A West Virginia man is in trouble with the law after wildlife officials found two deer living in his home.

West Virginia Natural Resources Police received a complaint July 4 that deer were living inside the home.

Officers found two bucks in the house and said it looked as if they had lived there for about a year, WCMH reported.

It is illegal in West Virginia to confine or secure wild animals where they can't roam free, or come and go as they please, West Virginia Natural Resources said.

(The deer were set free.)

Meanwhile, next door neighbours Bullwinkle Moose and Rocky the Flying Squirrel said they didn't know what all the fuss was about!

http://www.wpxi.com/news/news/weird-news/man-charged-after-deer-found-living-his-home/nmtLd/

--------------------------------

Is this squirrel behind the theft of 28,000 pounds of nuts?

Probably not, but that didn't stop a Michigan police department from having a little fun with a recent Facebook post.
According to the Shelby Township Police Department, a semitractor and trailer loaded with 18 pallets of snack nuts recently was stolen in the area.
Although the truck and trailer were eventually found, the nuts – worth an estimated $128,000 – are still missing.

To spread the word, the department issued a BOLO – "be on the lookout" – about the case, complete with a photo of a criminal critter.

http://www.whio.com/news/news/weird-news/police-hope-squirrel-mugshot-will-help-crack-case-/nmtKc/?icmp=cmgcontent_internallink_relatedcontent_2014_partners5

------------------------------------

A Calgary bird who lost his feet to frostbite is now walking thanks to a pair of artificial talons, created on a 3D printer.

Left with just stumps and unable to walk, 'Foghorn' the footless rooster was discovered earlier this year by the city's animal and bylaw services.
When Dr. Daniel Pang, an assistant professor in the University of Calgary's Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, heard about the rooster's condition, he wanted to help. Pang's area of research is in small animal pain and welfare.
"I immediately thought of Dr. Mark Ungrin as I knew he had a 3D printer in his laboratory and he might be able to design and create prosthetic feet for the rooster," he said, in a release.

The two veterinarians put their noggins together, and brought in an undergraduate mechanical engineering student to help manufacture the fake feet.

Douglas Kondro, who specializes in biomedical engineering, began by taking some molds of Foghorn's stubs and scanned them to make a computer model.
Then he got his hands of some wild turkey talons and repeated the process.
"I printed off the stumps and printed off the new feet and painted them with silicone so they'd be sturdy but flexible and soft for the rooster," said Kondro, in a release.
"The first ones didn't work. He couldn't really walk and kept falling over so I was pretty disappointed," he said.
But Kondro's version 2.0 of the prosthetic rooster feet were a success and he strapped them on the plucky bird.
"It was pretty exciting to see him strut around."
"This was a very interdisciplinary project," said Dr. Ungrin.
"Even though things started out purely by chance, this collaboration is really a very good example of how clinical sciences can tie in with basic researchers and solve a very real and very acute problem," said Pang.
Foghorn the rooster was adopted by a family and is enjoying his new feet on an acreage near Didsbury.

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/footless-calgary-rooster-walks-again-141817162.html

------------------------------------------

The world's monitored seabird population has dropped 70 percent since the 1950s, a stark indication that marine ecosystems are not doing well, says a study.
Researchers compiled information of 500 seabird populations from around the world, representing 19 percent of the global seabird population and found that overall population had declined by 69.6 percent, equivalent to a loss of about 230 million birds in 60 years.

"Seabirds are particularly good indicators of the health of marine ecosystems," said co-author Michelle Paleczny, University of British Columbia's master's student and one of the researcher.
"When we see this magnitude of seabird decline, we can see there is something wrong with marine ecosystems. It gives us an idea of the overall impact we have," Paleczny said.
The study, published in Plos One, is the first to estimate overall change in available global seabird population data.

http://www.canadastandard.com/index.php/sid/234634539

---------------------------------------------

A southern Ontario woman with dozens of cats is searching for a place to live after finding out her rented home was going to be sold.
Liza Nelson found out at the end of May that the house in the village of Staples, Ont., approximately 50 kilometres southeast of Windsor, will be sold. She was told she would have to find a new place to live.
Nelson has been searching for months for a new place to rent, but is struggling to find a homeowner willing to accommodate the 64 cats she plans to bring with her.

