16 Reasons Why Fostering A Shelter Pet Is Basically The Best Thing In The World

Want to make the world a better place in one easy step? Take home a foster pet from a local shelter or rescue group.

Fostering means bringing in a cat or dog -- or parrot, or baby pig, or any other homeless pet -- with the goal of nurturing them for a while until they can be dispatched to a permanent home with a family who'll love them forever.

To read more on this story, click here: 16 Reasons Why Fostering A Shelter Pet Is Basically The Best Thing In The World

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Cat Found Hanging from Phone Line in D.C., Humane Society Searches for Answers: $5,000 Reward for Information

WASHINGTON (ABC7) — WARNING: The image is graphic and may be disturbing to some viewers.

The Washington Humane Society is offering a reward of $5,000 for anyone who can provide information on a cat found hanging from a phone line in Southeast, D.C.

WHS says law enforcement officers found an adolescent male domestic short-haired gray tabby cat hanging from a phone line on Dec. 9, 2015 across the alley of the 400 block of Newcomb St. SE and the 400 block of Mellon St. SE.

To read more on this story, click here: Cat Found Hanging from Phone Line in D.C., Humane Society Searches for Answers: $5,000Reward for Information

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Elderly Couple Left Bloodied with Scratches and Cuts from Vicious Squirrel Who Has Already Attacked Eight People in a California Neighborhood

A California couple were both hospitalized with deep cuts and scratches after being attacked by a vicious squirrel terrorizing their neighborhood.

Richard Williams, 87, was doing chores in the garage when a squirrel slipped through an open door in his Novato home and pounced on him.

The squirrel clawed and scratched at Williams' head, arm and legs, immediately jumping back on him every time Williams managed to pull him off - and even smashing his glasses.

“He charged me and jumped, and from then on, the battle started,” Williams told CBS San Francisco.

Williams' wife Norma, 83, heard his screams and immediately ran to his aid.

She grabbed a broom and started hitting the squirrel, who then jumped on her and managed to scratch her hands.

Williams was then able to grab the squirrel by the tail and swung him to the garage floor, where he was momentarily stunned before racing out the door.

A neighbor brought the couple to the hospital, where they also received dozens of shots for illnesses such rabies and tetanus, in case the squirrel had them.

This wasn't the squirrel's first strike.

The Marin Humane Society believes the same squirrel has been responsible for attacks on eight people in the past three weeks, according to the San Jose Mercury News.

A Pacific Gas and Electric Company worker was scratched on the head while working in the yard of a home where the squirrel had just attacked a woman inside on November 13.

Just five days later, the squirrel brought chaos to the Pleasant Valley Elementary school when it slipped into a classroom and ran up a teacher's leg before biting her on the shoulder.

The squirrel then ran into another classroom, where it bit a child, according to CBS San Francisco.

A custodian was able to remove the squirrel from the classroom, but it escaped by the time the Marin Humane Society arrived at the school.

Experts believe a single squirrel has been responsible for the attacks because they have occurred in the same general area within the Novato neighborhood.

And officials believe the squirrel's behavior could be tied to humans feeding them, which is illegal in the state of California.

“If a wild animal gets the idea that humans provide food, somehow they get it in their head that all humans provide food,” Alison Hermance of Wildcare told CBS.

Which means they go up to people and when they don't get food, they can become aggressive.”

The Marin Society believes the squirrel may now be dead, as it has not been heard from since the most recent attack on the couple on November 27.

“All of the attacks have been within just a few days of each other,” she said in a statement obtained by the San Jose Mercury News.

“However, since the victim of the last attack indicated he injured the squirrel and there have not been any more attacks since, it's quite possible the squirrel has died.”

Richard Williams, 87, (pictured) and his wife Norma, 83, were left hospitalized with bloody scratches and cuts after a vicious squirrel terrorizing their Novato, Callifornia neighborhood attacked.

