
Investigators in Utah say a large black bear raided a clandestine marijuana growing operation so often that it chased the grower away.
Deputies found food containers ripped apart and strewn everywhere, cans with bear teeth marks, claw marks and bear prints across the Garfield County camp on Tuesday.
They also found 4,000 "starter" sacks of pot and 888 young plants.
Source:
AP
Texas death row inmate Gene Hathorn, who was convicted of killing his father, step-mother and half brother in 1984, has agreed to give his body to Danish based artist Marco Evaristti, for use in an art installation. Mr. Evaristti plans to freeze Mr. Hathorn's body and then turn it into fish food.
Visitors to the as yet unnamed venue would then be able to feed Mr. Hathorn's remains to hundreds of goldfish in a giant aquarium.
This isn't the first somewhat unusual project for Mr. Evaristti. In 2000 he placed goldfish in an electric blender at a Danish art museum, giving visitors the option of turning the machine on and killing the fish. Last year, he also held a dinner party where the main course consisted of meatballs partly made with fat removed from his own body by liposuction.
Source:
Dallas News
The fight over a tiny purebred Yorkie is brewing in the Bronx.
One family, which lost the dog, says another family wrongfully changed her micro-chip registration, and refuses to return her home.
Kylea Lester says it should be an open and shut case: a family dog lost in June, and then found by a total stranger in a Laundromat, all on video.
"That's my dog," Lester said.
But a street encounter with that stranger a few weeks ago led to a confrontation, which then led to harassment, petty larceny, and other charges being filed against Kylea.
The Lesters have Ivy's original AKC papers, vet bills, and a matching serial number to a microchip implanted in the dog's neck. But records show a woman identified as Deneen Williams now has her name on Ivy's chip registration.
The Bronx DA's office, which is moving forward with its criminal case against Kylea, says its investigation is ongoing.
Source:
wcbstv.com
David Henton, 72, who had been charged with murdering his partner after police recorded him apparently confessing to his cats was cleared yesterday by a jury that decided his comments were the ramblings of an old man.
During a seven-week trial, the prosecution played hours of secret and largely inaudible recordings of Henton muttering to himself and the cats.
Source:
Times onLine
Police in Scotland have set up a Web site to allow the public to meet their newest, and cutest, recruit as he learns how to sniff out criminals.
He's a six-week-old German Shepherd puppy and he is so new to the Force he doesn't even have a name yet!
One of a litter of seven pups bred especially for police work by Lothian and Borders Police, you can follow our new recruit's progress over the coming months on
this special diary page.
Source:
Yahoo News
Would you give up your car for this dog?
Latasha Armendariz used her customized 1996 Ford Mustang to ransom Pork Chop her kidnapped 2-year-old English bulldog.
Dallas police say a homeowner today fatally shot an intruder after his parrot alerted him that someone was on the property.
Dennis Baker, who keeps several pet birds, said his Mexican Red-headed parrot "Salvador" said "hello" when he sees someone.
As a man passed by a window at his home, Salvador began saying "Hello, hello," awaking Baker.
Baker approached 46-year-old John Woodson in a detached garage -- and shot him.
Woodson died at a hospital.
A 20-year-old man and 18-year-old woman are accused of stealing a tiny baby marmoset from the Zoo of Acadiana, LA.
Neither said why they took the tiny animal, which was still nursing and weighs less than an egg.
The monkey has been reunited with its mother.
More than 50 pit bulls seized from Michael Vick's property face a deadline today to be claimed. If no one comes forward, they could be euthanized.
Federal prosecutors filed court documents last month to condemn 53 pit bulls seized in April as part of the investigation into dogfighting on the Vick's property. No one has claimed any of the dogs, which are being held at several unspecified shelters in eastern Virginia, the U.S. Attorney's office said Wednesday.
"These dogs are a ticking time bomb," said Daphna Nachminovitch, a spokeswoman for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. "Rehabilitating fighting dogs is not in the cards. It's widely accepted that euthanasia is the most humane thing for them."
Photo credit: Newport News Daily Press photo by Joe Fudge / May 22, 2007
Michael Vick has agreed to plead guilty to the federal dogfighting charges against him under a deal reached today between his attorneys and prosecutors, his lawyer said.
Vick was charged with helping to operate a dogfighting ring based at a property owned by him in southeastern Virginia. He had been scheduled to go on trial Nov. 26.
State charges against Vick remain possible, and a source said that this deal with federal prosecutors does not address the issue of state charges.
The federal indictment of Vick portrayed him as an active member of the dogfighting operation who attended and even traveled to dogfights, paid bets for losing fights and participated in the killing of dogs that didn't perform well.
Martha Stewart's favorite animal-care expert was crying fowl yesterday after burglars broke into his Long Island pet store and stole 45 high-priced parrots.
The thieves raided Parrots of the World in Rockville Centre sometime between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m., police said.
They made off with a variety of pricey parrots - including African Greys, cockatoos and Amazons - valued at roughly $60,000.
THOUSANDS of rich women were conned by a firm into believing LAMBS were valuable miniature POODLES.
Entire flocks were imported to Japan from the UK and Australia then sold by the internet company as the latest “must have” pet.
The bizarre scam was rumbled when Japanese movie star Maiko Kawakami complained on a talk show that her new poodle refused to bark or eat dog food.
She showed photos of the animal and was devastated when told that it was a lamb.
Hundreds of women contacted police to say that they had also been sold lambs instead of pedigree pups by the tricksters based in Sapporo, Japan.
(
photo credit)
Too bizarre to be true?
Yes!
Lucky and Flo are touted as the latest weapons in the fight against movie piracy. They were trained after a study in 2004 determined that dogs could be used to detect polycarbonate and other chemicals used in optical discs. Neil Powell, a trainer in Northern Ireland known for training dogs to sniff bombs and other devices, trained the two animals.
They are believed to be the first DVD-sniffing dogs in the world.
Lucky and Flo, the Motion Picture Association's DVD-sniffing black Labrador retrievers, led investigators to an estimated 100,000 pirated movie and computer games DVDs hidden in secret storage compartments in shops and a warehouse in Malaysia last week.
The canine duo also helped Philippines law enforcement officials seize an estimated 300,000 pirated DVDs from three malls in Manila notorious for the sale of pirated movies and music this week. Among the seizures, which had an estimated street value of $500,000, were a significant number of discs containing child pornography.
Officials say that investigators also seized DVDs containing child pornography in Malaysia. The raids, on 11 retail outlets and a warehouse, took place in the same building where the canine duo, with Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs (MDTCA) and Motion Picture Association (MPA) investigators, discovered and seized an estimated one million pirated optical discs infringing movie and computer games titles on 20 March 2007.
Movie pirates placed bounties on the dogs after a DVD ring was busted last month in the south of the country, according to Malaysian media reports.
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Authorities have charged a South Carolina woman with felony animal cruelty, saying she hanged her nephew's pit bull from a tree with an electrical cord and burned its body because the dog chewed on her Bible.