12 Of The World’s Most Massive Animals

In America, we love everything that’s big. Whether it be our trucks, our land, our drinks, or our burgers, there’s one slogan that we like to live by: Bigger is better.

And it’s no different when it comes to the animal world. Whether it be a 300-pound snake, a 2-pound goldfish, or a pig that weighs as much as a truck, we’re impressed by the biggest and best!

Take a look at some of the biggest animals below. Most of them have been confirmed by the Guinness Book of World Records to be the absolute biggest of the big among their species.

1. At 7'4" tall when standing on his hind legs, and 3'8" when on all fours, Zeus holds the record for tallest dog ever.

2. Trouble, the world's largest domestic cat, was 19" tall from shoulder to paw.

  

3. 13-year-old Blossom is the world's tallest cow, standing at 6'4".

4. Big Jake, the world's tallest horse, weighs about 2,600 pounds and is an incredible 6'11" tall! That's 20 hands!

5. It took over 100 people to finally capture this 20'3" monster.

6. Originally bought for 99 cents, this goldfish lived over 15 years and grew to be 15 inches long and weighed in at 2 pounds!

7. 9-year-old Romulus holds the honor of being the world's tallest living donkey. At 5'8" he's over 17 hands!

  

8. The largest living cat is the aptly named Hercules. An adult male tiger, he stands 4'1" at the shoulder and weighs 922 pounds!

9. Medusa, the world's longest snake, lives in Missouri and is 25'2" long!

10. This Chinese pig weighed 1,984 pounds before it died. That's a lot of bacon!

11. The world's biggest catfish weighed in at an incredible 280 pounds. That thing could eat you!

  

12. And Patrick! The world's largest and oldest Wombat: 88 pounds and 28 years old — this guy knows how to live!

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This Single Dad Is Waiting To Meet His Baby - Wait Until You See His Surprise

This has to be one of the most surprising TV ads I have ever seen. This is a commercial made by an energy corporation in Belgium known as Electrabel. It’s intended to showcase the importance of electricity in the modern family, but the star performers in this video are some miniature canines.

In the video you are about to watch, you will see a man with a dog waiting expectantly outside the operating room in a hospital. However, it turns out that the man actually isn’t the father. When the operating room door opens there’s a big bundle of surprises in the nurse’s arms.

The essence of the video is to show people how important electricity is to every household. Along the way, they have also successfully shown, wittingly or otherwise, how difficult it is to single-handedly raise multiple puppies. They can be quite a handful.

This Electrabel commercial is supposed to demonstrate the importance of electricity in our lives by showing how convenient and useful appliances are for raising a family. The parent dog in the video even utilized the microwave oven for heating the puppy formula. He also washed the dishes using a dishwasher, recorded adorable moments using a camera, and provided a train set that used electricity for playtime.

Enjoy the video below!

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Tips on How to Stop Your Dog from Begging for Table Food

Our dogs are social creatures and love to eat.  So, when your family gathers for dinner, there’s nothing more that combines a dog’s dual love of being social and eating your food!  However, even though your dog want to join you in the festivities, there's nothing fun or amusing about a dinner dominated by whining and pawing from under the table.  And if this bother you, it is better to get the ‘table begging’ under control sooner rather than later.

Table begging can be harmful to your dogs

Table begging is more than just an annoyance.  It can be potentially harmful to your dog. Dogs who are frequently fed at the table can suffer any of the following problems:

Obesity, choking on bones, hyperactivity and anxiety and even seizures: A possible result if chocolate, which contains theobromine, is consumed, and bad behavior.

Table begging needs to end before it begins

Dogs beg at the table because we let them and it only takes one time for the habit to begin. Unfortunately, attention-getting behaviors like begging don't have to be indulged often to become a bad habit. The most effective way to get a dog to stop begging at the table is to completely ignore him, a task that's often easier said than done. This means not talking to the animal or even making eye contact. By scolding your dog, it scares them and engages them. They might not understand the difference.

Teach your dog to go to specific spot when you eat dinner

Try teaching your dog to go to a designated spot, usually a bed or a mat, and stay there. This skill can be useful in a variety of other situations, too. If you’re watching a movie with friends and you’d like your dog to occupy herself for a while, you can ask her to go to her spot and chew a bone. If your dog jumps up on people when they come to the door, you can ask her to go to her spot whenever the doorbell rings and wait there to greet visitors. If you take your dog somewhere with you, you can bring her bed or mat and have her settle on it when you need her to be calm and quiet.  Leave a chew bone or toy there to keep your dog occupied and distracted.

