'Bionic' cat survives multi-storey fall

Sebastian the cat is no ordinary moggy.


After slipping out of a window several storeys up, he was given just a 10% chance of survival.

But the cat's parents were determined to see their pet back to full strength, and stumped up a massive £6,000 to pay for pins and supports to be implanted within the injured creature.

Now Sebastian has made a full recovery.

Sebastian with vet and 'parents'

Patison Harrigan, who owns the cat along with his partner Katrin Toots, said: "I still can't believe he's got through it."

Sebastian tumbled out of Mr Harrigan's flat in Edgbaston, Birmingham earlier this year.

The cat was found by the RSPCA, who later traced its owners thanks to Sebastian's microchip.

He was then treated by vet Mark Barton from Manor Vets in Halesowen.

"He deteriorated quite rapidly over the first night. His injuries were critical," Mr Barton recalled.


"[Sebastian's owners] fed him through a tube at home, they were incredibly caring. It was hard work".

"He jumps a little bit higher now since the metal was put in him," Mr Harrigan added.

"He's become a bit bionic".


http://news.uk.msn.com/blog/news-bite-blogpost.aspx?post=87c13235-1b7b-4eb5-9ede-f80d17b3fc4d

Dog shoots hunter in buttocks (via RIck)

BRIGHAM CITY, Utah - Authorities in Utah said a hunter was wounded in the buttocks when his dog jumped on a 12-gauge shotgun, causing the weapon to fire a round of birdshot. Box Elder County Sheriff's Chief Deputy Kevin Potter said two duck hunters were at the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge preparing for a day of hunting Sunday morning when the incident took place, The Salt Lake Tribune reported Thursday. "One of the hunters was inside the boat with the dog, and the other hunter was in the water setting up decoys," Potter said. "The guy in the water had put his 12-gauge shotgun across the bow of their boat." "The dog got excited, was jumping around inside the boat and then it jumped on the gun. It went off, shooting the (decoy setter) in the buttocks," Potter said. Potter said the man was taken to the Brigham City Community Hospital around 9 a.m. and released after doctors removed the birdshot from his posterior. The chief deputy said there were no other injuries to their hunters or the dog.

Who, what, why: Why do deer cause more car crashes in autumn?

This is the peak period for car accidents caused by deer and drivers in the UK are being warned to be more aware. So why are there so many such incidents at this time of year?

Deer could be responsible for as many as 74,000 car accidents in the UK each year, according to new statistics. Figures have been on the rise for the last 10 years and look likely to continue rising, say deer experts.
The number of deer in the UK has more than doubled in the past 10 years, according to the Deer Initiative, a group of charities and government agencies aimed at controlling deer numbers. It says the population is now in the region of two million, a number not seen since the Norman Conquest.

October until the end of November is the peak period for such accidents. So why is it such a danger period?

Shorter days is one reason. This results in more cars being on the roads at dawn and dusk, when deer activity is at its peak.

For the three larger species of deer in the UK - red, fallow and sika - it is also mating season, when stags start chasing females. This peaks in the next four weeks, a period which is known as "the rut" when males fight each other, making things even more dangerous.

"You basically have deer rushing around with sex on their minds and not thinking about much else," says Peter Watson, director of the Deer Initiative.


Read on...

Cow leaps three foot fence and squashes car

Motorist Robert Gould is lucky to be alive after a startled cow leapt over a three-foot fence and landed on his car.

The frightened Friesian has written off Robert's Citroen C5 after denting the bonnet and breaking a wheel after bounding onto the busy road.

Stunned police later breath-tested Robert after he called 999 to report the collision.

It is understood the cow which died at the scene had been trying to escape from a farmer when it jumped into the road on the outskirts of Leek, Staffs.

Robert escaped with cuts and bruises despite skidding almost 80 yards and ending up on the wrong side of the road as he tried to stop.

The 24-year-old said: "I am now looking out for low-flying cows when I am driving ."

House-hunter Robert was travelling at 60mph and had been on his way to view a property in Cheddleton at the time of the accident in Macclesfield Road.

Safety officer Robert, of Barlaston, Staffs, said: "I was driving along when a cow jumped out and landed on my bonnet.

