• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.

Day Of The Animals: Tales Of Man Vs Beast (And Man Suffers)

Lurcher befriends Cornish fox cub in Portreath
[Video: Fox cub becomes Lurcher's friend]

A fox cub who was found in Cornwall after he was heard crying for two days has been rescued by a wildlife centre and befriended by a Lurcher.

Copper was taken to Feadon Farm Wildlife Centre in Portreath suffering from exhaustion.

But while being treated at the wildlife centre he became friends with the manager's one-year-old Lurcher, Jack.

Jack's owner Gary Zammit said: "They just play fight there's never any malice in it."

Mr Zammit, who specialises in rescuing foxes, said: "The big problem with dogs is, you never know how you're [sic!] dog's going to react to a fox.

"There's a bit of an instinctive thing in dogs to just kill a fox as soon as they meet, but other dogs are just fine.

"We can't walk Copper anywhere near public footpaths, we have to take him up on our private fields where there's no risk of bumping into a dog off the lead."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/dorset/8690887.stm

Apart from the grammar, the beeb website gets a C- for geography too - why is this item under Dorset? :twisted:
 
Psychic joins search for missing cat in Lincolnshire

Oliver the cat
Oliver went missing from his owner's home in October

An Indian psychic is helping to search for cat which went missing from a Lincolnshire village.

Oliver, a four-year-old tabby and white cat, went missing from Boothby Graffoe in October.

Owner Sue Machen, 56, has paid £1,000 for Hertfordshire-based company Animal Search UK to hunt for the animal.

It has employed psychic Sarita Gupta, who is based in Bangalore, to help in the search, a move which has been criticised by a sceptics' society.

Ms Gupta believes the cat has been adopted as a stray by a new family, who do not know he has an owner.

Ms Machen said: "The expense [for the search] is immaterial.

"I am just desperate to know what has happened to him. I am hoping he has wandered off and been picked up by someone."


[They] would likely be the suggestions you'd get from someone without psychic powers
Merseyside Skeptics Society spokesman

Tom Watkins, who is leading the search, said: "We have had some good publicity and we are building up a picture of where Oliver might be.

"We are hoping the psychic is right and we will receive a call about where Oliver is.

"That would be mission accomplished if we can achieve that."

The team said a missing cat in Birmingham had been found in a Wendy house after the same psychic said it would turn up "where children play".

A spokesman for the Merseyside Skeptics Society said: "Looking at the advice given by the psychic in both cases, we have the suggestion that the cat is staying with another family, and the idea that lost cats like to be near children.

"Both of these are incredibly obvious scenarios to suggest for a missing cat, and would likely be the suggestions you'd get from someone without psychic powers - and without the need for a fee, too."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/engl ... 697714.stm
Click to expand...
 
Bears are scary anyway - but now there's...

'Kung Fu' bear :shock:
Amy Willis
Published: 5:59PM BST 26 May 2010

An Asian black bear called Claude has become an internet hit after being filmed doing 'Kung Fu' moves with a stick.
The bear at the Asa Zoo in Hiroshima, Japan, has developed an ability to twirl a stick around his head giving him the nickname 'the Kung Fu bear'.

The animal, thought to be a moon bear due to the distinctive white marking on his chest, was filmed spinning a 5ft-long stick around his paws, head and shoulders.

In the footage, the bear is first seen pushing the stick around before picking it up and spinning it around his head using his paws. At one point the bear even throws the rotating stick into the air and catches it.

The three-minute clip was captured by Canadian zoo visitor Alex Graham.

Mr Graham uploaded the original clip to YouTube a few days ago and since then the footage has gained momentum online. The unedited version of the clip plus a previous edited version have so far gained more than 800,000 hits.

There was initial doubt as to the authenticity of the clip. However, similar footage of the same bear two years ago shows the new footage could very well be genuine.

In the older footage, the bear is seen spinning another stick around although not as quickly or as controlled as in the most recent footage. Zoo keepers also explain how they discovered Claude's talent and how they encouraged him by giving him 15 metre-long sticks to play with.

Animal behaviour expert Professor Marc Bekoff from the University of Colorado said the footage was an amazing example of animal object control.