Williams was doing chores in the garage when a squirrel slipped through an open door in his Novato door and immediately pounced.

The vicious squirrel clawed and scratched at Williams' head, arm and legs and smashed his glasses. When Norma heard his screams she ran to her husband's aide and hit the squirrel with a broom.

The squirrel then jumped on Norma and managed to scratch her hand (pictured).

The Marin Humane Society believes the same squirrel has been responsible for attacks on eight people in the past three weeks.

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Missouri Police Chief Resigns After Shooting Dog Because He Had a High-Priority Call and Couldn’t Figure Out What to Do With Him

A Missouri police chief caught a loose dog, caged him, and then shot him because he had a high-priority call and couldn’t figure out what to do with him in the meantime.  He was placed on leave during the course of the investigation into the incident, and has now resigned.

“I want justice.  I don’t think he deserves his place,” Elizabeth Womack told KSPR.  “If he can’t even do what’s right with an animal, would he do what’s right with a human being?”

Chase was adopted by the Womack family in Springfield, Missouri in March.  As a rescue, he was thoroughly tested for temperament, and was not aggressive.  The pit bull/Lab mix got along famously with the Womacks’ baby boy.“He was around our new born baby from the day we adopted him.

He was a playful and loving puppy who wanted to do nothing but play and cuddle,” it says on a Facebook post.  “He played with our son and watched over him. They were like brothers, which was the reason we got him.”

 Chase escaped from their yard on November 10th, and Sparta Police Chief Andrew Spencer says he received two calls about an aggressive dog on the loose.

“The only reason our dog would charge at anybody would be to play,” Elizabeth said.  “He was just such a playful little pup. He had no aggression. He didn’t know what that was.”

The chief snared him with a catch pole, and forced him in a cage.  He says he called around to a number of shelters, but no one could take the dog, so he was going to locate “the cheapest vet to destroy the dog at the cost of the city.”

Spencer then received a call that was urgent – a roll-over crash near Sparta high school.  Because he apparently could think of nothing else to do with the dog, he took it to the gun range and shot him before responding to the call.

Meanwhile, the Womacks spent days trying to find their beloved Chase, and were lied to by Spencer.  This comes from Chase’s Facebook page:

I was told by a police officer that they didn’t catch any dogs that day. He said they got a call about Chase, but responded to an assault call instead. So we called for a whole week trying reach chief Andrew Spencer. He did nothing but give us a run around for days. So we called all dog pounds and shelters and rescue one where we got Chase from. A few days later we get a call from chief Spencer, saying he had shot a pit bull chow mix that he picked up in the trailer park down the road from us. He told us He buried him in the sludge field if we wanted to make sure it was him. We didn’t find any freshly dug holes anywhere. So we tried the Sparta shooting range but we only found a pile of burnt meth pipes, cell phones and pill bottles. Then we found out from our neighbor on Friday evening that Chase had been picked up from an unmarked police car in front of our house. So we call and call and call trying to get a hold of chief Spencer again. To pick up our dog. Finally, 5 days later, chief Spencer contacted us saying he dug him up and left him at the police station. We picked him up that night after work. He was wrapped in a garbage bag, no traces of dirt on him or the trash bag anywhere. We got the police report. It never showed who he supposedly bit. So we took our fur baby home after searching for him for a week and laid him to rest. All our 1-year-old son says every time he sees a dog is “Chase.” We want justice for what has been done. It was illegal for chief Spencer to do what he did. By law, if a dog bites someone they have to quarantine them for 10 days to check for rabies. Chief Spencer did not do it. We asked him if Chase acted like he was bit by something, he told us he acted scared. The mayor of Sparta said Chase wouldn’t get out of the police car at the shooting range.

Baby Cody misses his best friend something fierce.

“We had a kennel for Chase, and all he does is he sits in the kennel now. He’ll just sit there and look around and call for Chase,” Elizabeth said.

