Ohio man, charged with a misdemeanor for allegedly barking at a police dog, claims 'the dog started it'

MASON, Ohio — Police say an Ohio man has been charged with a misdemeanor for barking at a police dog.

A police report says 25-year-old Ryan James Stephens was charged with teasing a police dog in the Cincinnati suburb of Mason.

Officer Bradley Walker wrote that he heard the K9 unit dog barking uncontrollably inside his patrol car while he was investigating a traffic accident at a pub early Sunday morning. Walker says Stephens was making barking noises and hissing at the animal.

Walker reported that Stephens, when asked why he was harassing the animal, said, "The dog started it." The officer said Stephens appeared to be highly intoxicated.

Stephens could not be reached for comment. He is to appear April 21 in municipal court.

MORE IDEAS TO AVOID:
• Drunk Australian man is injured while trying to pet 16-foot saltwater crocodile
• Man arrested for drunkenness after giving mouth-to-mouth to roadkill

-- Associated Press

Woman, charged with animal cruelty for trying to ship a puppy in a sealed box, asks for the puppy back

The Minneapolis woman recently charged with animal cruelty for attempting to mail a live puppy to Georgia in a sealed box asked for the animal to be returned to her in a hearing Monday.

Stacey Champion, 39, has said she intended to give the puppy, named Guess, as a birthday gift for her 11-year-old son in Atlanta. She claimed at the hearing that she made attempts to provide for Guess' welfare by punching air holes in the box and placing water bottles in it, but postal officials denied the presence of water bottles and said the holes were covered with packing tape, negating their purpose.

Postal workers reportedly noticed the box moving on its own and heard noises coming from inside when Champion brought it for shipment. Champion admitted telling a postal clerk that the box contained a "toy robot" to account for its movement, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Because the puppy didn't arrive in Atlanta as she planned, "I was deprived of my son not receiving his gift for his birthday," Champion said at the hearing. "I felt really, really bad as a mom."

Administrative hearing officer Fabian Hoffner denied Champion's request to have Guess returned to her, saying he doubted her ability to provide proper care for him. (You think?) For now, the puppy remains at a Minneapolis-area animal shelter. Multiple potential new owners have expressed interest in adopting the 4-month-old poodle mix, but he won't be made available for adoption until the conclusion of Champion's animal cruelty case unless she fails to pay a bond to provide for his care.

RELATED ANIMAL CRUELTY NEWS:
• San Diego County groups to offer rewards for information in animal cruelty cases
• U.K. 'Cat Bin Lady' pleads guilty to animal cruelty charge for dumping cat in trash bin

-- Lindsay Barnett

Video: Minneapolis Star Tribune

Oklahoma man's attempt to break his poodle out of the pound lands him in jail

HYDRO, Okla. — An elderly Oklahoma man landed himself in jail after using bolt cutters to break his prized pooch out of the pound.

Instead of paying a $100 fine for not having his poodle on a leash, 73-year-old Edwin Fry of Hydro decided to bust Buddy Tough out. Authorities say Fry drove his lawnmower to the city pound Oct. 13 and broke into the cage with bolt cutters. The pair were intercepted by police.

Officer Chris Chancellor told The Oklahoman newspaper that police had received numerous complaints about Buddy Tough, who had been in the pound before. He says Fry had been told he could retrieve the dog and sort out the fine in court.

Fry spent several days in jail and faces a municipal charge of allowing an animal to run at large. Buddy Tough was euthanized while Fry was in jail.

RELATED STRANGE PET NEWS:
Labrador who ate an entire beehive wins pet insurance company's award for oddest claim
Russian diver attempts to teach his dachshund to scuba dive

-- Associated Press

Canadian bears aren't very good watchdogs for weed

The idea was simple --  if not simple-minded: grow marijuana in the woods near Christina Lake, British Columbia, and use wild bears to keep away law enforcement (and poachers). Keep the bears happy by feeding them dog food. Let Mother Nature do her thing, and later profit!

Sure enough, the Mounties arrived and on cue the dozen-or-so bears greeted the visitors. But instead of chasing away the law, the bears just played around with the cop car and wandered off.

"They were tame, they just sat around watching. At one point one of the bears climbed onto the hood of a police car, sat there for a bit and then jumped off," Royal Canadian Mounted Police Sgt. Fred Mansveld told the BBC.

Just another half-baked plot that went up in smoke as two people were arrested on the pot plantation that was yielding over 2,000 marijuana plants.

Drunk Australian man is injured while trying to pet 16-foot saltwater crocodile

PERTH, Australia — A man ejected from a pub in Australia broke into a zoo and climbed onto the back of a crocodile named Fatso, which bit him on the leg but then let him go. Police say they're surprised the croc didn't inflict worse damage.