He said: "This goes beyond normal animal usage of complex tools but then again you can train seals to balance balls on their noses and train elephants to paint with their trunks, so why not this.

"I would guess this is the result of extreme training and would find it hard to believe the animal taught itself this spontaneously."

Professor Bekoff added that the bear's 'Kung Fu' moves were not natural and the bear must have been in a situation of extreme boredom.

The bear is believed to have arrived at the Asa Zoo in Hiroshima eight years ago after his mother was killed in a wood.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newsvid ... -bear.html
 
Fox mauls sleeping baby twin girls in their London home

Nine-month-old twin girls are seriously ill in hospital after being mauled by a fox as they slept in their cots in east London.

Police officers and paramedics were called to a house in Homerton at about 2200 BST on Saturday.

A police source said the fox apparently entered the house through an open ground-floor door before attacking the twins in an upstairs room.

Both girls suffered arm injuries and one is thought to have facial injuries.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "Officers and the London Ambulance Service attended and found two nine-month-old girls with injuries.

"Both babies were taken to an east London hospital where their condition is described as serious but stable."
Fox destroyed

Pest controllers have since set fox traps in the back garden of the house.

A fox discovered in one of the devices on Sunday night has been destroyed by a vet.

The spokesman said: "Hackney environmental health officers arranged for traps to be set in the rear garden of the address.

"(On Sunday night) a neighbour informed environmental health officers that an animal could be heard in one of the traps.

"A vet was called to establish if it was safe to move the animal. It was determined it was not and the fox was humanely killed by the pest controller at approximately 12.15am.

"The traps will remain in situ for the time being."

In 2002, mother Sue Eastwood reported that her baby boy, Louis, was left injured after a fox crept into their house in Kent while she slept.

The fourteen-week-old suffered bite marks on his head after the animal darted into the sitting room of the house in Dartford.
Click to expand...
 
Cat flees from surgery to avoid the snip
A cat was on the run last night after fleeing from a vet’s surgery moments before it was due for the snip.
Published: 7:00AM BST 07 Jun 2010

Lexi leapt through an open window as the vet prepared to carry out the castration. :D

The animal’s owner, Maria Brown, only discovered that her cat had gone missing when she went to collect it from the surgery and was given a pet rabbit instead. :shock:

The two-year-old cat made the dash for freedom through an open window while its sister, Angel, went through with neutering as planned.

Miss Brown said she was “too distraught” to talk about her missing pet and was hoping Lexi would find his own way home.

The tabby cat bolted from Woosehill Vets in Woosehill, near Wokingham, Berks, four miles from Miss Brown’s home in Woodley. She went to collect her two cats after their operations on Thursday afternoon, having dropped them off the day before.

However, staff at the vet’s handed her a rabbit in place of Lexi. When she pointed out the mistake, she was told Lexi had gone missing. The veterinary practice manager said the rabbit was handed over by mistake because Miss Brown said she had come to collect two animals and the rabbit was the next one on the operating table after Angel.

Julie Bobb, a neighbour and close friend of Miss Brown, said: “Maria is very upset. She took two cats to Woosehill Vets for neutering and a castration and on returning the next day the female was there but the male had gone.

“To be honest, the vet was very vague and we were there about three hours — they were dithering around and didn’t realise the cat was missing.

“We got there, explained we had come to collect two animals and they came back with one cat and the other animal was a bunny rabbit. Lexi is a huge male tabby cat and he may be trying to find his way home but obviously Woosehill to Woodley is quite a way.”

The manager of the vet’s practice, who did not want to be named, said staff were embarrassed by the error.

“Normally what happens is that people pick up their pets the same day that they bring them in to be spayed. But this woman didn’t do that, she left them with us overnight, which is very rare.

“I hope that lady will one day find the courage to forgive us. I am so very, very sorry.

“I can’t apologise enough for what happened. She is right to be upset and I have contacted her two or three times to say I’m sorry.”

The manager said he was considering sending a bunch of flowers to Miss Brown to apologise.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... -snip.html
 
Nine-month-old twin girls are seriously ill in hospital after being mauled by a fox as they slept in their cots in east London.
Click to expand...

