Reindog Parade in Chicago

The Chicago Botanic Garden takes a bow (wow) for 2007 with the fifth annual Reindog Parade on Saturday, December 1. For four very special hours only, dogs are allowed in the Garden. Cleverly costumed canines march the parade route—with Santa in the lead carrying a giant candy cane baton—to celebrate the holiday season. Reindog festivities include judging by celebrities from noon to 1 p.m., the parade steps off at 1:15 p.m., and judges award prizes beginning at 2:15 p.m. Other activities include a visit and photo opportunity with Santa, and demonstrations by dog experts.

Name the baby beluga

You are invited to vote on and submit name suggestions for the Shedd Aquarium's name-needing baby beluga. Born on Aug. 16, 2007, the beluga calf is the fourth successful beluga birth at Shedd. The proud parents are the 24-year-old female beluga, Mauyak, and the 21-year-old male beluga whale, Naluark. The Shedd Aquarium is one of nine North American zoos and aquariums committed to public display and breeding of beluga whales. Names can be submitted to and voted on at NBC5.com/babybeluga from Nov. 29 to Dec. 9. Then, the top five names will be determined, and viewers will be able to vote on the final name from Dec. 10 to Dec. 19. Click here for official rules.

Strange appetites

According to the Sun, this dog, Taffy, has eaten: * 40 pairs of underpants * 300 socks * 15 pairs of shoes * Mercedes key fob Why don't they just get him a bone, for Pete's sake? (via)

The pink dolphin of Calcasieu Lake

A unique bottlenose dolphin calf—an albino who experts say may be one-of-a-kind—has taken up residence off Louisiana shores in the Gulf of Mexico, where charter boats and locals alike have been prowling the waters in hopes of a glimpse. He's not just pink—he’s shockingly pink, especially when photographed swimming alongside his gunmetal-gray mother and her pod. The pink dolphin of Calcasieu Lake was first spotted June 17 by Erik Rue, a charter boat captain who operates near Lake Charles, Louisiana. (via)

Garter Snakes Can Be Very Dangerous

I don't know why it's on the Recipe Secrets website, but this story is hilarious.

Dog survives after several days in the freezer

Animal control officer Jamie Glandon was completely shocked when she opened a freezer at the Rushville Animal Shelter in Indiana. She found Gabby, a dog, alive in the freezer where the carcasses of euthanized animals are put until they are discarded. It is believed that Gabby was euthanized four days before and survived being in the freezer for all that time. (via)

Madonna outrages animal activists

A photoshoot featuring Madonna and the sheep from her estate in Wiltshire dyed different colors has angered animal rights campaigners. The star is pictured on the front of Vogue alongside a flock of sheep, colored blue, pink, yellow and green. A spokesman for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) said: "Why is it necessary and what are they trying to prove? It is an irresponsible publicity stunt." Madonna's people insist the dye is temporary and the sheep weren't harmed.

Chicago fish are a threat in Japan

In 1960, the mayor of Chicago, Richard J Daley, presented Emperor Akihito (then Crown Prince) with a fish. It was hoped that the Japanese would learn to love bluegill for dinner as much as Chicagoans do. But, as the Guardian Unlimited reports, the bluegill fish is possibly the most reviled creature in Japan. The fish brought back by the emperor were donated to research centers, but many escaped to wipe out the royal bitterling and bring other native species to the brink of extinction. They have infested waterways across Japan, including the moat of the imperial palace in Tokyo. Though considered a delicacy in Illinois and other parts of the US, the bluegill has struggled to find favor among Japanese diners. A multimillion-yen campaign to turn them into fertilizer and chicken feed has had limited success. Photo credit

Chocolate Mice

The Williams-Sonoma internet catalog has these chocolate truffle mice listed for $15.00 for a set of four. Made entirely by hand, they combine milk chocolate ganache centers with a coating of milk chocolate. If you have a little time, you can make your own chocolate mice, like we did. The nose is a Hershey's kiss. The body is a maraschino cherry. Stick them together, dip into white or dark melted chocolate, use almond slivers for ears. Done. Cute. Easy. Cheap.

