Tag Archives: dogs

Animals interrupting sporting events

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By Lauren Hansen | The Week:

7 adorable animals that interrupted sporting events [Updated]

These enthusiastic cats, dogs, and squirrels weren’t content to remain on the sidelines

1. The marten who wouldn’t go quietly

Just as FC Thun and FC Zurich were starting their Swiss Super League soccer game on Sunday, a wild [pine] marten — a small, ferret-like animal — ran onto the field, brazenly bobbing and weaving through the players, managing to evade capture, and finding refuge in the stands. But it wanted more, and soon after play resumed, the stubborn little star zipped across the field once again. Zurich defender Loris Benito made an impressive jump and tackle, grabbing the marten with both bare hands, but was bitten on the finger. … The animal almost got away again, but Zurich’s gloved goalkeeper Davide Da Costa managed a one-handed grab of the surprisingly speedy critter and successfully sent it off the field. Watch the exciting episode below.

2. The dog who stole a golf ball

During the Dunhill Links in Scotland last October, a spunky pooch appeared out of nowhere, temporarily stealing the game’s spotlight and golf ball. Just as golfer Paul Casey was about to line up for a putt, the small mutt ran onto the 12th green, picked up the ball, and ran off. “I’ve heard of alligators jumping out of the water at unsuspecting hackers,” says Shane Bacon at CBS Sports. “But man’s best friend? Nah, not when we’re out on the links.”

Paul Casey and dog

Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images

3. The squirrel who ran across home plate

In a 2011 playoff game between the Phillies and Cardinals, a wayward squirrel skipped across home plate just as Philadelphia’s Roy Oswalt threw a pitch. Despite Oswalt’s best protest, the home plate umpire ruled the pitch a ball, and the tiny guy darted away.

4. The stray cat who interrupted a soccer match

Last year, an English Premier League match between Liverpool and Tottenham was momentarily halted when a stray cat trotted out onto the pitch. It wasn’t until multiple security guards surrounded the confused feline that play was able to resume.

5. The dog who tried to run with the big boys

Cats aren’t the only ones who like football. In 2011, this Jack Russell terrier ran out onto the field to try and commandeer the ball in an international rules football match, tripping up more than a few players in the process.

6. The cow who interrupted a Polish soccer game

Yet another soccer game was put on hold this fall when a tiny cow ran out onto the field with his presumed owner in tow, winded and ragged. This time, though, players took things into their own hands, chasing the spotted animal back from whence it came.

7. The squirrel who invaded the U.S. Open

At last year’s U.S. Open, a plucky squirrel put a screeching halt to the action when it bolted out onto the court. “The poor thing’s scared now,” said a concerned announcer. Luckily, it didn’t take long for the furry critter to escape to safety.

This article — originally published on Oct. 5, 2012 — was last updated on March 11, 2013.

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Stop ‘fox penning’ in North Carolina, USA

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This video from the USA is called The Real Fox-Coyote Enclosure. There are some unpleasant and graphic scenes in the video, please do not watch if you will be at all offended.

From Wildlife Extra:

Barbaric ‘fox penning’ still legal in North Carolina

Coyotes and foxes used to ‘train’ hunting dogs
December 2012. North Carolina, the state where 7 Critically Endangered Red wolves were ‘accidentally’ shot in the last few months of 2012 (Out of a total wild population of around 110), still allows a barbaric practice which has been banned elsewhere. Wild foxes and coyotes are trapped, captured, and then put into pens where hunting dogs are used to fight and kill them.

This practice, which is currently legal – but entirely inhumane – allows people to trap wild foxes and coyotes and place them in confined pens where hunting dogs are then “trained” to bay and kill them. Often the foxes and coyotes are mauled to death, sometimes after enduring several rounds of “hunts” and injuries.

Opponents of this barbaric practice claim that competitions are run in which the hunting dogs are scored on how quickly they can bay/kill the coyotes or foxes. It’s a cruel thing to do to any wild animal, and it is akin to dog fighting which is illegal in the US, because all of the animals involved are canids. While foxes have been long used for this practice, we are told that wild coyotes are also now trapped for use in fox pens because, being more resilient, they live longer than the foxes through the “hound training.”

Sign a petition

If you would like to help, please sign this petition calling for a ban on this practice in North Carolina. Click here.