"It had hurdled a three-foot high fence and hit the front of my car.

"I had no time to brake and my car veered to the other side of the road.

"I was very lucky that nothing was coming in the opposite direction.

"The police were very nice about everything, although I don't think they could quite believe it either.
"They breath-tested me which came back negative."

Dad Chris, aged 53, said: "To see a cow flying over the top of the car made Robert jump and it has left him in shock. It was a good job the road was not busy at the time."

The dead cow was later removed by a digger.

Bob Lee, who retired from Staffordshire Ambulance Service after 30 years dealing with emergencies, said: "I have heard of someone being trampled by a cow, but never a cow jumping over a fence and landing on a car."

Farmer Clive Langford-Mycock believes the cow must have been very frightened to have jumped the fence during last weekend's incident.

The farmer, a former Staffordshire National Farmers' Union chairman, said: "Accidents involving farm animals are very rare.

"Something must have happened to frighten the cow. Possible causes could be thunder or lightning, low-flying aircraft or one of those stupid Chinese lanterns.

"I hope the driver gets over it."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/8695400/Cow-leaps-three-foot-fence-and-squashes-car.html

Squirrel knocks WIS off the air

COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) - A sneaky squirrel knocked WIS off the air Wednesday morning during the 6 o'clock hour of the morning news.


The power in and around downtown Columbia went out around 6:15 a.m. WIS meteorologist Ben Tanner was in the middle of his weather forecast when the surge caused everything to flicker and shut down at the WIS studios.

Our generators kicked in right away, but several of the computers in the building had to be reset. After a couple of minutes, Susan-Elizabeth Littlefield was back on the air.

SCE&G says a squirrel made its way to an area where is shouldn't have been and caused a problem with one of their breakers.

There is no word on the condition of the squirrel.

By Jason Old, New Media Content Director
http://www.wistv.com/story/15202079/squirrel-knocks-wis-off-the-air

Injured Bald Eagle Gets Mouth-to-Beak CPR

Raptor, Newly Named 'Patriot,' Doing Better; Fate Uncertain

By Barney Lerten, KTVZ.COM

BEND, Ore. -- He’s still not out of the woods, so to speak, but a badly injured bald eagle is still recovering well, a Bend veterinarian said Friday – despite a scare two days ago in which he had to perform mouth-to-beak CPR on the raptor, newly named “Patriot.”

Two La Pine women found the bald eagle, apparently hit by a car, near Crane Prairie Reservoir last month. Three weeks later, about halfway through a hoped-for recovery period, the bird’s fractured wing is healing, as is his dislocated elbow and wrist, said Dr. Jeff Cooney of Bend Veterinary Clinic.

After a contest in which NewsChannel 21 assisted, the eagle has been named Patriot – quite fitting for America’s national symbol. More than 20 names were submitted, from “Spirit” to “Bend Franklin,” and while it was close, “Patriot” received the highest number of votes, Cooney said.

“He has gained 10 percent of his body weight and is eating fish like crazy,” Cooney said Friday. “His attitude is greatly improved, and he’s starting to act like a normal, rambunctious bald eagle.”

But there are still worrisome signs.

“The dislocated shoulder and his paralyzed right leg are his major problems right now,” Cooney said.

Then there was the frightening moment during Wednesday’s exam and physical therapy when, under anesthesia, Patriot stopped breathing.

Cooney stepped in and performed “mouth to beak” resuscitation to get the bird breathing again.

Still, at this point, Cooney says he’s not sure Patriot will ever be able to return to the wild.

And if he’s unable to fully recovery, Cooney said they could be forced to euthanize him, rather than continue living in pain.

“I kind of like the guy,” the vet said. “If he could get his foot back, a little better,” the odds would improve markedly, thus a protective blue “bootie” that completed a red, white and blue outfit, only fitting.

But “his shoulder is really badly damaged,” Cooney said. “It’s not a surgical repair, so if he was going to live forever in pain from the shoulder injury, I’d have to euthanize him.”

The next three weeks should tell the tale.

“If he could live, any facility (for raptors) would like to have him,” Cooney said. “He was just hurt so bad.”

http://www.ktvz.com/news/28568847/detail.html

Miracle cat survives 20-story plunge

NEW YORK (CNN/WCBS) - Forget that superstition about black cats and bad luck. One curious New York kitty is super lucky, surviving a 20-story fall.