Residents in Sparta and the surrounding areas were outraged.  Loose dogs are required to be held for five days in Sparta, and the fact that pit bulls are banned does not change that.

Spencer was placed on administrative leave, and local animal lovers protested at a city council meeting in late November.  The two officers under Spencer’s command resigned after the meeting, and now the chief has formally resigned from his post.  His last day on the job will be December 14th.  Christian County deputies will now be responding to calls.

Though nothing can bring back Chase, or replace him, hopefully now the Womacks will find some closure.

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Meet Vincent, The Cat Who Received a Custom Pair of Extruded Titanium Peg Legs

Due to a congenital defect, Vincent was born without rear tibias and likely would have died had he not been rescued and surrendered to an Iowa animal shelter. Once adopted, he caught the attention of Dr. Mary Sarah Bergh, an associate professor of orthopedic surgery at Iowa State University's Lloyd Veterinary Medical Center. She worked with 3D printing firm Biomedtrix to create a custom pair of extruded titanium peg legs for the feline, enabling him to walk for the first time.

"I think this does open the door for us to be able to help other animals that have similar problems," Bergh said in a statement. "And even what we've learned just through Vincent's one case, we've actually refined the technique and the implants, so the next cases we do moving forward will be even more successful."

Unlike conventional prosthetics, these legs are surgically embedded into his upper leg bones so that as he grows, they fuse themselves to the prosthetics. So while he walks like a pirate, Vincent is technically a cyborg.

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Heartwarming Story: Owner of West Coast Animal Rescue Gets the Biggest Surprise of Her Life

Get your tissues!

Sherri, the owner of West Coast Animal Rescue, has dedicated her life to finding a home for dogs in need. However, she has been through a lot of stress lately and planned to organize a huge adoption event hoping to find families for the older dogs from her shelter.

However, what she didn’t know was that she was about to get the biggest surprise of her life. The Prank It FWD movement decided to help her a bit, but they had to bother her a little first. Watching this actually brought tears to my eyes. At the end they had all her older dogs adopted, but what is equally important they rescued Sherri and her animal rescue center. Wonderful!

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Lioness Made Famous in BBC’s Long-Running Big Cat Diary Documentary Series Has Been Poisoned

Members of Kenya’s Marsh lion pride, made famous in BBC’s long-running Big Cat Diary documentary series, have reportedly been poisoned after eating a cow carcass in the Masai Mara Reserve.

So far, two lions have died—a lioness named Bibi and an unidentified lion, which was found in the field dead, fed on by scavengers. Another female named Sienna has been missing since Governor’s Camp manager Patrick Reynolds discovered the animals acting strange Sunday morning.

On Tuesday, the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust posted on its Facebook page that an autopsy of Bibi found that traces of an insecticide had been used to poison the pride. The wildlife trust’s mobile veterinary unit is treating five other lions in the pride with antidotes for the poison, and reported that six white vultures were found dead near the location of the poisoned cow carcass.

The rest of the 13-member lion pride has been accounted for and remains under 24-hour watch by veterinarians and park rangers, according to Paula Kahumbu of the conservation group Wildlife Direct.

  

While it remains unclear who is responsible for the attacks, cattle herders who allow their cows to graze on grasses in the Masai Mara reserve are suspects. Lions can prey on the cows the herders bring on the land, and conflicts are becoming more frequent. A 2009 study in the Journal of Zoology found that illegal cattle grazing on protected land in Kenya’s Mara region has increased more than 1,100 percent since 1970.

On Tuesday, Kenyan Wildlife Service officials charged two men with poisoning the lions. If convicted, the men could face up to $200,000 in fines or life in jail.

“Kenya has never before charged a person with poisoning wildlife even though it is a frequent crime that is devastating populations of vultures lions and other predators,” Kahumbu said in a statement. “This is sending a shock wave of fear through the criminal networks.”