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US wildlife agency animal cruelty

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From Wildlife Extra:

US Congress calls for investigation of US wildlife agency cruelty

Staff boasting about their cruel exploits

December 2012. The secretive United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) ‘Wildlife Services’ department has run into very hot water again. The Sacramento Bee, the highly respected newspaper, has uncovered a series of abuses by the USDA Wildlife Services involving cruelty to animals by ‘Wildlife Service’ staff, who then proceeded to boast about their deeds on social media.

The case gained prominence when photos revealed that a member of the Wildlife Services, Jamie Ohlson, posted images of a coyote that was caught in a leg trap being attacked and killed by his dogs. Ohlson also posted images of himself posing with the tattered remains of the coyote. Aside from the abuse and suffering heaped on the poor coyote, to boast of this cruelty via social networking implies that Mr Ohlson is really not the right person to be doing this work.

Ohlson is not alone though. In a very similar case the Washington Post revealed that a U.S. Forest Service Employee Josh Bransford posed with a wolf that he had just shot. The wolf in question was actually caught in a leg trap, and Bransford shot the immobilized wolf before posing with the dead animal with a big grin on his face. Why why why would anyone do that?

US Congress

The Sacramento Bee‘s report has prompted 4 members of the US Congress to write an open letter calling for “A full and thorough investigation of Wildlife Services“. The letter also noted that whilst the US Army permits reporters to accompany them into battle, the Wildlife Services refused permission for the Sacramento Bee‘s staff to accompany Wildlife Services staff.

‘Wildlife Services’  have featured in Wildlife Extra before. They cull more than 1 million animals every year, often from the air, and spend millions on aerial gunning and ‘wildlife control’. At least 10 staff have been killed in air crashes, and dozens more badly injured.

Jamie Ohlson and some of the photos he posted of his dogs and the trapped coyote – Photos courtesy of Wild Earth Guardians

Jamie Ohlson and photo he posted of his dogs and the trapped coyote

Dead coyote in trap

US Forest Service employee Josh Bransford and some of the images he posted – Courtesy of Wild Earth Guardians

Josh Bransford and dead wolf

Josh Bransford and wolf caught in leg trap
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Kemp’s ridley turtle saved in the USA

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From Turtle Journal in the USA:

RESCUED! Most Endangered Sea Turtle in the World

Sue and Ridley 480

Sue Wieber Nourse and Rescued Kemp’s Ridley

Freezing and blustery … in other words, perfect conditions to rescue cold-stunned sea turtles in the Great White North.  Sue Wieber Nourse and Rufus the Turtle Dog headed to Outer Cape Cod this morning, targeting Saints Landing in Brewster as the most likely spot to find a stranded sea turtle with frigid winds pounding out of the north-northwest.

Ridley upside down in surf

Cold-Stunned Juvenile Kemp’s Ridley in Brewster

They headed east at Saints Landing and just before reaching the impassable, flooded area near Breakwater, Sue spotted the pinkish, white plastron of a Kemp’s ridley helpless and tossed upside down in the stormy surf.  This 2-to-3 year old juvenile weighed about six pounds.  Pinkish coloration confirms cold-stunning, as blood pools ventrally when the heart rate drops to only a couple of beats a minute.

Rufus and ridley

Rufus Guards Juvenile Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtle

Once Sue recovered the turtle from the pounding surf, it quickly responded with lively movement, indicating an excellent candidate for rehabilitation and return to the wild.  Rufus stood guard as Turtle Journal notified Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary that Sue would be bringing the turtle to Wellfleet for transport to the New England Aquarium.

Ridley and surf

Cold-Stunned Jvenie Kemp’s Ridley in Cape Cod Bay

Kemp’s ridleys are one of the most endangered sea turtles in the world.  As part of their natural life cycle they drift north as hatchlings from their natal sites in the Gulf of Mexico, catching a ride on sargasso mats in the Gulf Stream.  Around age two or three, they leave the Gulf Stream and transition to a benthic habitat by swimming west to the coast.  Those that hit the U.S. north of Massachusetts have to contend with the giant arm of Cape Cod as they begin to migrate south with dropping water temperatures.  Each fall juveniles get trapped in Cape Cod Bay by cold waters, become cold-stunned and are eventually driven ashore like flotsam and jetsam in stormy conditions.