Your dog’s table begging will get worse before it get better

Expect your dog's begging to get worse before it gets better. If whining at a low volume doesn't result in food, he'll think he isn't trying hard enough and turn it up and start howling. As unpleasant as this may be for a few days, stand firm. Eventually, your dog will realize that his efforts no longer work.

However, if you train your dog consistently, you should see positive results within several weeks. Consistency is the key. Even one tiny snack from the table here and there can erase everything you've worked so hard to achieve. Even the smallest morsel can turn a trained dog back to a begging dog!  And make sure all family members and dinner guests understand what you're doing and why you're doing it, so no one sneaks your dog a treat when they think you're not looking.

Here are a few more tips to stop your dog from begging:

• Feed your dog at the same time you eat. If your dog is enjoying his own food, he can't beg for yours.

• Give him something else to do. Try sticking some healthy treats stuffed in a few Kong toys so he'll have something to play with while you eat.

• If your dog has been crate-trained, place him in his crate to prevent him from begging at the table. But, the goal is to have your dog nearby and not begging, so this would only be on a trial basis.

• Take your dog for a long walk just before dinner. If the dog is worn out, the intensity of the begging behavior will decrease.  Tired dogs are better behaved dogs.

You can still feed your dog human food at the correct time

Some people worry that feeding their dogs’ human food (anything except dog food and treats made for dogs) will encourage begging at the table. But when teaching a dog new skills or treating certain behavior problems, using treats like small pieces of chicken, cheese or beef can accelerate the training process. Luckily, dogs can learn very specific rules. It’s okay to give your dog foods you eat, too. Just avoid feeding your dog from the table so your pup learns that she never gets human food in that context.

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Cops in San Francisco Rescue Sea Lion Pup Roaming the Streets

A California sea lion pup was rescued after it was seen roving around San Francisco on Thursday, giving new meaning to the term 'trash collection.'

'Rubbish' the pup was saved in the Marina neighborhood by police and officials from the Marine Mammal Center, the center said in a news release.

The retrieval took place around 7:00 a.m., after Rubbish was earlier spied hiding under a car, center officials said.

The Marine Mammal Center's Dr. Shawn Johnson told KGO 'Luckily the San Francisco Police Department had stopped traffic around him and was protecting him until we got there.'

According to KRON, the rescue attempt took around four minutes.

Rubbish was delivered to the Marine Mammal Center, where Johnson figured out the pup had spent time there before, center officials said.

Johnson told KGO: 'He was rescued in Santa Barbara County in February and brought up here for rehabilitation. He was here at the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito for nearly two months.'

The person who first reported Rubbish gave him his name, center officials explained.

The center said of the pup's February rescue: 'Rubbish was eight months old and weighed just 30 pounds when he was rescued.

Veterinary staff and volunteers at the Center treated him for pneumonia and malnutrition, and helped return him to a healthy weight.

After gaining 27 pounds, Rubbish was released at Point Reyes National Seashore on March 23, 2015.

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This is a Powerful Short Film About Adoption and Abandonment: You Must Watch it to the End…You WILL Be Shocked

This powerful short film about adoption and abandonment is so hard-hitting that it really deserves a warning about what irresponsibility and cruelty can do to living beings.  It is set to music, and is able to tell a story without any dialogue, that will stay with you forever.

It tells the story of a very normal looking family who adopt an adorable little red-haired girl. Over time she does “little girl” things like fighting with her older (not adopted) sister, spilling a drink, making messes, interrupting when parents are busy.  We watch the parents get angry and less inclusive of this little girl. She grows more remote and sad, and acts out more.  She has a stuffed doll whose insides she keeps pulling out.  The symbolism is evident.

What happens next is the father takes her for a ride, and just when you think he is about to give her the attention she so sorely needs, the “Gift” (as the film is named) takes a very dark turn.  It needs to be watched to the bitter end.  I must say that I was shocked and really moved by this beautiful little film that manages, without words, to say everything there needs to be said about the responsibility of adopting both children and animals. We live in a society that has a throw-away mentality.  We have short attention spans, and often don’t have the patience nor the commitment to deal with life when it becomes difficult.

This short film is truly a Gift that should be watched and watched again.

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U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Four Colorado Residents Have Been Infected by a Dog Spread the Pneumonic Plague

A plague-infected dog spread the dangerous disease to four Colorado residents, according to a new report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Health officials told ABC News that this is the first report of a dog infecting a human with the plague in the U.S.

The dog, a 2-year-old American pit bull terrier, became sick last summer with a fever and jaw rigidity, among other symptoms. The dog's health declined so quickly that it was euthanized the following day at a local vet's office, health officials said.

