Young koala at Thailand's Chiang Mai Zoo represents hope for the country's political reconciliation

BANGKOK — A baby koala and a young girl are helping move Thailand toward reconciliation after the country's recent bitter political violence.

Four-year-old Lapassarada Mung-opas submitted the winning entry in a contest to name the baby koala at the Chiang Mai Zoo in northern Thailand. Her suggestion, Prong-dong -- "Reconciliation" -- was picked over 496 other names, including "Ice," "Sugar" and "Lotus."

"The situation now is so dire" that people with political differences "can't look each other in the eye," Nipon Wichairat, the zoo's assistant director, said Wednesday.

"It's a reminder for us to turn to each other," he said, explaining the winning entry.

The girl's grandmother, Lampang Marod, 66, said the family visited the zoo last month during the unrest in Bangkok and didn't take sides in the conflict. "We don't discuss politics," she said.

The koala, or joey, was born last year and recently left her mother's pouch.

Lapassarada, who lives in Nonthaburi, a province just north of Bangkok, will receive 10,000 baht ($307) and lifetime free admission to the zoo for her winning submission.

Navy-trained sea lions, dolphins participate in anti-terrorism training exercises

SAN FRANCISCO — A Navy seal -- actually a sea lion -- took less than a minute to find a fake mine under a pier near AT&T Park.

A dolphin quickly located a terrorist lurking in the black water before another sea lion, using a device carried in its mouth, cuffed the pretend saboteur's ankle so authorities could reel him in.

The specially trained Navy Marine Mammals, based in San Diego, stole the show in a day of anti-terrorism training exercises held at ports throughout California.

More than 3,000 local, state and federal responders are participating in the scenarios that began Tuesday as part of California's annual two-day homeland security and disaster preparedness exercises started by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2004.

The drills include a fake attack on a container ship at the Port of Oakland, a fake bomb explosion at the Port of Redwood City, and fake terrorist attacks in waters off Los Angeles, Long Beach, Sacramento and San Diego.

Coyote-chasing wire fox terrier named spcaLA's Hero Dog of the Year

A 9-year-old wire fox terrier named Ronnie was named local rescue organization spcaLA's Hero Dog of the Year in a ceremony held Tuesday.

Ronnie -- who lives with owners Janis and Eric Christensen and their two other dogs in the Orange County town of Rossmoor -- placed himself between a coyote and Janis, who was holding another of the family's dogs, when the coyote jumped a fence into the Christensens' backyard last August.

The coyote bit Ronnie, leaving him with two puncture wounds to the shoulder; Ronnie bit back and then chased the coyote until it disappeared from view, Eric Christensen told the Orange County Register.

According to the Christensens, such behavior was uncharacteristic of the dog, which, under normal circumstances, is the shyest and most retiring of their pets. That's part of the reason he was chosen to receive the award, according to spcaLA President Madeline Bernstein.

One-third of married women say their pet is a better listener than their spouse, poll finds

Husbands, if you end up in the doghouse, consider it a promotion.

A third of pet-owning married women said their pets are better listeners than their husbands, according to an Associated Press-Petside.com poll released Wednesday. Eighteen percent of pet-owning married men said their pets are better listeners than their wives.

Christina Holmdahl, 40, talks all the time to her cat, two dogs or three horses -- about her husband, naturally.

"Whoever happens to be with me when I'm rambling," said Holmdahl, who's stationed with her husband at Ft. Stewart in Georgia. "A lot of times, I'm just venting about work or complaining about the husband."

She thinks everyone should have a pet to talk to like her horse, Whistle, who's been with her since she was 19.

"We all say things we don't mean when we are upset about stuff," she said. "When we have time to talk it out and rationalize it, we can think about it better and we can calm down and see both sides better."

Alaska dog honored for leading state troopers to his owner's burning building

ANCHORAGE — A dash cam video from the Alaska State Troopers shows a dog leading them through winding back roads to a blazing fire at his owners' property.

The video on the troopers' website shows the German shepherd running to meet the trooper's vehicle, then racing to the house on Caswell Lakes on April 4.

Troopers say Buddy and his owner, 23-year-old Ben Heinrichs, were in the family workshop when a heater ignited chemicals. Heinrichs told Buddy: "We need to get help."

The dog eventually found a trooper responding to a call about the fire.

The State Troopers are presenting a special award Friday to the dog. Buddy will receive an engraved silver-plated dog bowl in Anchorage.

Heinrichs suffered minor flash burns on his face. The workshop was destroyed, but only some window trim on the house was damaged.

-- Associated Press

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WebClawer: Alpaca goes surfing; would-be Totos try out for 'Wizard of Oz' musical; PETA wants mothers to breastfeed to help cows; can animals commit suicide?

