Florida battles slimy invasion by giant snails

South Florida is fighting a growing infestation of one of the world’s most destructive invasive species: the giant African land snail, which can grow as big as a rat and gnaw through stucco and plaster.
More than 1,000 of the mollusks are being caught each week in Miami-Dade and 117,000 in total since the first snail was spotted by a homeowner in September 2011, said Denise Feiber, a spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
Residents will soon likely begin encountering them more often, crunching them underfoot as the snails emerge from underground hibernation at the start of the state’s rainy season in just seven weeks, Feiber said.
The snails attack “over 500 known species of plants - pretty much anything that’s in their path and green,” Feiber said. More

Police stop 6-year-old driver heading for Chinese food

Illinois – Police in Lapeer responded to an unusual phone call Saturday morning from  drivers on M-24 who reported a vehicle driving erratically.
“They told police when they called that it looked like a 6-year-old was  driving the car,” said Sgt. Andy Engster of the Lapeer County Sheriff’s  Department. “And they were exactly right.”
By the time police arrived to pull over the six-year-old boy, two drivers of  other vehicles had already boxed him into a turnaround, said Engster. One  reached into the window and pulled the keys out of the ignition.
When police asked the boy why he took the car, he told them he was going to  get Chinese food. More

Couple too scared to leave home – terrorized by an angry pheasant

Vandalizing cars, attacking the elderly and head-butting windows.
Phil has become notorious in his home village. Phil is a very territorial pheasant.
Residents of Wentnor in Shropshire spoke of their despair yesterday at the bird’s behaviour, with some saying they can’t leave their home for fear of being pecked and chased.
Experts said this is probably because Phil  has become confused, seeing  her as a rival male pheasant.
Sally-Ann Hudson, a medical secretary,  said: “Sometimes I go from one room into another, and he will run round  the outside of the house following my movements. “
“He even tries to get into the house – it’s  like something from a Hitchcock film. 
Residents of Wentnor in Shropshire spoke of their despair yesterday at the bird’s behaviour, with some saying they can’t leave their home for fear of being pecked and chased. More

Dead hamster rises from the grave

England – Over the Easter weekend, one pet in Painswick, England was literally getting  into the holiday spirit – after she rose from the grave on Good Friday.
Tink, a 2-year-old hamster, was found lifeless in her cage by Lisa  Kilbourne-Smith, 23, and her boyfriend James Davis, 24, who were watching her  for a friend, Stroud News and Journal reported.
Believing Tink to be dead, the couple phoned the hamster’s owner about the  news.  They then wrapped the hamster in a paper towel and buried her one  foot below the surface in a flower bed.
The next day, on Good Friday,  Tink had eaten her way out of the paper  towel and dug out of the soil. Tink was discovered by Lisa’s father Les while he was in the garden, crushing  boxes to recycle.
According to veterinarians, it was likely that Tink was hibernating, a common  practice for hamsters. More

Man wants to be reimbursed after dog eats $500

Montana – A Montana man whose 12-year-old golden retriever ate five $100 bills hopes to  be reimbursed by the federal government.
Wayne Klinkel tells the Independent Record that his dog Sundance ate the  bills while he and his wife were on a road trip to visit their daughter.
Klinkel says he carefully picked through the dog’s droppings, and his  daughter recovered more when snow melted.
He says he washed the remnants of the bills and taped them together and sent  them to the Treasury Department’s Bureau of Engraving and Printing with an  explanation of what happened. More

Baby seal found in forest four miles from sea

Sweden - A baby seal has been discovered in a forest four miles away from the coast by a perplexed walker. A member of the public was strolling through Uppsala in Sweden when they made the shock discovery. Officials are baffled as to how the animal got there. A somewhat confused person called and said he was out walking in the woods where he had found a seal pup. I thought he was joking at first, the local policeman Henrik Pederson said. More

Dog Runs Over Pedestrian With Car

Pennsylvania – Police say a dog that was left in an unattended vehicle pushed it into drive and the car struck a pedestrian in central Pennsylvania.
West York Police say the accident happened shortly before 11:30 a.m. and the pedestrian was found lying in the street.
The York Daily Record reports police say the car had been left running when the dog inside knocked it into gear, causing it to slowly drive away.
Police say the unnamed pedestrian tried to stop the car before it hit a parked truck, but was unsuccessful and was caught between the two vehicles. 

