20th July 2009

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Five-legged pup saved from freak show

Allyson Siegel of Charlotte, North Carolina, shelled out $4000 to buy a five-legged puppy away from a life in a Coney Island freak show, the New York Daily News reports.

Lilly (above), a Chihuahua-terrier mix, was born with an extra leg protruding from her stomach area. Her extra foot has six toes.

John Strong, the owner of the “Freaks of Nature” museum on Surf Avenue, had promised the pup’s original owner $3000, and had already sent a $1000 down payment. In his custody, Lilly would have spent her days alongside Nosey Rosey the two-headed cow and Siamese twin turtles named Pete and Repeat. 

Lucky for the tiny pup, Siegel showed up with, as the paper notes, “more bones.”

“She is beautiful, she’s not a freak, she’s a normal little puppy dog and she should be just like all the others,” Siegel said.

New Yorkers were so touched by Siegel’s move, says a followup report, that they’ve sent gifts and good wishes, and NYC veterinarian Neil Shaw has volunteered to remove Lilly’s extra leg at no cost.

Tags Justicebaby animalsdogspuppiesLilly

16th July 2009

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Kitty killer gets a year behind bars

The cold-blooded murderess who roasted a neighbor’s kitten in an oven has been sentenced to a year in prison.

Cheyenne Cherry, 17, pled guilty in Bronx Supreme Court yesterday to her part in the May 6 killing of a defenseless feline named Tiger Lily (right).

The animal was left to die inside a blistering oven while Cherry and a 14-year-old accomplice trashed the apartment of Valerie Hernandez. It was the accomplice, says the Daily News, who put the cat in the oven in the first place, and the two girls fled so that they wouldn’t have to hear its frantic scratching at the oven door.

At the time of her arrest, Cherry told police that the whole thing was “just a joke.” Yesterday she was just as unsympathetic. Leaving court she snapped at an animal rights activitist, “It’s dead, bitch!”

The younger accomplace faces trial in family court because of her age.

Tags kittenscatsbaby animalsJustice

29th April 2009

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These pigs are tired of the stereotypes

At the very base of the New York Times’ online swine flu Q&A lies this gem:

“We live in a residential neighborhood (lots of about 6-8,000 feet, and homes 2,000 square feet or less). Our neighbor has a potbellied pig that lives in the backyard. Should we concerned about this?”

The answer? Absolutely not. Sez one doctor interviewed: “The infection is being transmitted among swine living in close quarters in Mexico, not among isolated domesticated pigs.”

Sez the pig in question: “How dare you?”

Update: The World Organization for Animal Health has said that the slaughter of pigs as a precaution against swine flu (ahem, Egypt) is “inappropriate.”

Tags pigshealthjustice

19th March 2009

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These chickens are going to court

Roswell, Georgia, resident Andrew Wordes is fighting for custody of the 13 chickens he keeps in his backyard. He considers them pets and, he tells the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the give him “unconditional love.” In the summer, they eat bugs in his fenced yard. In the winter, he feeds them oatmeal with raisins. Neighbors come over with egg cartons for Wordes to fill.

But, alas, apparently keeping chickens is against city law, and an anonymous complaint was filed (by someone jealous of the hens’ life of luxury?). Wordes must face Assistant City Attorney Bob Hulsey, whose views on pet chickens are stated thusly: “I’m old enough and Southern enough that all I remember is you pet chickens long enough to wring their necks.”

(Side note: check out the FRENZY in the comments section, including freshly-laid intel from commenter Chicken Whisperer.)

Tags birdsjusticechickens