There's something rather odd about this story. A fox walked through an open door, went into a bedroom and attacked two sleeping infants in separate cots, before hanging around so that the mother could see it, and sauntering out again?

Hmm. Not really buying this one I'm afraid.

The family apparently have a dog... a more likely culprit in my view.

Of course the media will be all over this in order to garner maximum support for a repeal of the fox hunting ban... although how that would assist with urban foxes I have no idea!
 
There's something rather odd about this story.
Click to expand...
Others agree:

Fox would not have attacked baby twins unprovoked, say wildlife experts
Two leading wildlife experts last night cast doubt on claims that the baby twins found injured in their cot were attacked by a fox.
By Heidi Blake
Published: 7:30AM BST 08 Jun 2010

Pauline Koupparis said she found her nine-month-old daughters Lola and Isabella covered in blood with a fox still prowling in their nursery.

But John Bryant, an expert in urban wildlife, said attacks on humans by foxes were unheard of, and suggested the injuries were more likely to have been caused by a domestic pet.

“I’ve only ever heard of two [similar] cases in my 40 years dealing with foxes, one of which turned out eventually to be a German shepherd and the other a cat, so it’s not in my experience of fox behaviour,” he said.

Mr Bryant, an Animal Welfare Consultant at the British Humane Wildlife Deterrence Association, said if a fox was responsible for the attack it was likely to have been a cub.

“There are thousands of three month old teenage cubs now wandering around beginning to explore their parents’ territory,” he told the Today programme on BBC Radio 4.

“They would be on the prowl looking around and if there’s an open door, even a cat flap, they will walk into houses and walk round and mess on the bathroom floor and sometimes sleep on the bed if the people aren’t around.

“But I see no reason why a fox would do this, unless it jumped into a cot and then found itself with squirming children underneath it and couldn’t get out through the bars or something. I don’t know, but it just doesn’t make any sense to me.”

Terry Nutkins, the English naturalist and television presenter, also said a fox was highly unlikely to be responsible for the attack on the twins.

“They are carnivores and opportunist feeders, but they don't attack humans. I can't remember a single verified case of a fox attacking a human unprovoked,” he wrote in an online article.

Mr Nutkins agreed with Mr Bryant that, if a fox did attack the twins, it was probably a cub who panicked on finding itself trapped in their bedroom.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... perts.html
 
The family apparently have a dog as well as a slightly older child - both of whom would IMO be more credible suspects for an attack on the twins. I note also that the majority of news reports use the words "apparently" and "allegedly" throughout when referring to the fox attack. I do think there is more to this than meets the eye.
 
On the other hand, both husband and wife claimed to see the fox. And...

The news came as a shock to people who have spent their working lives studying the behaviour of foxes. They said it is extremely rare for one of the animals to attack a human, although there have been other occasional reports of similar incidents.

In Edinburgh five years ago, an 88-year-old woman was bitten by a fox when she went out into her garden late in the evening to feed her cats. In 2002, a fox reportedly crept into a house in Dartford, Kent, and bit a 14-week-old boy on the head.

...

But Ricky Clark, a rat catcher who runs the London-based firm Environ Pest Control, warned: "Yes, it's unusual, but it will happen again. We have 25,000-30,000 foxes in London alone, and they are losing their fear of humans. I've been getting calls from people who say, 'We've just had a fox come through our cat flap and it's in the sitting room'. I've caught foxes in kitchens, in basements, even in nightclubs. These aren't the cuddly little red furry animals some people think they are. It's not Basil Brush we're dealing with here. These are feral animals, full of diseases.

"In some circumstances, their faeces are more dangerous than rat droppings. They need to be controlled, and people should not feed them."

...

http://www.independent.co.uk/environmen ... 94112.html
 
On the other hand, both husband and wife claimed to see the fox.
Click to expand...

This I found to be one of the least convincing aspects of the story. The fox jumped into two separate cots, scratched or bit both babies before waiting to be seen by the parents and then making its escape?

:?

In 2002, a fox reportedly crept into a house in Dartford, Kent, and bit a 14-week-old boy on the head.
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure it turned out that the culprit in this case was a dog.