Woman tries to burn snake – Snake burns her house down

BOWIE COUNTY, Texas – Authorities believe a homeowner’s response to finding a snake in her yard may have led to the fire that destroyed her house.
The fire sparked at a home in Bowie County just before 7 p.m.
“While cleaning up, she saw snake, threw gasoline on the snake, lit the snake on fire,” said Deputy Randall Baggett with the Bowie County Sheriff’s Office.
“The snake went into the brush pile and the brush pile caught the home on fire.”
Despite the efforts of several fire departments that responded to the scene, the flames completely engulfed the home.
It is a complete loss.
A neighboring home was also damaged on one side. More

There’s a theater in Russia where all the actors are cats

The Moscow Cat Theater is a traveling circus that showcases cats.
Creative  director Vladimir and his daughter, Maria, train the cats from birth. They have  one cat who continually has litters, yielding them an abundant amount of cats to  work with.
The circus travels around Russia showcasing cats walking on  tightropes, walking across the stage balancing on balls, and walking upside  down.
Vladimir says his wife hates all the cats running around, but he and his  daughter love them.
Maria learns under her father who trains the cats and comes  up with the tricks. Often times they simply get to know the cat, who does  something crazy, and they then train it to continue to do it.
In Russia, the cat theater is a common thing to see, but elsewhere it is very  rare. It is a common misconception that cats are not trainable, and this theater  just proves it’s wrong.

Missing boy, 3, was protected by his dog

South Dakota – A Custer toddler and his loyal sidekick, a pet pit bull, embarked on a backyard adventure but caused a panic when they wandered too far into the hills and prompted an all-out search by authorities.
After the boy, 3, went missing from his home on Little Italy Road in Custer, his mother made a panicked phone call to police.
The boy was missing for nearly an hour before police found him unharmed in the woods and protected by his large brown pit bull.
Custer County Sheriff Rick Wheeler said after an intense search they came upon the boy, but Wheeler couldn’t go near him because the dog would not allow it. The dog did not become overly aggressive, but Wheeler knew better than to go any closer.
“He was showing me that this was not my area,” said Wheeler. “I know that look.” More

Boy shows mom how to do CPR, saving infant’s life

Georgia – A 9-year-old boy and his 10-year-old friend are being hailed as heroes after helping a woman whose baby stopped breathing. One boy gave instructions on how to CPR while the other boy waited for an ambulance.
Susanna Rohm said that she was holding her 2-month-old son Isaiah in her lap when she realized something was wrong.
“I noticed he looked pale and so I looked at his arm and his leg and they  were limp,” said Rohm. “Then I noticed that he looked like he wasn’t alive.”
Scared and home alone, the Marietta mother couldn’t remember how to give CPR.
She jumped up and lost her cellphone in the commotion. There wasn’t a landline  in the house, so she stepped outside to get help.
Ethan Wilson and Rocky Hurt were tossing a football in a front yard. Rocky then ran over to help.
“He came in and I had my hand on my baby’s chest just screaming and the little boys said, ‘put two fingers on his stomach,’” said Susanna.  ”He  said, ‘press down five times,’ so I did five compressions, and then he said,  ‘breathe in his mouth.’”
After a few minutes little Isaiah belted out a loud cry. An ambulance arrived  moments later.

