Around the Web

Dogs and Cats

• A dog in Japan who survived the earthquake and tsunami was rescued in his now-floating home after 3-weeks at sea.
• Tana, the French Bulldog puppy, is the first known of her breed to be a chromosomal XX female with cryptorchid testicles. 
• Allergic to cats? Get vaccinated!
• Fred and Ginger, two Labrador Retrievers, decided to go swimming in icy waters, only to find that that was a bad idea. Ginger was able to get out, but Fred was stuck, clinging to a piece of ice. Ginger barked and barked, alerting hikers to her buddy's plight. She then alerted her guardians. Rescuers pulled Fred safely out and - get this - the doofus guardians who somehow let their dogs get loose blame Fred for being stupid! RUDE!
• Frenchies were domesticating dogs 15,000 years ago. They ate them too!
• A policeman in Indiana rescued a woman from her burning home. Which is super cool, but what about the woman's beloved companion dog who stayed by her side the WHOLE time and only left when the officer was carrying her out to safety.

Wildlife

• Whale and dolphin death toll during Deepwater Horizon oil disaster may have been greatly underestimated, because people suck.
• Idiot humans strike again. Asian ladybugs are invading the UK, outcompeting native ladybug species. The insects are non-native, introduced for aphid control. Go team stupid!

Other

• How to (and how not to) talk about earthquake hazards in the media (who will undoubtedly not listen).

Dog Bites (warning: graphic photo(s) below)

• A dog described as a Golden Retriever in New Jersey chased down a girl, bit her multiple times and tore off part of her ear. The girl will recover and the dog was impounded. Unlike in media stories involving dogs described as Pit Bulls, investigators go so far as to state that the dog is not aggressive and so the circumstances of the attack will be looked at instead of the dog who, you know, actually bit the girl. 
• A Golden Retriever in Australia got "spooked" and proceeded to attack four people. Now if this dog had been a Pit Bull, certain anti Pit Bull zealots would have made a big to-do, but you won't see this story covered by any of them. The article blames the victims for the dog being "spooked" and, you know, attacking everyone in sight.
• A dog described as a Boxer got loose from his owner and attacked a woman, biting her multiple times in Indiana. In the same story, an injured dog described as a Labrador-Pyrenees mix was shot and killed by police after the dog growled.
• Two dogs described as Bull-mastiffs (who police thought were "banned breeds") attacked a young man when he tried to stop a dog fight. The dogs injured him severely. In a strange move, UK police cordoned off the house and waited more than 30 hours in an apparent canine stand-off before finally tranquilizing the dogs and killing them.
• A dog described as a 5-yr-old German Shepherd roaming loose attacked a young boy, hospitalizing him, and then later bit another person in West Virginia. 
• Onlookers in the UK just take pictures of a German Shepherd killing a fawn. The onlookers were SO concerned that they took a few shots with their camera, strolled off and returned a few hours later to, you know, look some more. (Warning: Photos of a fawn being killed are depicted in the article.) Banning Pit Bulls proved quite a boon to this fawn!
• Two unleashed Whippets were allowed to kill a 7-yr-old's pet cat while the owner looked on and did nothing. The girl's sister tried to rescue the cat, but the dogs ran off with the cat and the owner did not stop them. I thought it was only Pit Bull owners who were callous jerks, at least according to anti-Pit Bull zealots. Oh yeah, UK Pit Bull ban working so well.
• A Great Dane in Australia will most likely be killed after an attack on sheep.
• Two dogs described as Rottweilers in New York attacked an elderly woman. The dogs were on-leash but could not be controlled by their owner. The victim blames the dogs. Another dog walker blames the victim for being old. Much fun ensues!

A Pointer-Weimie cross savagely attacked a young boy in New Zealand, causing 70 stitches worth of damage to his face and 12 stitches worth of damage to other parts of his body. The boy was petting the dog, described as normally friendly, and when he pulled away the dog bit his face, then bit him several more times.  The owner of the dog suggests the dog may have been affected by bee stings during a hunting trip earlier. The dog was killed.

• A Weimaraner bit a police officer while he tried to restrain the dog loose at a park.

• A four-year-old girl in Indiana needed 32 staples to close the bite wounds to her head inflicted by a dog described as a German Shepherd-Chow Chow cross. The girl was playing near the dog when he bit her leg, dragged her to the ground, and then bit her on the head several times. Amazingly the caregiver of the dog, named Taz, admits the dog had nipped at least one person before, yet the dog was allowed to be near a small child, unsupervised.
• Queensland citizens on Taser's beat better stay indoors when this K-9 is around town. The dog has bitten three people unprovoked, including another police officer. In one case in which a woman was bitten multiple times after Taser got loose during a fireworks festival, authorities believe Taser acted appropriately in mauling the woman. There you have it!
• A woman in Arlington was bitten on the face by her neighbor's Malinois, requiring a trip to the hospital.

• Oops, an Akita mix "accidentally" tore up the face of a little boy. The dog's owners face no charges for the attack that left the child scarred. In the UK, you know where Pit Bulls are banned.