I'm not saying that a fox attack is impossible in this case, but lots of things about the story don't add up IMO and I stand by my contention that attack by a dog or an older sibling is the more likely explanation.
 
Another story from Hackney:

Max Langton said he recently had to chase a fox from his six-month-old son’s room.
Mr Langton and his partner Louise Ford were watching TV when a fox wandered into the downstairs room of their home.
Mr Langton threw a cushion at it and chased it out.

But hours later, just before midnight, Louise heard ‘a horrible shrieking noise’ from their son’s bedroom.
When she ran in to investigate, she saw the fox underneath baby Jasper’s cot, trying to push its snout through the bars.
They had to chase it downstairs with a broom to get it out.
Louise, 32, said: ‘It was very frightening. But we gradually forgot about it - until yesterday.
‘The foxes around there are really bold. They don’t seem to be frightened of anything

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z0qFmsDN4f
 
Untilll these bite marks have beeen examined by an independant wildlife exspert I don't belive it either. True I think foxes are losing their shyness. but you move towards them, they start to run. Only a cornered animal will attack
 
I was bitten by a fox too, says nine year-old girl
A nine-year-old girl has told how she was bitten by a fox after it climbed in through an open window in the middle of the night as experts continued to debate the dangers posed by the animals.
By Laura Roberts
Published: 7:30AM BST 10 Jun 2010

Lily Jago Briggs was five when she was attacked as she slept one summer evening.

Her parents have warned that attacks by foxes are not freak incidents following the mauling of nine-month old twin girls, Isabella and Lola Koupparis in east London last week.

Lily was savaged in June 2006 at her family's ground floor flat in Belsize Park in north-west London. Her parents Paul and Lucy Jago Briggs were woken at 2am by her screams and discovered the fox still standing on her chest when they entered her bedroom.

"I was asleep in my bed and woke to find the fox standing on top of me, biting my shoulder, which was very painful," she said.

"I read about the recent attack and that the expert thinks it's a "freak incident". I can't agree and still bear the scars."

Her mother, said: "That night we had locked the doors but left the window open. I was worried about burglars not foxes. I heard this scream and I ran into my daughter's bedroom and the fox was actually standing on my daughter's chest. He hadn't even run away when she screamed. It was the size of a small dog.

"I had to run up to the bed and then he eventually ran off. But he didn't leave the house he ran into our bedroom. He was looking around and we had to shoo him out of the house to get him out.

"It was very brazen. That was what frightened me. It seemed absolutely unfazed by us."

The little girl was treated at the Royal Free Hospital for her wounds.

While some wildlife experts have suggested that the fox who attacked the baby twins was attracted by the smell from their nappies Mrs Jago Briggs, 43, a writer, disagreed.

She said: "It's nothing to do with nappies because Lily wasn't wearing one.

"I've never heard of it happening to anyone else until now.

"She has a very small scar on that shoulder. When an expert said it was an isolated incident I thought, "well actually it's not"."

The family, who now lives in Chiswick, west London, has two other children, Jasmine, three and Cecily, two.

Mrs Jago Briggs said: "I have two other small girls and it really changed the way I behaved. Now I'm really careful. I never leave the baby alone in the garden.

"I try not to scare people but I do mention that this has happened. I see foxes a lot and I'm surprised there aren't more incidents of children being bitten. This was totally unprovoked while she was sleeping."

Pauline Koupparis, 40, whose daughters were mauled in their cots on Saturday, has called for greater controls on the urban fox population. She described their injuries as looking "like something out of a horror movie".

The fashion designer said that once the girls had recovered she would campaign for action against the dangers of foxes.

Isabella is being treated at Great Ormond Street for injuries to her arm while Lola is at the Royal London Hospital after suffering wounds to her face.

Their grandmother Zoe Koupparis said that Lola was "a lot better" but that her sister was still sedated.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... -girl.html
 
Interestingly, a mobile phone picture of a small fox, supposedly taken just outside the Koupparis's house by a police officer attending the scene, appeared in Metro this morning. I'm not sure why it has suddenly emerged now. The fox looked very small, but it wasn't scared of the photographer.

Lily Jago Briggs was five when she was attacked as she slept one summer evening.
Click to expand...