Meet "Gloucester," better known as "G" to his owners. His friendly face was subject to plenty of fireworks on the Fourth of July, surviving a 20-story plunge from an Upper West Side apartment building. The cat crash-landed on the pavement with barely a scratch.

"According to the vet, when you're 10 floors or above, you actually have an increased chance of surviving it, because you have a chance to kind of right yourself and get ready to land," said Barry Myers, Gloucester's owner.

Myers has owned "G" since he found the cat in an abandoned building 16 years ago. He mistakenly left a window cracked open when leaving for a long weekend, not knowing the danger in store for his curious cat.

"In all the years we've been here, he's never even looked at the window, let alone peeked his head out or anything. I assume he saw something and leaned out and tried to take a swing at it," said Myers.

Lucky for "G," he was discovered by a woman out walking her dog. She gave him water and called for help.

"Everything came back pretty negative. He was obviously in shock for a while," Myers explained.

"G" is now on the mend, a little wobbly and eating through a feeding tube, but miraculously he didn't break any bones.

http://www.wwlp.com/dpps/news/strange/miracle-cat-survives-20-story-plunge-ob11-jgr_3880565

Window crash owl leaves imprint

An owl was left in a flap after crashing into a window, leaving a near perfect print of itself on the glass.

Sally Arnold returned home to Kendal, Cumbria, and found the huge imprint complete with eyes, beak and feathers on her bedroom window.

She said: "Our first concern was for the welfare of what we suspected was an owl and we opened up the window to check if it was still around.

"Fortunately, there was no sign of the bird and we can only assume that it had flown away probably suffering from a headache."

The silhouette was left by the bird's "powder down" - a substance protecting growing feathers.

Experts from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) confirmed the bird was most likely a tawny owl because of its size and shape and the fact that they appear in gardens more regularly than others.

Val Osborne, head of the RSPB's wildlife inquiries team, said: "We don't very often see an imprint of a bird that's flown into a window that's this clear and where it's pretty obvious exactly what kind of birds it is.

"This would have been very uncomfortable for the bird but thankfully it looks like it survived as Mr and Mrs Arnold couldn't find it anywhere close by.

"Sadly, many birds aren't so lucky."

Birds often collide with windows or start to attack them, especially at this time of year with so many young birds around, the RSPB said.

http://news.uk.msn.com/uk/window-crash-owl-leaves-imprint

Snake Knocks Out Ballwinites' Electricity

A dastardly reptile took out power for more than 14,000 people around Ballwin and more throughout St. Louis County on Thursday.

More than 14,000 customers around Ballwin lost their electrical power Thursday morning, the Ameren Missouri website reported, but the culprit behind the outage wasn't weather nor construction.

"(It was) Mother Nature seeking revenge or whatever you want to call it, but a snake got into one of our substations," said Kent Martin, spokesman for Ameren Missouri. “It’s that time of year and they’re looking for food, so they’ll climb trees hoping to get in and try to make a nest.”

Martin said the snake, or "what was left of it," was found inside a transformer at a substation outside Marshall, ultimately causing an outage for about 25,000 people throughout West St. Louis County.

"It's a little bit different, but like I said, critters can find a way," Martin said. "We put down snake repellent—you name it. But they find a way in."

Martin said the restoration process for the vast majority of affected customers took about 31 minutes.

“We’re down to very few right now.”

Martin said that included a relatively small number of customers around Affton and Webster Groves as of about 11:15 a.m. At that time, crews still were on site at the substation making the necessary repairs, Martin said.

By Chase Castle
http://ballwin-ellisville.patch.com/articles/ameren-substation-shorted-by-snake#photo-6913967

Safety vow after geese deaths

CALLS have been made to step up safety measures at Scarborough’s Sands apartment block after three more Canada geese flew into the side of the building.


The geese died after hitting the large, cream-coloured end wall at the end of Kepwick House, one of the two blocks of apartments.

The company which manages the Sands apartments has installed new, bright LED lighting to try to tackle the problem. But the geese are still flying at full speed into the wall as they head out over the sea.