Now I've seen everything

Java for dogs? Creator Mari Justin says, "One morning, while I was having my morning coffee or tea with all my animals around me, as I usually did, I realized how great it would be to share this experience with my animals. I decided what if dogs could enjoy their daily coffee like all their pet owners could. How much fun would that be? To share that time with your best friend." Ok, I'll be the first to say it. This woman is nuts! And I have a suggestion for a much cheaper way to share an experience with her animals. Gather around the toilet bowl & have a drink with them there. That's free and the dogs probably appreciate it much more.

Gourmet restaurant entrees

California Roll Cowboy Cookout Grammy's Pot Pie Southern Delight Surf & Turf Thanksgiving Day Dinner Turducken New England Boil Don't these sound yummy? Actually, they're canned cat foods, by Merrick. Ummmm ummmm good!

A boy and his friend

While many children might wish to curl up with a dog or cat, a young Cambodian boy prefers to spend his time with a 4.8-metre-long python. In the village of Sit Tbow, 50 kilometres east of Phnom Penh, Sambath Uon, seven, reportedly refuses to go to sleep without the company of his pet, Chamreun, or Lucky, in Khmer. The boy's father tried to return the snake to the forest three times, the Burmese python loyally returned to her young master and has earned the acceptance of villagers, who think she brings good fortune. (via)

Little cat - big responsibility

Meet the tiger cub whose species depends on his survival. He may be small but this little big cat has some huge hopes resting on him. Conservationists believe the tiny South China Tiger cub could help to save his species from extinction. He was born on Friday to a pair of zoo tigers from China which had been sent to Laohu Valley Reserve in South Africa to breed.

Baby, the bionic cat

A six-year-old cat, named Baby, has definitely used up at least two of her nine lives. When Baby was a kitten, she fell from a third floor window at her owner's home in south London. That fall necessitated metal implants in both front legs. Baby's latest escapade called for the insertion of metal plates in her two rear legs. "Baby is extremely lucky to be alive," said Jess Gower, a veterinary surgeon, who carried out the latest operations. "We think she fell from the third floor of a building. Contrary to popular belief, cats don't always land on their feet - Baby landed on her back. Now that she has metal implants in all four legs, she is being called the 'bionic cat'. (via)

Cats can fly!

38 photos of flying cats, like this one: (via)

Help! thuck thung

Story (via)

Dog Sniffs Out $110,000 Inside SUV

An Indiana State Police dog sniffed out nearly $110,000 during a routine traffic stop on the Indiana Toll Road near Chesterton on Sunday. Trooper Mike Jones stopped a Ford Explorer for following to close to other cars and unsafe lane changes. After Jones pulled over the vehicle, the occupants ''appeared very nervous and had conflicting statements as to where they were going,'' according to a state police news release. The driver agreed to a search of the SUV, and the police dog, named Boss, nosed around and located a suitcase with $109,020 inside.

Planet Earth - The Complete BBC Series on DVD

As of its release in early 2007, Planet Earth is quite simply the greatest nature/wildlife series ever produced. This astonishing 11-part BBC series is brilliantly narrated by Sir David Attenborough and sensibly organized so that each 50-minute episode covers a specific geographical region and/or wildlife habitat (mountains, caves, deserts, shallow seas, seasonal forests, etc.) until the entire planet has been magnificently represented by the most astonishing sights and sounds you'll ever experience from the comforts of home.

Bad Cat Wall Calendar 2007

Demented. Wacked out. Borderline psychotic. And inexplicably, utterly irresistible. It’s a full-color year of cats unplugged, adapted from the off-the-charts #1 New York Times bestseller, Bad Cat.

Reindeer Jelly Bean Candy Poopers

# Santa`s reindeer dispenses dainty doo doo candy for the munching pleasure of your friends and loved ones. # Reindeer Length : 4 Inches # Push down on rear of reindeer to dispense yummy brown jelly beans.

Cute Baby Fruit Bats

Baby bats whose colony has been destroyed by poisonous ticks are being raised in a sanctuary in northern Queensland.

Flying monkey business

A man has been questioned by police at LaGuardia airport in New York after smuggling a monkey onto a flight from Florida by hiding it under his hat. Passengers spotted the animal when it climbed out and perched on the man's ponytail.

Christmas Shopping Kick-off!