I'm always slightly sceptical of claims such as these which follow a high-profile incident.

The fashion designer said that once the girls had recovered she would campaign for action against the dangers of foxes.
Click to expand...

Is it just me or is this a bit nuts? Even if you buy the Koupparis family's story in its entirety - which I'm still not sure about - there doesn't seem to be any question that an incident of this sort is vanishingly rare. You may as well campaign against the dangers of lightning strikes or freak accidents.

Given the promised Parliamentary vote on repealing the fox hunting ban, and the Telegraph's enthusiastic support for such a repeal, I remain suspicious about the timing of this incident and the acres of newsprint being afforded it by the Telegraph in particular. It's much easier to garner support for ripping an animal to shreds if it can be presented as a baby-eating monster, rather than an iconic native mammal that presents an occasional nuisance.
 
I think badgers attack more people than foxes do, or so I heard. But there's no call to bring back badger baiting, funnily enough.
 
Excuse me, but why is nobody crying "rabies?" Did the girls get shots?

The behavior described isn't just out of character, it's frighteningly bizarre. A fox's natural prey, even a large one, is small mammals and insects. A baby, much less a nine-year-old, is just too big to kill and drag back to the lair, though if they found one dead or injured they'd probably scavenge it. In my neck of the woods, this sort of behavior would be assumed to be due to rabies and that's what everybody would be excited about.

I also don't understand about the windows. Are British windows so small people can't climb through them? And don't they have screens in them?
 
PeniG said:
Excuse me, but why is nobody crying "rabies?" Did the girls get shots?
Click to expand...
That thought occurred to me, but the fact is we don't have rabies in Britain, and there are strict regulations about putting animals in quarantine (when they come in from abroad) to maintain this situation. (Very awkward if you want to take your pet on holiday abroad!) Being an island helps keep Britain rabies-free.

And, no, we don't normally have screens in doors and windows - I guess insect life in other countries is much more troublesome than it is here!
 
Excuse me, but why is nobody crying "rabies?" Did the girls get shots?
Click to expand...

Yeah, as Ryn says the UK is rabies-free - with the exception of bats, which apparently have not infected other mammals. Hence the very strict rules on importing domestic animals.

I also don't understand about the windows.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure what this relates to. The story is that the fox - if that's what it was - came through open doors.
 
Quake42 said:
I also don't understand about the windows.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure what this relates to. The story is that the fox - if that's what it was - came through open doors.
Click to expand...
I think what Peni was driving at was why there were windows (and / or doors) left open while the family slept in the first place.

In many British inner-cities, houses are in long, unbroken terraces, the back gardens of which directly abut the back gardens of other terraces on neighbouring streets. As a result of this, it's very difficult for any intruder to gain access to the back of a house in the middle of the terrace. However, as many people have hedges or loose fences as boundaries between back gardens, foxes can quite easily pass through.

As few Brit homes have air-con, most resort to natural draughts to cool off, especially at night. In my own home, we often leave windows open, as any would-be burglar would have to either traverse a builders' yard, fifteen gardens, walls, hedges and fences (and dogs) to get to ours, or alternatively walk straight through the house that corresponds to ours on the neighbouring street, scale a ten foot embankment (we're on a hill) and fight through a hedge and fence to get to our back door. As a result, we feel relatively safe from human intrusion.

In our previous house, we had French windows at the back, and often left them open for much the same reasons, and as Ryn said we don't have mosquitoes etc to deal with so screens are relatively uncommon.
 
And talking of quarantine...

Thousands spent to bring Mauritius dog Dodo to Aberdeen
Page last updated at 05:47 GMT, Friday, 11 June 2010 06:47 UK

An Aberdeen couple have spent thousands of pounds rescuing a stray dog they found while on holiday in Mauritius.

Carol Buyers and her husband Steve found Dodo on a beach last year and feared she would die.

They fed her, got her cared for locally, and now finally have Dodo home with them in Scotland after she spent nine months in quarantine.

Mrs Buyers told BBC Scotland: "She has cost about £4,000 - but she is well worth it."

The couple had taken a last minute break to Mauritius last September to "chill out".

They were taking a walk along a beach when they spotted the thin dog.