Wildlife experts and members of the public are calling for more action to be taken to prevent more deaths.

Steve Race, community education and outreach officer at RSPB Bempton Cliffs, said that for anyone to have to witness an incident like this would be “horrific”.

Mr Race, who lives in Scarborough, said: “It’s more common to hear of birds flying into windows due to the reflection, but for large geese to fly into a wall like this is very unusual.

“I went to have a look myself and could see the imprints on the side of the building. What’s happened is terrible and if it’s recurring something really needs to be done. It’s very upsetting.”

It is believed the geese are struggling to differentiate between the sky and the building’s pale facade.

The birds died instantly after striking the building as they made their way out to sea, and their deaths follow that of another goose which was killed last month in the same way. There have also been previous incidents.

David Hooper, who runs the neighbouring Military Adventure Park in the former Atlantis site, made the latest grim discovery and said it was a distressing sight. He said: “It was quite upsetting to see the geese in that state.

“I believe the geese in Peasholm Park are fine, it is the ones coming from the Open Air Theatre that are having the problem.

“It looks like their direct route takes them straight into the building, it is such a shame to see them in that way.”

Linda Stather, of Scalby Road, contacted the Evening News after she saw a goose collide with the wall.

She said: “I would have thought that after all the killings of geese and swans last year that when this wall was repaired and painted, more thought would have been given to try to stop it.”

But Rachel Dean, director of Escape 2 The Sands, which manages the apartments, said the company was investigating a number of possible solutions to eliminate future incidents.

She added: “Over the last 18 months a number of geese have flown into the side of the apartments on their flight path from Peasholm Park to the North Sea.

“This first occurred at night so to solve this we have fitted LED lights to illuminate up the side of the building to act as a warning to the geese.

“However, the recent inclement weather has resulted in poor visibility for the geese so we are currently exploring all avenues with the RSPB to find a solution to this issue.”

Safety vow after geese deaths

CALLS have been made to step up safety measures at Scarborough’s Sands apartment block after three more Canada geese flew into the side of the building.


The geese died after hitting the large, cream-coloured end wall at the end of Kepwick House, one of the two blocks of apartments.

The company which manages the Sands apartments has installed new, bright LED lighting to try to tackle the problem. But the geese are still flying at full speed into the wall as they head out over the sea.

Wildlife experts and members of the public are calling for more action to be taken to prevent more deaths.

Steve Race, community education and outreach officer at RSPB Bempton Cliffs, said that for anyone to have to witness an incident like this would be “horrific”.

Mr Race, who lives in Scarborough, said: “It’s more common to hear of birds flying into windows due to the reflection, but for large geese to fly into a wall like this is very unusual.

“I went to have a look myself and could see the imprints on the side of the building. What’s happened is terrible and if it’s recurring something really needs to be done. It’s very upsetting.”

It is believed the geese are struggling to differentiate between the sky and the building’s pale facade.

The birds died instantly after striking the building as they made their way out to sea, and their deaths follow that of another goose which was killed last month in the same way. There have also been previous incidents.

David Hooper, who runs the neighbouring Military Adventure Park in the former Atlantis site, made the latest grim discovery and said it was a distressing sight. He said: “It was quite upsetting to see the geese in that state.

“I believe the geese in Peasholm Park are fine, it is the ones coming from the Open Air Theatre that are having the problem.

“It looks like their direct route takes them straight into the building, it is such a shame to see them in that way.”

Linda Stather, of Scalby Road, contacted the Evening News after she saw a goose collide with the wall.

She said: “I would have thought that after all the killings of geese and swans last year that when this wall was repaired and painted, more thought would have been given to try to stop it.”

But Rachel Dean, director of Escape 2 The Sands, which manages the apartments, said the company was investigating a number of possible solutions to eliminate future incidents.

She added: “Over the last 18 months a number of geese have flown into the side of the apartments on their flight path from Peasholm Park to the North Sea.

“This first occurred at night so to solve this we have fitted LED lights to illuminate up the side of the building to act as a warning to the geese.

“However, the recent inclement weather has resulted in poor visibility for the geese so we are currently exploring all avenues with the RSPB to find a solution to this issue.”