This really is the best way to shop! Relax, in your pajamas, with a cup of tea or coffee. No driving around looking for a parking space, no fighting crowds, no searching through disorganized shelves and racks, no long check-out lines. You'll be done in plenty of time to have a turkey sandwich from yesterday's leftovers. i-pets.com has a wonderful selection of Christmas gifts for dogs and cats. Christmas stockings for dogs and cats, rawhide treats in holiday shapes, holiday buckets and holiday baskets filled with treats, holiday theme toys. At i-pets.com, find perfect gifts for everyone on your list with pets: friends, neighbors, teachers, and family members. Find a perfect "thank you" gift for your clients if you're in a pet related business: dog walkers, pet groomers, dog breeders. i-pets.com Christmas gifts - no crowds, no lines, great merchandise, great prices and a flat $6.00 shipping charge on all orders to the continental US, regardless of weight or size! If you'd like to send a holiday gift to your favorite local animal welfare agency or pet rescue group, i-pets.com will deliver your package for free.

Turkey Cookies

Man-sized sea scorpion claw found

A 390 million-year-old fossilized claw of a sea scorpion has been reportedly found in a German quarry. The size of the creature’s claw estimates that it would have been at least 8 feet long. The size of the beast suggests that spiders, insects, crabs and similar creatures were much larger in the past than previously thought.

Southwest Wildlife Rehabilitation

Southwest Wildlife Rehabilitation and Educational Foundation is a non-profit organization that specializes in rescuing and rehabilitating injured and orphaned wildlife native to Arizona, educating today's youth on the importance of native wildlife and the environment, and encouraging educational career opportunities in environmental science. Since 1994, Southwest Wildlife has rehabilitated thousands of sick, injured, and abandoned wild animals on its 10 acre desert habitat facility, and has successfully released 70 percent of those wild animals back into the wild.

Cute Baby Giraffe

Photo: Steffen Schmidt / Keystone

Art by Roi James

"The Blue Butterfly"

Kittens 'adopted' by pet rabbit

Arbroath has posted the cutest picture of Summer, a bunny in Scotland, who has adopted a litter of abandoned kittens. All together now, "Awwwwww!"

Photography by Annette Pierce

Professional Photographers of Canada Commercial Photographer of the Year 2005

Karnimata - Indian Rat Temple

According to folklore, the Goddess Shri Karni-Mata once restored the dead child of her devotee back to life. The Mata announced that no one from her tribe would fall into death's hand again. Instead, when they died, all of them would temporarily inhabit the body of a rat before being reborn into the tribe. Karnimata is a temple in India devoted to rats.

happy cat bean bag

HappyCat is a children's beanbag with a new design expression. It can be used for sitting in, but is also designed for play and romping about. The Happy Cat beanbag is a combined furniture and toy. The beanbag is designed for children, but at the same time functions as a fun and charming design in a grown-up environment.

Pod bed for kitty

The Pod offers the security of a mountaintop cave with way more style. It serves as your pet’s own personal sanctuary – a perfect place for curling up to snooze, hide, or reign supreme. (via)

Video: A boy and his dog

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Video: Kissing Pandas

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Video: Leapin' Lemurs!

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What do you call ...

What do you call an escaping cow? Fast food!

Panda Love

Photo:Yuriko Nakao / Reuters

$1,000 fine for feeding pigeons?

Put your hands up and back away from the breadcrumbs. Feeding New York City pigeons could soon be banned under a proposal to thin the flocks of the birds sometimes referred to as "rats with wings." City Councilman Simcha Felder plans to introduce legislation to ban pigeon feeding and fine those caught flouting the ban $1,000.

Art by Oksana Grivina

print advertising for TRAKT company

Fox Forest

This is an educational site dedicated to the often misunderstood red fox. You'll discover how red foxes live, the challenges they face, and how they overcome them. In addition to learning about fox life, you can share your experiences, ask questions, and find out what you can do to help our wild friends.