Unable to find a home for her and her cats, Nelson issued a public plea.
"I don't need someone to pay our rent and I don't need someone to pay for our food. I don't need any of that," Nelson said through tears.
"I just need some place to go."
Most of Nelson's cats were rescued. One had a broken tail and cigarette burns all over its body, while another had visible damage to its ears. Others were found starving and abandoned, and are still recovering.
She said she first started rescuing cats more than 10 years ago, after coming out of an abusive relationship.
"Who better understands the abuse, the abandonment and neglect?" she asked.
Nelson said if she can't find a home for the cats, she'll be forced to take them to a shelter. She said she's worried they will be euthanized because of their medical conditions.
"If you think about your child, your husband, your pet, and...how much they mean to you, and think about losing them, and multiply that pain by 64, that's what I'm feeling right now."
Melanie Coulter of the Windsor-Essex Humane Society said any shelter, rescue group or other organization Nelson may be able to work with would struggle with the number of cats.
Coulter said the Humane Society has visited Nelson's home in the past and has approved of the care and living conditions.
Nelson was told in May that she'd have to move out on July 11, and said she'll be living in her truck until she finds a home. She said she hopes she'll be able to find a place before she has to bring the cats to a shelter.
"If you put them down you might as well put me down too because they're my heart, they're my purpose and my reason."

---------------------------------------------

And finally:

Posted By: Dattatreya Mandal July, 2015

A small act of kindness can result in heroic deeds – this is proven by a stray dog who traversed through forests, rivers and trails just to follow a Swedish team competing in a long endurance race in Ecuador, back in November last year. The incredible adventure started when the team was taking a quick meal at one of the points of the arduous race that covers a whopping 430 miles (688 km) through the Amazonian jungles. During this very short interval, one of the team members Mikael Lindnord observed a stray dog with its shabby bearing, and at once took pity and offered him a meatball. And there was where the ‘deal was sealed’, with the dog proving to be an unflinching companion to the Swedish team as they took part in the grueling progress through the wild over a day-and-night cycle.

The long path was obviously riddled with danger and sticky mud, but the dog (who was by then named as Arthur) was steadfast in its will to follow the members. There was even a time when the team had to cross a river-area with the aid of a kayak – and Arthur followed them by swimming. This is how the day ended, according to the participants –

The organization gave the advice not to bring dog Arthur out on the last leg — a dog in the kayak didn’t seem like a great idea — and the team was going to follow this advice. Mike, Simon, Staffan and Karen put their kayaks down in the water and set off, but Arthur refused to be left and started swimming. This was too heartbreaking for the team, and Mikael helped Arthur up in the kayak. This led to standing ovations from everyone on the shore, seeing the five (!) team mates set off.

Stray_Dog_Arthur_Completed_430-mile_Race_5

Finally, after six exhausting days, the team that started out with four members, completed the endurance race with five members, and emerged as the 12th top team in the entire world. The story of course doesn’t end there – with the question still lingering about what to do with Arthur after the race is over. The teammates decided on bringing Arthur back to Sweden, where Lindnord and his family would look after him. So, as a solution, they embarked on a Twitter campaign that allowed them to raise money to not only bring Arthur back to Sweden, but also monetarily covered the treatment of a grave injury the dog suffered long before the race.
The rest as they say, is history – with the dog successfully making it back to Sweden. However, after the overseas journey, he was kept in a customary dog quarantine for 120 days and then underwent a dental surgery. And as of now, Arthur is living happily with his new found family in the small locality of Örnsköldsvik, Sweden. Furthermore, the fascinating feat of the canine companion had also inspired the team to set up a charity organization that supports the adoption of stray dogs as pets.