Swan rescued after beak freezes shut

China – Chinese officials came to the rescue of a swan who dozed off near a river and awoke to find her beak frozen shut.

A shocked couple discovered the swan while feeding ducks near the Peacock River in Korla.

“My wife and I had been having a coffee in one of the riverside cafes when we decided to take a stroll along the river and feed the ducks,” Yong Hsieh told CEN. “As we walked towards them, we saw the swan, but as we got closer, we noticed its beak was covered with ice.”

Yong, 27, said he and his wife tossed some bread into the water, “But the swan couldn’t even open its beak.” More

Knitting needle removed from puppy’s heart

North Carolina – Veterinarians in North Carolina said they were able to successfully a knitting needle that pierced the heart of a 17-week-old papillon puppy.

Dr. Jennifer Myers, a veterinary cardiologist at Triangle Veterinary Referral Hospital in Durham, said Tutti the 10-pound puppy’s owners brought her in on New Year’s Eve with the needle protruding from her chest.

They said the dog had fallen onto the object at their Durham home.

Dr. Myers said X-ray and ultrasound images showed the needle had pierced Tutti’s heart. More

Man Caught Trying To Smuggle 94 iPhones Strapped To His Body Into China

China – Turns out, iPhones are expensive in China.

Expensive enough to inspire people into strapping dozens of the things to themselves in sheets of plastic armour and trying to make it through customs.

These photos have emerged on a Chinese social media site of a man who reportedly tried to go through Futian Port in China with 94 iPhones strapped to his body.

The man was apparently identified only by his gait – he had a ” “weird walking posture, joint stiffness, muscle tension” and — when forced through a metal detector — tons and tons of Apple hardware around his waist. More

Woman, 73, attacked by a rabid raccoon as she petted it thinking it was her cat

Massachusetts - A 73-year-old woman was dozing in her bed when she reached out to stroke what she thought was her beloved pet cat only to discover it was a rabid raccoon.

The wild creature had climbed onto Ginny Ballou's face as she slept, before launching a vicious attack that left her covered with gashes and puncture wounds.

It had managed to sneak in through the door meant for pet cat Pretty Boy at the house in Hingham, Mass.

'She had been sleeping on her bed and she thought it was a cat and she went to pet it and found out it was a raccoon,' Sgt. Steven Dearth of the Hingham Police Department told ABC News. More

Woman booted from a US Airways flight – her pig on a leash was stinking up the cabin

Connecticut  - A woman was booted from a US Airways flight in Connecticut because her pet pig was pacing around and stinking up the cabin, passengers said on Friday.

Other travelers saw the woman with a dark-colored duffle bag over her shoulder, when she boarded the plane on Wednesday, they said.

But it turned out to be a 70-pound pot-bellied pig, which became “disruptive” before the plane took off, a spokesman for the airline told ABC News.

“Turns out, it wasn’t a duffel bag. We could smell it — and it was a pig on a leash,” passenger Jonathan Skolnik, a professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, told ABC. More

Elderly Woman Saved By Rottweilers

UK – A shivering woman who was stuck in a field for more than 15 hours was saved by a family of Rottweilers..

The 80-year-old woman was trapped in a bush on a school playing field after losing her footing. She was in danger of being stranded all night when David Malt took his four giant Rottweilers for a late stroll.

As soon as he let them off their lead they made a beeline for the spot where the woman was lying. David suspected they had found something and went to investigate.

He found Tillie, Billy, Gerrard and May sat with the elderly lady, with one of the gentle giants licking her. More

Circus dyed two chow-chow dogs’ hair to pass them off as pandas

Italy – The owner of an Italian travelling circus has been charged with the use of false documents after it was discovered that two pandas in his show were, in fact, chow chow puppies that had been dyed.

A spokeswoman for the forestry corps, which in Italy deals with many of the offences involving animals, said audience members were encouraged to pay to have their photograph taken with the fake pandas.

“It happened regularly before the start of the show,” she said.

The circus was visiting Brescia near Milan when the ruse was uncovered. Forest rangers, including members of the corps’ investigative unit, raided the circus accompanied by vets. More

Robot newsreader unveiled in Japan

Japan – Scientists have unveiled what they claim is the first newsreading android – with a sense of humour to match her language skills.

The adolescent-looking “Kodomoroid” – an amalgamation of the Japanese word “kodomo” (child) and “android” – delivered news of an earthquake and an FBI raid to reporters in Tokyo.

She even poked fun at her creator, telling robotics professor Hiroshi Ishiguro: “You’re starting to look like a robot!”

As the line between humans and machines continued to blur, Ishiguro’s mechanical newscaster performed tongue-twisters, to the amazement of their human counterparts. More

Police call in bomb expert to ‘defuse’ toy lightsaber

Alaska – A plastic toy lightsaber discarded on a road in Alaska caused a bomb scare, prompting local police to dispatch a bomb expert.

An unidentified Juneau resident became suspicious of an object on the side of the road.

Rather than call 911, the concerned citizen phoned the Juneau Police Department’s business line to report the mystery.

Not taking any chances, a member of the force with formal Explosive Ordnance Disposal training was dispatched, and quickly realized he was sent to contain a plastic Star Wars toy. More

Dog sneaks onto ambulance to be close to owner

Texas – Without the drivers knowing, a dog hitched a ride on the outside of an ambulance to accompany his owner to a hospital in Texas.

Mason County EMS were transporting an elderly man to the hospital when, 20 miles into their journey, they were told by another driver that a dog had leaped onto the small side step of the ambulance, according to The Standard-Times.

The almost 40-pound Beagle mix, Buddy, just wanted to be close to his owner JR Nicholson.

One of the EMT’s told the Standard-Times that they had no choice but to bring the dog into the ambulance and hospital. More