She was "thrilled"

On this season's deer opener, a Minnesota woman shot one of the rarest kinds around; an albino deer. Mary Rakotz of Avon got the 6-point buck on Saturday in Mille Lacs County. She said it was thrilling to see the rare animal, but 100 times more exciting to be able to actually take it home. "I had heard that it might be in the area, so I thought that here was my chance of a lifetime. So I had to creep a little bit, probably about 40 yards, to get a good place where I could steady myself a little bit. But then I did that and shot and it went right down," said Rakotz. (Albino deer are so uncommon that it's actually illegal to hunt them in at least seven states.) Is it any wonder that so many creatures have been hunted to extinction with idiots like this in the world?

Please don't call his wife a bitch

An Indian man who believed he had been cursed for stoning to death two dogs has atoned for his sin by marrying another dog in a traditional Hindu wedding ceremony. P. Selvakumar, a 33-year-old farm laborer from the southern state of Tamil Nadu, married the four-year-old stray bitch female dog after it was bathed and processed to his village temple dressed in an orange sari and garlanded with flowers.

It was all an act

Remember that cute video of the sweet little otters floating and holding hands? "Awww," you said, "aren't they adorable!" That's exactly what Susan Martin of Merrit Island, Florida, said about the otter in her yard. She noticed its cute little face and how innocent it seemed to be. Then while she was looking at it, it bit her - twice! Yup, all that sweetness & innocence, it's all been an act. Another otter attacked poor little Taz, the 10-year-old Westie who fought off the frothing otter to keep it away from the Linnett family. The dog came out bloody, but Animal Control got the otter. "Took 'em a while. He was mean."

The 5 Worst Invasive Species in the World

Environmental Graffiti follows up on a previous article on non-native species in the UK, with a list of the 5 worst non-native animal species worldwide. So, who's number one?

Madagascar hissing cockroaches

The Bohart Museum of Entomology on the UC Davis campus, houses three of the world’s largest cockroaches: the Death Head (Blaberus cranifer), collected from a bat roost in Panama; Peppered or Peruvian Cockroach (Archimandrita tesselata) from Peru; and Madagascar hissing cockroaches (Gromphadorhina portentosa) from Madagascar. Bohart Museum scientists have maintained terrariums of Madagascar hissing cockroaches for some 30 years. At any given time, the museum has hundreds of them. It’s the most popular display among the kids, because of three reasons: the hissing sound they make, their size and their appearance. More about cockroaches from the Smithsonian National Zoo. Photo: Kathy Keatley Garvey

More Polar Bear Love

The Greyhound Adoption Center

The Greyhound Adoption Center is one of the only greyhound rescue groups that accepts all greyhounds, not just those from the racetrack. Greyhounds adopted directly from racetracks or from other adoption groups with a "no-return" policy frequently wind up at the pound or some other shelter. GAC accepts pound greyhounds and greyhounds with no racing tattoos, as well. GAC's open-door policy includes ill or injured dogs. As long as they have space, no greyhound is ever turned away, regardless of its age or physical condition. They will keep any dog for as long as it takes to find just the right home.

Saudi cleric condemns camel beauty contests as evil

A leading authority of Saudi Arabia's hardline school of Islam has condemned camel beauty contests as evil, saying those involved should seek repentance in God. Camel pageants have become major events in the desert kingdom in recent years as tribes hold ever larger competitions, with bigger prizes and wider publicity. Delicate females or strapping males which attract the right attention during a show can sell for more than a million riyals (127,000 pounds). Sponsors spent 10 million riyals on prizes for one competition this year. (via)

Penguin Baby Booties

• Slipper Style Booties • Features Suede Soles • Made of 100% Leather • Dyed • Elastic Closure • Appliqué At Target! (via)

Jellybeanies for kids

Jellybeanies is the only scented plush toy that comes with a unique alphanumeric code that unlocks your character on Jellybeanies.com! Go online, take care of your Jellyfriend, play games, deck them out, and chat safely with friends with pre-set (and kid-safe!) dialogue options! There are 8 Jellybeanies available in Wave 1 this year, with more coming down the road!

Animal Ring Toss

Animal Ring Toss Like a horseshoe toss for kids.

Pylones Frog toaster

No! you don't toast frogs in it! It's about time we let go of the boring conventions that confine us to mere function without beauty and joy. Loosen the ties of history, raise your toaster high and have friends over for pop tarts and waffles. This gem should be placed right in the center of the table.

Video: Kitten loves puppy

Video: Doggie Dreams

The Humpback of Notre Dame