Conservationist and certified wildlife veterinarian Hayley Adams said the poisoning of the famous Marsh lion pride will help raise awareness of long-standing conflict issues between humans and Africa’s wildlife that’s been quietly escalating in recent years.

“Pastoralists have been retaliating with spears against lions that predate on their livestock, and now there have been growing instances of poisoning as it becomes easier to access,” said Adams, who has been working in East Africa for more than 20 years. “The problem will most likely get worse before it gets better.”

And when poachers or ranchers use poison, it affects more than just the animal they are targeting, it can affect an ecosystem. Animals not targeted, such as the vultures in this case, can end up dead.

Adams’ foundation works with local communities on health issues and also with wildlife conservation efforts.

“The educational angle we can take is getting the communities to understand that poisoning the animals can end up hurting themselves,” Adams said. “It can get in other species, which hurts ecotourism in the region, and it can get in the water supply.”

One option Masai Mara Reserve officials could look into to reduce lion-cow conflict would be to allow herders to graze cattle in the preserve during daylight hours, and ban cattle grazing at night. That system has been beneficial in Tanzania’s Ngorongoro Conservation Area, south of the Masai Mara, to limit herders’ run-ins with lions.

“The way it is now, herders are bringing their cattle there under cover of night, when lions are more likely to hunt, because it’s illegal,” Adams said. “It’s a difficult situation, both for the lions, and the communities.”

  

                                                 Bibi with her lion cubs

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Donkey Seems to be Smiling After Being Rescued from Flood Waters in Ireland

He certainly had every reason to express his delight at being saved after becoming stranded in flood waters.

And this is the hilarious moment a donkey appeared to grin after a rowing club member came to his rescue in Killorglin, County Kerry.

The animal escaped from his stable in the town in western Ireland on Saturday night after stormy weather damaged the gate.

All smiles: Animal shelter founder Suzanne Gibbons with a very happy donkey after he was rescued from a flooded field in County Kerry.

Taken to safety: A team of rescuers managed to get a rope and buoyancy aid around the terrified donkey before towing him to land.

Safe now: The animal escaped from its stable in the town in western Ireland on Saturday night after stormy weather damaged the gate.

On land: After receiving a call from his concerned owner, Animal Heaven Animal Rescue issued an appeal for help in retrieving the donkey.

The male donkey was discovered stranded in a field the next morning, surrounded by deep flood water - the results of a burst riverbank nearby.

After receiving a call from his concerned owner, Animal Heaven Animal Rescue (Ahar) issued an appeal for help in retrieving the donkey.

And it was answered by Mike Fleming, a member of Killorglin Rowing Club, who joined together with a team of rescuers from the animal shelter.

Assisted by Mr. Fleming and his boat, they managed to get a rope and buoyancy aid around the terrified donkey before towing him to land.

An Animal Heaven Animal Rescue (Ahar) spokesman said the donkey, which has been named Mike after his rescuer, is recovering at the animal shelter while his stable is repaired.

Teamwork: The animal escaped from his stable in Killorglin in western Ireland on Saturday night after stormy weather damaged the gate.

Waiting game: The rescue center said the donkey, named Mike after his rescuer, is recovering at the shelter while his stable is repaired.

Nursed: A vet has seen the donkey, who has a small amount of fluid in one lung, and started him on antibiotics to prevent pneumonia.

Saying that he needs 'loads of TLC', shelter founder Suzanne Gibbons added: ‘He is now dried with towels, eating a hot mash, all cozy and warm.

“Our vet has seen him and started him on antibiotics to prevent pneumonia. He has a small bit of fluid in one lung but our vet said he will recover.”

Meanwhile thousands of people in Britain remain without power in the aftermath of serious flooding following Storm Desmond.

Homes and businesses in the North West of England have been devastated by record rainfall, and the extreme weather has claimed three lives.

The Met Office has issued a severe rain warning this week as Northern England, Scotland and Northern Ireland brace themselves for more downpours.

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