Mrs Buyers said: "The minute I set eyes on her there was a connection. It looked like she had days to live. I could not stop thinking about her."

They returned the next day, armed with food and water, to try and find the dog.

They found her lying in rocks, and thought she was dead.

But they fed and watered the stray, and took her back to their hotel before passing her to the Mauritius Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Mrs Buyers said: "I have been thinking about her constantly. It is a huge relief to get her back. It's surreal.

"She's quite nervous. We have already got two dogs and that has helped her settle in.

"There was no choice, we have got to give her a lot of love, she has had a very hard life.

"I feel she remembered us."

They now plan to get Dodo a dog jacket to help her cope with the climate change from Mauritius to Aberdeen.

The couple thanked everyone who made donations to help rescue Dodo.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/nor ... 286718.stm
 
I think what Peni was driving at was why there were windows (and / or doors) left open while the family slept in the first place.
Click to expand...

I must confess I was surprised that they left the back door open in Hackney, your comments on back to back terraces notwithstanding!

In fairness although the children were in bed, the parents were awake watching TV downstairs. So it's not as odd as it sounds when you first hear it.
 
The owl and the (very big) pussy cat: Tiny chick moves into lion's enclosure.... and flies away three days later unhurt
By Daily Mail
Last updated at 7:54 AM on 17th June 2010

His mother must have been filling his head with stories of runcible spoons and pea green boats.
Why else would a tiny owl flutter right up to a great big pussycat for a chat?
Onlookers feared the worst as female Asiatic lion Indu eyed the surprise visitor. And they were stunned when the little owl appeared to be brazenly demanding food from the King of the Jungle.

Luckily for the tiny creature, Indu did not show any interest in her unusual guest.
The owl - who had not yet learned to fly - then spent three days in the enclosure near seven-year-old Indu and her mate Mwamba.

Amazingly she survived and, after several clumsy efforts, eventually managed to take off and fly to safety.

The incredible pictures were taken by retired teacher Sheila Hassanein, 64, who was visiting Paignton Zoo in Devon.
Mrs Hassanein said: 'Someone saw the chick fall out of a tree and it landed right in the lion enclosure. A big group of people quickly gathered round to watch.
'We were all very concerned about the owl as it looks completely helpless in there. It was so tiny compared to the lions.

'At one point one of the lions went over to it and I felt sure she was going to eat it, but she just didn't seem bothered at all.

'The staff couldn't go in there to remove the chick so it was in there for three days before it was able to fly off.
'It was very lucky to escape because I saw a pigeon land in there once and the lion ate it up straight away.' :shock:

A zoo spokesman said visitors were keen for the owlet to be rescued but staff could not allow anyone to enter while the cats were in the paddock.
He said: 'Tawny owls are common and Asiatic lions are endangered but in this picture it's the tawny owlet that looks to be facing extinction as the lion is a deadly carnivore.
'Indu is about one metre at the shoulder, about two metres from head to tail and weighs 180kg. A tawny owl chick weighs just a few grams.'

...

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z0rCTVk0qO
 
The fox-bite meme is spreading:

Toddler 'attacked by fox at school'
A toddler was taken to hospital after he was attacked by a fox at a school, it has been claimed.
Published: 6:45AM BST 21 Jun 2010

The Sun newspaper reported that the three-year-old suffered cuts to his hands and feet when the animal mauled him.

The boy, who has not been named, was treated for bites and scratches and was recovering at home last night, the paper said.

The playground attack comes two weeks after nine-month-old twins were attacked by a fox while they slept in their cots in their East London home.

In the latest attack the boy was thought to have been at a party at the Dorothy Stringer High School in Brighton, East Sussex when he saw the fox.

The boy pulled the animal's tail and was then attacked, the paper claimed, before onlookers pulled the boy free.

An RSPCA inspector was called in but could not catch the creature, it was reported.

A police spokesman said: "The tail of an animal was poking out from a building and the child has apparently grabbed it. The animal turned round and bit the child and ran off."

The attack came just a fortnight after a fox entered the home of Isabella and Lola Koupparis in Hackney.

