Tag: animals

Parrot worth $2.5K stolen from porch of California home in broad daylight

A devastated California family is pleading for help after their pet parrot worth $2,500 was yanked off their porch and stolen by a brazen thief in broad daylight.

The hooded bird snatcher walked up to the front porch and aggressively grabbed the 4′ by 2′ bird cage with the parrot inside on March 12, according to footage obtained by ABC 7.

The thief was captured alongside a second man, shoving the cage into the back of a red SUV before taking off with the animal.

Police believe at least two people were involved in the theft, the outlet adds.

The African Gray Parrot named Luna was snatched off the front of the Orange County home early afternoon.

The family says their winged companion was outside getting some fresh air, and they are surprised at how quickly he was taken.

The grey-hooded thief stole the family pet in the middle of the afternoon.
Facebook/Abigail Ayapantecatl
Thief taking cage.
The family is pleading with the public for any information on the suspects involved.
Facebook/Abigail Ayapantecatl

“Typically we have him out for a little while, just to get some sun, and the person just came in and in a matter of seconds took the bird and the cage,” Karen Gerardo, one of Luna’s owners told the outlet.

Luna — who’s been with the family for 10 years — is the family’s son’s pet, and the bird is said to be highly attached to the son.

“My brother tried chasing them down but they drove off quickly down Main towards Warner,” Abigail Ayapantecatl wrote in a Facebook post asking the public for help.

Gerardo said Luna was “a joy to have around” and even knew how to sing along and mimic certain movies and television shows and would say “hello” if someone answered the phone around him.

“No different than losing a dog or cat,” Gerardo told the outlet. “Birds, specifically, have their own personality. So it is a loss for our home.”

Gerardo said her family has received an outcry of support from social media and local pet store owners and hopes someone will identify the suspects involved.


The pair of thieves are seen loading the cage with Luna inside into the red SUV.
Facebook/Abigail Ayapantecatl

The red SUV used as the getaway vehicle did not have plates attached to it at the time of the bird-napping.
Facebook/Abigail Ayapantecatl

The snatcher of the cage was seen in a charcoal gray hoodie, gray gloves, and light gray sweats, with his alleged accomplice wearing a tan bucket hat and black hoodie.

The SUV had no license plate on it at the time of the robbery, according to Ayapantecatl’s post.

The African grey parrot — which can live up to 70 to 80 years — is considered a brilliant bird, with studies finding that some can perform “cognitive tasks at levels beyond that of 5-year-old humans.”

The breed of parrot can be valued anywhere from $2,500 and $5,000.

“It’s been difficult,” Gerardo said. “It was a 4′ by 2′ [cage] in the middle of our living room, and having that void is a daily reminder that our pet is no longer with us. Not because it died, but because it was stolen by someone.”

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Florida man Paul Broadhurst punches bobcat to save dog

A Florida man reportedly fended off a bobcat attack on his daughter’s dog by swinging his fists, clocking the wild animal in the face.

Paul Broadhurst told Fox 32 Orlando that he was walking the dog, Koda, on Feb. 11 in the Stoneybrook neighborhood of East Orlando when the bobcat pounced.

“The bobcat, he clawed into me pretty good, and I end up having to punch the bobcat in the mouth to get it off of me,” Broadhurst said. 

“He was walking down the sidewalk that bobcat was just over the top of him. He no sooner got there, and I ripped him off.”

Broadhurst was left with scratches after he tried to pry the animal away from the dog, eventually sending the bobcat scurrying into the tree line.

“He got away lucky,” Broadhurst said about the family pet who was uninjured during the attack. 

“This is a very high-traffic area,” Broadhurst explained. “People walk their dogs, and have their kids, there are small kids in area 1-, 2-, 3-year-olds and if the bobcat got on them, it would be a bad outcome.”