School is dealing with a bat infestation

Texas – A school in Brazoria County is dealing with a bat infestation, and it has been that way for months.
At Freeport Intermediate School, some students say the bats are bouncing off the walls.
“They’re in the hallways chasing people,” 8th grader Ariana Burton-Hobbs said.
“That’s not safe for kids coming to school if they’re chasing people.”
Many students have pictures on their cell phones showing just how close the bats have come.
Because bats are protected by state and federal regulations, extracting them is slow and delicate. And more keep coming. More

Harry Potter published because of an 8-year-old girl

The first several publishers author J.K. Rowling tried rejected it outright, all for the reason: It was far too long for a children’s book.
Anyway, deciding that she needed an agent, Rowling thumbed through a directory and chose Christopher Little because the name sounded like a character in a children’s book.
She shipped her manuscript off to Little’s office, where it met a familiar fate: An assistant tossed it straight into the rejection pile because Little thought that children’s books didn’t make any money.
Eventually Rowling’s illustrations caught the eye of Little’s assistant while she was sending out the rejections.
Finally, Little shipped it off to Bloomsbury Publishing, where chairman Nigel Newton agreed to look at it as a personal favor.
Newton then did something that apparently never occurred to other children’s book publishers, which was to show it to an actual child.
He offhandedly tossed the manuscript to his 8-year-old daughter, who devoured it in hours and came back to him demanding more.

Horse escapes from her stable, falls down a giant drain

Czech Republic – Startled passers-by dialed emergency services when they saw the trapped horse’s head sticking out of the hole in Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic.
Fire service spokesman Martin Kasal explained: “The problem was that the horse was so firmly wedged into the drain, that it was very difficult to get any kind of harness around her.”
“So we had to dig very gently to widen the hole and then fix up a harness we made ourselves attached to a builder’s digger,” he added.
The mud-covered mare was then checked over by vets before being taken back to her nearby stables – muddy but OK. More

Fox found living at top of Europe`s tallest skyscraper

In February 2011, the staff discovered the fox on the 72nd floor of the Shard building at London Bridge, 944 feet above the ground. The animal, nicknamed Romeo by staff, entered the building through a central stairwell before climbing to the top. It was living off scraps left by builders. Pest controllers from Southwark Council eventually caught the fox after two weeks and took it to an animal sanctuary. It has since been released near London Bridge. The fox was first spotted by a crane driver at the beginning of the month. Les Leonard, a pest controller, said: "At first I didn`t believe it was up there, I thought it must be a hoax. I`ve got a fear of heights and getting the hoist lift from the 35th floor to the 72nd was terrifying. 

Mouse attacked snake that killed his friend

China - A mouse at Hangzhou Zoo in China has been give its freedom after zookeepers witnessed it attack a venomous snake to save its friend. "We always give the snakes live food, and we put the two mice into the snake enclosure. But instead of trying to hide like they usually do, one of the mice attacked the snake when it saw it trying to eat the other mouse. I have never seen anything like that before," keeper Wen Shao said. Sadly, the mouse`s buddy died. More

Do not under any circumstances talk to my parrot

A woman`s dishwasher had stopped working, so she called a repairman. He couldn`t accommodate her with an evening appointment, and since she had to go to work the next day, she told him "I`ll leave the key under the mat. Fix the dishwasher, leave the bill on the counter, and I`ll mail you the check. By the way, don`t worry about my Rottweiler. He won`t bother you. But, whatever you do, do not under any circumstances talk to my parrot!" When the repairman arrived at her apartment the next day, he discovered the biggest and meanest looking Rottweiler he had ever seen. Like she had said, the dog just lay there on the carpet, watching the repairman go about his business. However, the whole time he was there, the parrot drove him nuts with its incessant squawking and talking. Finally the repairman couldn`t stand the parrot`s talking any longer and he told the bird to SHUT UP! The parrot replied, "Get him, Brutus!"

Zoo workers dress as gorillas to play mom to abandoned bab

Ohio - Some zoo workers in Cincinnati are wearing all-black outfits, grunting affectionately, and generally imitating mother gorillas to help the month-old baby adjust to a new home and get ready for a surrogate mother. Later, they will don hairy vests and carry baby Gladys on their backs, put on kneepads and gloves to move around like a gorilla, and they might knuckle-walk and climb a tree with baby on board. Even though some of Gladys` mamas have beards and moustaches, they are trying to give her a mother`s love, as much like a gorilla as they are able. They cuddle her, let her hang on them or squirm in their laps, lie down next to her and talk to her with different guttural sounds. More