Ridley en route

Juvenile Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtle En Route to Rehabilitation

If we can rescue them from beaches before hypothermia finishes them off, these critcally endangered turtles can be rehabilitated and returned to the wild to restore diminished populations.  At each high tide in the very worst of weather conditions, rescuers scour beaches facing the prevailing winds in search of stranded turtles.  For this lucky Kemp’s ridley, Sue and Rufus were at the right spot at the right time, just as it hit the shore.  So, this turtle’s chances for survival are very good.  And in the case of critcally endangered species like the Kemp’s ridley, saving one juvenile at a time really means saving their whole world.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 28th, 2012 at 12:43 pm and is filed under Turtles.

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Urban foxes in Paris

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This video from England is about young foxes playing in London.

From Discovery News:

Foxes Run Wild in Paris: DNews Nugget

by Christina Reed

Tue Nov 27, 2012 05:52 AM ET

In the 1990s, the city of lights exterminated all their foxes in an anti-rabies campaign. Now about 15 wild foxes have returned to the streets of Paris, where an estimated 40 to 70 pounds of leftover food per person is thrown away each year, according to Food Industry Minister Guillaume Garot.

The foxes are taking advantage of the leftover food trash, and have skipped the forested parks along the borders of the city in favor of the more touristic and restaurant-lined gardens in the center, such as Jardin du Luxembourg. Philippe Jacob, head of the newly set up Parisian Biodiversity Observatory, said their return was an encouraging sign of a healthy ecosystem. About 10,000 foxes are said to inhabit London.

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Iraq, Afghanistan military dogs get PTSD

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From Discovery News:

Military Dogs Suffer From PTSD

Jennifer Viegas

Analysis by Jennifer Viegas

Tue Nov 27, 2012 08:38 AM ET

'Jackson', a military dog, on a mission in Iraq; Credit: Staff Sgt. Stacy L. Pearsall

Dogs and humans can both suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, according to veterinarians and senior dog handlers at Lackland Air Force Base.

Military dogs appear to be most at risk, but it’s likely any intense, stressful period could induce the debilitating condition.

“This is something that does not get better without intervention,” Walter Burghardt Jr., chief of behavioral medicine and military working-dog studies at Lackland, told the Los Angeles Times. “They’re essentially broken and can’t work.

He estimates that 10 percent of dogs sent to Iraq and Afghanistan to safeguard U.S. troops have developed canine post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Treatment may involve conditioning, retraining and drugs like Xanax. That anti-anxiety drug, as for many meds, comes with its own laundry list of side effects documented in humans. With or without drugs, recovery from canine PTSD is often only partial.

One dog with a relatively mild case is Cora, a Belgian Malinois who used to sniff out buried bombs. For just verbal praise, a short play session or a food treat, she’d search over long distances. When she detected an explosive, she’d lie down as a visual cue.

“Cora always thought everything was a big game,” said Air Force Tech. Sgt. Garry Laub. He trained Cora before she deployed. “She knew her job. She was a very squared-away dog.”

After months of active duty in Iraq, however, Cora changed. The once-independent dog hated to be alone. Loud noises made her jump, and the previously friendly canine started to growl and pick fights with other dogs.

“Dogs experience combat just like humans,” said Marine Staff Sgt. Thomas Gehring, a dog handler at Lackland who works with Cora.

Physically, she looks fine. Cora is a fit, 60-pound dog with a shiny coat. But it sounds like she now suffers from permanent mental scars. She used to anticipate her handler’s orders and show excitement about her military work.

That’s now all in the past. The Cora of today is moodier and less eager. She’s a bit older now, of course, but age isn’t the only explanation for her change in behavior. At least she still enjoys head pats and doggy biscuits. She’s again one of the more treatable, mild cases.

Game of Thrones inspired Huskie craze goes cold as owners give up on dogs: here.

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Killer whale and dog, video

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From Discovery News:

When you combine the enthusiasm of a killer whale and playful romping of a swimming dog, the results are unpredictable. Luckily for us, someone captured their exchange and they get along just fine!

This video from New Zealand says about itself:

Nov 11, 2012 by Deonette De Jongh

Encounter with Orcas at Matheson Bay, Leigh.

The free diver was on his way back in when he must have seen the Orcas and quickly got out onto the rocks. It seemed like there was at least 4 Orcas around him of which one was a mother with her calf.

The one Orca came very close to shore where the Labrador was busy retrieving sticks from the water. He saw the whale and quickly turned around and swam back to shore with the Orca following as far as he could go.

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