-- Bizarre new trend: Surfing with animals. Okay, we will accept that some dogs seem to actually enjoy the sport -- but what of other species that are seemingly less suited to surfing? Like, say, an alpaca? Peruvian surfer Domingo Pianezzi recently made headlines when he surfed a beach near Lima with an alpaca named Pisco. (Apparently some locals reacted positively to the stunt, but others argued that Pianezzi had acted cruelly by making an alpaca -- a mountain-dwelling species related to camels and llamas -- enter the water.) But this wasn't the first time Pianezzi had surfed with an unusual animal, and he's not the first to have done so. "I've surfed with a dog, a parrot, a hamster and a cat, but when I was at a competition in Australia I saw people surfing with kangaroos and koalas," he told an interviewer. "So I thought that, as a Peruvian, it would be interesting to surf with a unique animal that represents Peru." (Reuters)

-- Musical theater composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and talk show host Graham Norton have teamed up for a BBC reality-TV show in which the pair and a panel of judges will cast the role of Dorothy for an upcoming West End production of "The Wizard of Oz." The show also aims to find a talented animal actor to play another iconic Oz role: Toto. About 400 would-be Totos arrived Tuesday for a rigorous two-day audition in the English county of Warwickshire. Among the tasks they had to complete to be considered for the part: Walking on a leash for about 15 minutes. (Doesn't sound so hard, but dogs who stopped walking, barked or jumped up were immediately eliminated from the competition.) Forty were asked back for the second day of auditions, and the top 10 will appear on the BBC show this Saturday. According to instructions provided to the animals' owners, "the Toto panel are looking for a true star. The winning doggy will have bags of personality and not be afraid to show it off." In other words, a latter-day Skippy. (Telegraph)

Disabled Pennsylvania man's service dog not eligible for food stamp benefits, court rules

Food stamps won't be helping a disabled man fill his service dog's food bowl.

James Douris lost a key court decision Tuesday in his yearlong effort to qualify his male boxer, who is fed everything Douris eats, as a dependent member of his household in calculating food stamp benefits.

A three-judge Commonwealth Court panel upheld an earlier Department of Public Welfare's determination that the dog was ineligible because he is not human.

"This court is sympathetic to [Douris'] argument that his service dog is a necessity for him due to his disability, and that he lacks the funds to properly feed his service dog," wrote Judge Renee Cohn Jubelirer. "We hope that there is some other state or federal program that might provide for the maintenance and upkeep of [the] dog."

Douris, 55, a resident of Newtown in the Philadelphia suburbs, is a disabled and unemployed veteran who lives alone and relies on the dog to pull his wheelchair and fetch items. Although Douris has represented himself in the legal proceedings, he said Tuesday that news of his case prompted lawyers to offer their help, and he plans to appeal the decision.

In tough economic times, police departments struggle to keep their K-9 units afloat

One hundred sheriff's deputies and 400 part-time deputies were laid off. SWAT officers were ordered back to the streets. Narcotics and gang units were disbanded. Helicopters were grounded.

K-9 survived.

To absorb more than $30 million in losses, the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department had to focus almost exclusively on answering 911 calls, but police dogs and their handlers survived the cuts. It's a scenario that is playing out among the thousands of K-9 teams across the country that have survived deep budget cuts to stay on the job.

In part that's because dogs are winning the popularity contest. In a few towns where cutbacks targeted K-9 dogs, citizens rallied to raise money to keep the animals at work. They've even had help from celebrity friends such as Ozzy Osbourne, who donated a K-9 dog to the Muncie Police Department in Indiana in September.

But there are other advantages to keeping animals on the job. They protect the officers they work with, do jobs that people can't and use bites, not bullets.

Neil Patrick Harris to narrate documentary about service dogs for PBS

Neil Patrick Harris is the narrator of a PBS documentary exploring the bond between service dogs and those they help.

Harris recorded the narration this week for "Through a Dog's Eyes," which is set to air next month.

The film details how dogs learn to serve people with disabilities and how animals and humans are paired. An Iraqi veteran who became a quadriplegic after a car accident and a 6-year-old with cerebral palsy are among those featured in the film.

The "How I Met Your Mother" star says he was impressed by the strong emotional connection between the service animals and those who rely on them. He owns two dogs.

"Through a Dog's Eyes" debuts April 21 on PBS stations.

-- Associated Press

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Photo: Neil Patrick Harris records audio for "Through a Dog's Eyes" on March 2 in Burbank, Calif. Credit: Rene Macura / Associated Press

Bomb-sniffing Labrador honored in U.K. for his services in Afghanistan

LONDON — A perky British Labrador whose bomb-sniffing exploits helped save lives in Afghanistan was decorated for canine courage in a ceremony at London's Imperial War Museum on Wednesday.

Eight-year-old Treo joins a menagerie of heroic animals honored over the years with a special award known as the Dickin medal, including 32 pigeons, three horses and a cat.

Sgt. Dave Heyhoe, the black Lab's handler, said he was "very proud indeed," adding the award was not just for him and his dog but "for every dog and handler that's working out in Afghanistan or Iraq."

Treo merely flicked out his rosy tongue as he and Heyhoe posed for photographs with the silvery medal. He squirmed as the medal was fitted around his neck.

The military nominated Treo for the prize in recognition of his help uncovering a series of Taliban bombs during his time serving in Helmand Province, an insurgency hot spot, in 2008. The Labrador is the medal's 63rd recipient since its inception in 1943, according to the People's Dispensary for Sick Animals, the charity that awards the prize.