Four days later, the dog's owner entered the hospital with a fever and a bloody cough that became worse over the next few hours, but an initial blood culture was misidentified, according to the CDC report.

As the patient's symptoms grew worse, the test was redone and he was found to have been infected with pneumonic plague, according to the CDC report. The remains of the dog were also tested and were found to be positive for the plague bacteria.

"Frankly one of the biggest surprises of this outbreak is the source," said John Douglas of Tri-County Health Department in Colorado, one of the study authors. "Primarily...dogs don’t get sick at all or they get a minor illness" after being infected with the plague.

Janine Runfola of the Tri-County Health Department in Colorado, lead author of the report, explained that cats are more likely to infect humans with the disease than dogs because they exhibit more symptoms.

"For pneumonic plague a more likely scenario would be you have a cat [play] with prairie dogs and infected fleas get on the cat," Runfola said. "The cat gets sick and sneezes and coughs on its owner."

The dog's owner remained hospitalized for 23 days as he recovered from the potentially deadly disease, the report said. In addition to the owner, a close contact of the owner and two veterinary employees who treated the dog or handled its body also became infected with the plague. All three were successfully treated with medication after exhibiting symptoms.

The plague is caused by the bacteria Yersinia pestis, and can infect the body in different ways. For example, a flea bite can lead to infection of the glands, which is called bubonic plague -- notorious for the epidemics it spawned during the Middle Ages in Europe. Because this plague was spread from dog to owner through coughing, it developed into pneumonic plague, according to Douglas.

The plague is known to be endemic to prairie dogs in the American Southwest, which can then lead to isolated outbreaks of the disease in domestic animals or humans.

"Pneumonic plague is the worst form," said Douglas. "It’s the one that you least want to get. You get sick fast and the chances of getting a rocky or even fatal course" are increased.

The plague is incredibly rare in the U.S., with an estimated eight infections in the country reported every year. Douglas said pneumonic plague is even rarer and accounts for just 3 to 5 percent of plague cases.

Douglas said the case shows the importance of considering all the options when diagnosing a patient, even extremely rare options like the plague.

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Animal Sanctuaries…A Safe Haven for Animals? Not Always the Case

While you would think a place named an “animal sanctuary” operates as a safe haven for animals, this is not always the case. There are many amazing animal sanctuaries for formerly abused farm, exotic and domestic animals, but sadly there are too facilities that operate under the “sanctuary” guise that exist with the sole purpose of exploiting animals. These false sanctuaries display wild animals and often charge visitors to interact with them. On the surface, they may seem like “fun” but more often than not the animals are starved, abused or drugged in order to render them docile enough to interact with paying customers.

Unlike these abusive establishments, Big Cat Rescue and the Center for Great Apes are real sanctuaries for animals. All of the big cats and chimps who live at these sanctuaries have been rescued from deplorable former lives and are now allowed to live free from any type of exploitation.

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73-Year-Old, Ex-Marine and Bouncer Punches 300 Pound Bear in Face to Save Dog

They say a mother’s distress upon seeing her child in danger can give her the momentary strength to lift a car. And perhaps it was this same rush of adrenaline that drove Carl Moore as he leapt in to action to save his dog.

“I raised both hands in the air and I cussed at him” he said. “He looked at me like go f*** yourself.”

According to Moore, he then charged the bear and delivered a running right hand to the side of the bear’s head.

“Carl just smacks him. I couldn’t believe it” said his friend and employee, John Sargent who witnessed the event.

Tyler Silva was also there to see the action unfold and was shocked by his friend’s actions.

“I know I’ll never see that one again. He definitely connected. The bear took a breath out like it had been struck in the stomach and then it took off down the road,” he told the Auburn Journal.

Moore says he boxed competitively in his youth and also saw his fair share of fights while working as a bouncer but on this occasion, he says all he was trying to do was protect his dogs.

“The man or beast that I run from ain’t been born ... And you’re not gonna sacrifice my babies for some damn bear,” he told CBS Sacramento as he cuddled his pooch.

According to Moore, he heard his dog Lacy whimpering outside and went to investigate before seeing the black bear approaching the house.

The two witnesses were happy to corroborate the story, and described the animal as being about 160cm tall and 135 kilograms.

Unsurprisingly, state wildlife officials are not condoning Moore’s actions and are advising against instigating contact with black bears in the state. Instead, the official advice is to back slowly away from the animal and only yell aggressively towards the bear if it continues to approach.

“But if you’re attacked, we recommend fighting back aggressively,” said Capt. Patrick Foy from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

It may be no laughing matter but when CBS news anchor, Sam Shane introduced the story this week, he struggled to contain his giggles.

You can watch the report below.

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