Port St. Lucie, Florida - Officers Caught a 12-Foot Python Friday that Neighbors Said Had Been Eating the Area's Cats

Officers caught a 12-foot python Friday that neighbors said had been eating the area's cats.

Sgt. John Holman arrived on the scene at about 7:20 a.m. and found a dead cat in an empty lot, police said. Holman walked through waist-high brush and spotted a Burmese python.

Holman called for backup officers to help him get the snake, which weighed about 120 pounds, out of the brush.

Holman, who recognized that this python was banned in Florida, found someone with a Florida Fish and Wildlife license to house the snake.

Pythons are an invasive species in Florida, where researchers think they are eating their way through populations of native mammals in the Everglades.

Florida now prohibits owning or selling pythons for use as pets, and federal law bans importation and interstate sale of the species.

Did You Know That The Vast Majority of Calico Cats Are Female?, And That Calico is A Color and Not a Breed?

Many people are surprised to hear that the vast majority of calico cats are female. Why is this? Is it possible for a calico cat to ever be male?

First off, what is a calico cat? A calico cat is not a breed of cat, it is a color pattern. To be called "calico", three colors must be present: black, white and orange. Variations of these colors include gray, cream and ginger. A "true" calico cat has large blocks of these three colors, a "tortoise shell" or "tortie" cat has a mix of these three colors (blended/swirled together more than distinct blocks of color).

Now that a calico cat has been defined as a cat with three colors, the question is: why are they nearly always female? The answer is in genetics. Coat color in cats is a sex-linked trait, a physical characteristic (coat color) related to gender. Female animals have two X chromosomes (XX), males have one X chromosome and one Y chromosome (XY). The genetic coding for displaying black or orange color is found on the X chromosome. The coding for white is a completely separate gene.

Since females have two X chromosomes, they are able to "display" two colors (orange and black, or variations thereof) and white; creating the 3-color calico mix. Since males have only one X chromosome, they can only be orange OR black. It is more complicated than simply having the color genes -- it is a complex process of dominant and non-dominate genes interacting on the X chromosomes, but that is the basis for coat color in calico cats.

Can a calico cat ever be male? Yes, in rare instances. In this situation, the cat has two X chromosomes and one Y chromosome (XXY). Cats with this chromosomal configuration are usually sterile (not able to breed). This is similar to a condition in humans called Klinefelter's syndrome http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klinefelter_syndrome, or XXY Syndrome.

Interesting calico cat fact: on October 1, 2001, the calico cat became the official cat of the state of Maryland in the United States.

The coat pattern of calico cats does not define any breed, but occurs incidentally in cats that express a range of color patterns; accordingly the effect has no definitive historical background. However, the existence of patches in calico cats was traced to a certain degree by Neil Todd in a study determining the migration of domesticated cats along trade routes in Europe and Northern Africa.[5] The proportion of cats having the orange mutant gene found in calicoes was traced to the port cities along the Mediterranean in Greece, France, Spain and Italy, originating from Egypt.

BarkBuddy - New App that Matches You with Adoptable Dogs in Your Area

Tails are wagging at Bark & Co, as we officially welcome a new paw-duct to the pack. BarkBuddy is the app that matches you with the fluffiest singles in your area.

Some of you may remember the Pup Up Shop adoption events we had in NYC and LA last summer. Our idea was pretty simple: bring cool people to a place where they want to hang out, insert puppies and the rest would take care of itself.

The crazy thing is that our idea worked. We learned that if we presented these pups in a way that showed their true value we could vastly increase the chance they’d get adopted. We also learned that running adoption events is hard work (lots of pee), so we gained a LOT more respect for of the amazing rescue organizations that spend their lives wrangling pups.

Then we did some math. 80 dogs adopted in four days, that’s 20 dogs a day. So even if we had a Pup Up every day for an entire year we’d only get 7,300 dogs out of shelters. Compare that to the over 2 million in shelters in the US alone and you start to get an idea of the size of the problem these rescues are facing.

So we went back to the drawing board and came up with something completely new. BarkBuddy is an app that turns your puppy-pic browsing obsession into a force for good. Now you can swipe through thousands of adoptable pup profiles in your area and let BarkBuddy play matchmaker.

Once you sniff out a perfect new pack member, BarkBuddy helps you get the tennis ball rolling by easily allowing you to contact rescue organization. Even if you’re not looking for a new buddy you can play matchmaker yourself by sharing adoptable pups with friends and family on Facebook.

Once you sniff out a perfect new pack member, BarkBuddy helps you get the tennis ball rolling by easily allowing you to contact rescue organization. Even if you’re not looking for a new buddy you can play matchmaker yourself by sharing adoptable pups with friends and family on Facebook.

Right now there are over 300,000 adoptable dogs on BarkBuddy and we’ve already had 8 million swipes in the week it’s been live. (!!!) We also want to give a huge and humbled thanks to Apple for choosing BarkBuddy as one of the top new apps. It’s incredible to feel any support when it comes to rescuing pups. So get the app https://itunes.apple.com/US/app/id875026451 and get swiping to save some dogs!

Florida Boy Who Fought Alligator Demands Animal’s Tooth on a Necklace

As Florida Fish and Wildlife officers work to trap an alligator that they believe bit a 9-year-old boy Thursday near St. Cloud's Lakefront Park, the Osceola County Sheriff's Office has released audio from a 911 call made after the attack.

Wildlife officials say they believe they've located the area on East Lake Tohopekaliga where the gator is.

Investigators said James Barney, Jr. was riding his bicycle Thursday afternoon, when he stopped to take a dip in a no-swimming section of the lake.

"I thought someone was playing with me, and I don't know what happened," Barney recalled at a news conference Friday. "I reached down to feel it. I felt its jaw and its teeth. I didn't know what to do. So I immediately reacted and started hitting it. And I had enough strength to pry its jaw open."

Barney said he got the mouth open enough to slide out and then swim away.

Barney was airlifted to the hospital, where he was listed in good condition Friday.

"He's got about 30 different teeth marks of varying different degrees," said James Barney Sr., the boy's father.

Doctors found a tooth in one of the boy's wounds. Barney said he wanted to keep the tooth, but Florida Fish and Wildlife took the tooth to help find the gator.

Fish and Wildlife officials said there have been about two dozen unprovoked alligator attacks across Florida since 2011.

The surrounding area where the boy was bitten has been closed as wildlife officers work to capture the gator believed to be responsible for attacking the 9-year-old, as well as a second gator that also believed to be a threat.

Barney's father said his son swam in the lake often. But asked if he would consider swimming in that lake again, Barney said, "negative."