The twins spent several days in hospital before being allowed home at the end of last week.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... chool.html
 
A police spokesman said: "The tail of an animal was poking out from a building and the child has apparently grabbed it. The animal turned round and bit the child and ran off."
Click to expand...

a dog would also be likely to turn in the child in those circumstances.
 
ramonmercado said:
A police spokesman said: "The tail of an animal was poking out from a building and the child has apparently grabbed it. The animal turned round and bit the child and ran off."
Click to expand...

a dog would also be likely to turn in the child in those circumstances.
Click to expand...

:lol:
"Please sir he pulled my tail!"
 
Pictured: shy badgers eat cornflakes at a hotel
A family of badgers has been photographed at an Isle of Wight hotel, after turning up every night for a bowl of cornflakes.
By Andrew Hough
Published: 7:00AM BST 22 Jun 2010

The usually shy creatures appear in the grounds at 9pm without fail, to eat what has apparently become their favourite breakfast cereal.

It has been a regular occurrence at the five-star Enchanted Manor, near Ventnor, on the Isle of Wight, for the past four years.

Maggie Hilton, who runs the Enchanted Manor with husband Ric, said: "We started putting left-over scraps from breakfast out for the badgers.

"They would grab most of the food and immediately run away to eat it but, strangely, they would stay to eat the cornflakes.

"They seemed calmer when they were eating the cereal and stayed around for much longer."

She added: "They are really fussy and I have tried putting out other cereals but they turn their noses up at them. 8)

"They are really tame and friendly and our guests can't believe their eyes when they creep out of the woods every night and into our garden."

Kellogg's has pledged to supply the hotel with cornflakes for free so the friendly animals don't go hungry. :D

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildli ... hotel.html
 
CarlosTheDJ said:
ramonmercado said:
A police spokesman said: "The tail of an animal was poking out from a building and the child has apparently grabbed it. The animal turned round and bit the child and ran off."
Click to expand...

a dog would also be likely to turn in the child in those circumstances.
Click to expand...

:lol:
"Please sir he pulled my tail!"
Click to expand...

Ok I meant "on". But have you never met a talking dog?
 
ramonmercado said:
CarlosTheDJ said:
ramonmercado said:
A police spokesman said: "The tail of an animal was poking out from a building and the child has apparently grabbed it. The animal turned round and bit the child and ran off."
Click to expand...

a dog would also be likely to turn in the child in those circumstances.
Click to expand...

:lol:
"Please sir he pulled my tail!"
Click to expand...

Ok I meant "on". But have you never met a talking dog?
Click to expand...

:lol:
 
Quote:

A police spokesman said: "The tail of an animal was poking out from a building and the child has apparently grabbed it. The animal turned round and bit the child and ran off."


a dog would also be likely to turn on the child in those circumstances.
Click to expand...

Interestingly the later reports are now spinning the story to say that the child was "reaching for a toy" rather than pulling the fox's tail. Presumably so that the fox looks like a vicious killer, rather than an animal reacting in exactly the way any other creature would under the circumstances.

What is especially ludicrous is that the fact that the playgroup has closed because of the "danger". FFS.
 
Islanders on Shetland to help with 'Viking mice' study
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/scotland/nor ... 403052.stm

house mouse Mice on the island are thought to have originated in Scandinavia

Researchers are appealing to Shetlanders to collect dead mice to help learn more about a Viking link.

Mice on Shetland are believed to originate from Scandinavia, possibly as stowaway passengers in longboats.

Dr Frank Chan, of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Germany, is leading a study to search for genetic clues.

He is asking people to hand dead mice to the Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) Lerwick office.

SNH area officer Jonathan Swale appealed for Shetlanders to hand over any house mice they found in the next two months.

He said: "It's a slightly unusual approach to be asking householders to bring us their dead mice but it is the most practical and straightforward way of providing the research team with genuine Shetland house mice for their study."

Dr Chan added: "Since Darwin's days, natural scientists have been drawn by the unique potential of islands creatures to tell us about how species evolve.

"Their very remoteness makes them ideal natural laboratories, where all kinds of fascinating biology plays out.

"Because house mice adapt to all kinds of environment, we believe they represent our best chance at understanding this process."

Any mice that are handed in will be frozen and sent to Germany for testing.
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top