This is a dog story.
It's about a plucky little Jack Russell terrier named George, who stood like a giant against two marauding pit bulls and gave his own life to save five kids from the steel-trap jaws and razor-sharp teeth of the vicious attack machines.
Local officials say it's also a story about the people who trained the pit bulls to kill and who may have fed the animals methamphetamines to make them even more deadly.
The tragedy unfolded Sunday afternoon on New Zealand's North Island, in the town of Manaia, where a group of children — and George — were walking back from a trip to the candy store.
Out of nowhere, the children told police, the two pit bulls lunged at them.
One of the kids, Richard Rosewarne, 11, told the local paper that George never backed down against the pit bulls, doggedly refusing to let the them get at his little brother, 4-year-old Darryl.
Originally uploaded by
phx333
Originally uploaded by
mosippy
"Two cats, dressed as humans, holding rope, which doll appears to be skipping." Circa 1914 photograph by Harry Whittier Frees.
More on the strangely unsettling photos of Harry Frees
here and especially
here. He often used his own cats, Rags and Fluff, with costumes sewn by his mother.
Some Texas motorists got an unexpected surprise Sunday morning. A wayward alligator made its way onto Interstate 410.
The seven foot gator took a bite out of a police car bumper before it was cornered in a nearby ditch.
In true Texas fashion the alligator was lassoed and pulled to shore, although the police decided it was better not to brand it.
Game wardens say it's unusual to find an alligator in San Antonio, but the animals do sometimes wander that far north during mating season.
A 10-foot long hammerhead shark washed on Paradise Beach in Brevard County, twice.
The female shark first washed up on the beach overnight. A fisherman saw it was still alive, so he pushed back into the water.
The shark, though, washed onshore again late Monday morning and died.
Fish and Wildlife officials said a beached shark in the Paradise Beach area is highly unusual.
"We don't many shark calls. This is maybe the second one we've gotten in a year. But this is the biggest one I've seen so far," said Thomas Samarco, Florida Fish and Wildlife.
Officials will perform a necropsy to find out how the shark died.