The 36-year-old man, who police said had just been thrown out of a pub for being drunk, told officials he scaled the barbed wire fence surrounding the Broome Crocodile Park in remote northwest Australia on Monday night because he wanted to give the 16-foot Fatso a pat.

"He has attempted to sit on its back and the croc has taken offense to that and has spun around and bit him on the right leg," Broome Police Sgt. Roger Haynes said.

The saltwater crocodile then inexplicably let the man go, and he climbed back over the fence to safety, police said.

The man, who was a tourist from eastern Australia and whose name was not released, suffered some "very nasty lacerations" and was taken to a hospital, Haynes said.

Postal workers wondering about wiggling package bound for Puerto Rico find ferret

Postal authorities in Lynchburg, Va., discovered a ferret after checking out a package marked for overnight delivery to Puerto Rico that started moving on its own.

Postal workers contacted a postal inspector after they spotted the wiggling package.

After trying unsuccessfully to track down the sender, the inspector got a search warrant and the next day animal control officers opened the box.

Inside they found the ferret, which was accompanied by a cage, toys and food.

The Roanoke Valley SPCA named the ferret Stamps and put it up for adoption and this week, Craig Bradley and his wife took the ferret home.

They’re the cofounders of the Big Lick Ferret Shelter & Hospice.

-- Associated Press

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Baby bunnies rescued from Downtown L.A. streets

The bunnies sat in stacked cages on the downtown sidewalk. They nibbled on lettuce as passers-by stopped to pet them. How much? A young woman cheerfully named her price. ($20 is the going rate.)

"No photographs," she said, passing a hand in front of a rabbit as a photographer snapped pictures.

On a sunny Saturday, she scanned the throngs coursing along Maple Avenue toward 12th Street, en route to the Santee Alley shopping bazaar.

Suddenly, she gasped. She and other vendors whisked black garbage bags over the cages, grabbed them and anything else they could carry and scurried off.

In seconds, they were swarmed by half a dozen yellow-shirted Business Improvement District security officers and a Los Angeles police officer. A bucket of turtles ended up dropped in the middle of 12th Street.

Security officer Alondra Alonzo tussled with one vendor, wresting a bag of rabbits from her grip. The vendor, annoyed, walked off with a single rabbit.

Man arrested for drunkenness after giving mouth-to-mouth to roadkill

Far be it from us to be opposed to giving aid to an opossum, but this is ridiculous.

A Pennsylvania man was arrested Thursday for public drunkenness. How did police know he probably wasn't truly sober? Because he was spotted trying to resuscitate a dead possum at the side of the road.

State police Trooper Jamie Levier says several witnesses saw 55-year-old Donald Wolfe of Brookville near the animal Thursday along Route 36 in Oliver Township, about 65 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, according to the Associated Press

Levier said that a witness watched Wolfe perform what appeared to be a seance over the roadkill, while a second witness watched the man conduct mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to the lifeless marsupial.  

-- Tony Pierce

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Photo:  An unrelated young possum sits on the hand of care-giver Anna Reams of Simi Valley. Credit: Carlos Chavez / Los Angeles Times

'Healing' through snail mucus: Um, we think we'll pass

MIAMI — Devotees of a Miami man who claims to practice a traditional African religion say they were sickened when they had to ingest the mucus of a giant African snail.

Federal authorities in January raided Charles L. Stewart's home after receiving complaints. Stewart has not been criminally charged, but prosecutors and state and federal wildlife agencies are investigating. The giant African snail is prohibited in the U.S. without special approval.

Experts say it devastates new ecosystems. The snail grows up to 10 inches long, can reproduce on its own and even can even eat plaster.

Stewart tells The Miami Herald he means no harm, and his religion uses the snails in healing ceremonies.

Followers said they got violently ill, losing weight and developing strange lumps in their stomachs.

-- Associated Press

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Grandmother loses two fingers after attempting to feed bear at zoo

Police say a bear bit off a woman's fingers at a Wisconsin zoo after she ignored barriers and warning signs to try to feed the animal.

The Lincoln Park Zoo in Manitowoc closed after the incident Friday morning. Police say the 47-year-old woman lost a thumb and a forefinger, and two other fingers were partially severed.

The woman's boyfriend was bitten as he tried to pry the bear's mouth off her hand, but he didn't lose any fingers. Her 3-year-old granddaughter wasn't injured.

It's unclear which of two Asiatic black bears bit the women when she put her hand through their enclosure's fence. Police tell the Herald Times Reporter the bears likely won't be euthanized.

Manitowoc is about 80 miles north of Milwaukee.

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-- Associated Press