Paul Broadhurst was walking Koda at the time of the attack.
FOX 35 Orlando
Paul Broadhurst says he was left with scratches from the encounter.
FOX 35 Orlando


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Paul Broadhurst said the attack happened at a high traffic area where people walk their dogs.
FOX 35 Orlando
Paul Broadhurst said Koda got away lucky.
FOX 35 Orlando


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Broadhurst’s home is next to a conservation area and Environmental Education Awareness Research Support’s Frank Robb suggested that people walking their pets should carry an object like a walking stick that they can put between their pets and any animal that is rabid or looking for food.

“When homes get built these wild areas are being taken away, you’re going to see more conflict like this with wildlife,” Robb said. “Be aware of your surroundings and know where you live.”

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Giraffe dies in New York zoo after fracturing neck on gate

A beloved giraffe died in an upstate zoo over the weekend when he fractured his neck after it got stuck in a support structure for his enclosure’s gate.

The 6-year-old Masai giraffe named Parker was found unresponsive Sunday morning inside the Animals of the Savanna Building at the Seneca Park Zoo in Rochester, the Democrat and Chronicle reported.

Veterinary personnel responded immediately but were unable to save the majestic animal.

“The possibility of this kind of event happening was unforeseen and unprecedented,” zoo Superintendent Steve Lacy said in a statement.

“The gate structure, installed in 2018, is a standard giraffe enclosure feature and is used in a number of accredited zoos around the country,” he added.

Parker fractured his neck when he tried to free himself, officials said.

The Seneca Park Zoo said the gate’s manufacturer has been notified, adding that there have been no reports of similar incidents with the structures at other zoos.


Parker had a male baby with Iggy, another zoo giraffe, in April.
Seneca Park Zoo

The US Department of Agriculture and the Association of Zoos and Aquariums also have been notified of the tragedy.

The zoo added that it would modify the gate to prevent this from happening again.

Parker, who arrived in Rochester from the Santa Barbara Zoo in 2018, was paired with female Masai giraffes Kipenzi and Iggy, the Democrat and Chronicle reported.

He and Iggy were parents to Olmsted, or Olmy, who was born April 29.

Parker’s other offspring, a male born to Kipenzi on July 12, was euthanized soon after birth after multiple interventions failed to correct a congenital abnormality of his left front fetlock joint.

Zoo veterinarian Chris McKinney said the facility’s three surviving giraffes are being monitored closely because “any major event can certainly affect them.”

Monroe County Executive Adam Bello said: “This is a tragedy for the Seneca Park Zoo community.

“From the staff who cared for and loved Parker, to the Zoo guests and members who had their visits brightened by Parker’s presence, we are all grieving this tremendous loss,” he added.

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Picture shows incredible find in house’s walls

Nick Castro, the owner of Nick’s Extreme Pest Control in California, has been in the pest control industry for over 20 years.

He has seen many bizarre things in his career, but recently he came across a discovery that left him stunned.

Castro was called to a house to deal with a woodpecker that was causing damage to the siding by storing acorns in the holes it created.

When he cut into the wall to remove the acorns, he was met with a never-ending stream of acorns pouring out.

“They just kept coming and coming, non-stop,” Castro told The Dodo.

“Acorns were thought to be only about a quarter of the way up the wall. Turned out, they were piled high up to the attic of the house.”

Castro opened more holes around the house, but the acorns kept spilling out, totaling around 700 pounds, which filled eight large rubbish bags.


Nick Castro, the owner of Nick’s Extreme Pest Control in California, was called to a house to deal with a woodpecker that was causing damage.
Facebook

According to the pest controller, the bird had stored acorns all over the house, creating clear woodpecker holes everywhere.

“You would think this bird had stored food all over,” Castro said.

“The bird had completely destroyed the exterior of the house with the holes it had made. Acorns were stored all over siding and trim.”

Castro said that the bird was “crazy.”


The woodpecker had holes all over the house where it would drop the acorns into the walls.
Facebook

“We actually saw him there when we were there putting more in the holes he created,” he said.’

The bird had put acorns through the chimney stack after making hundreds of holes in the wood siding surrounding it, and then it came through the attic ventilation port holes.

“Acorns were piled from the lower floor to about 20 feet up into the attic,” Castro said.

At Nick’s Extreme Pest Control, “All animals are handled humanely and never euthanized,” and this case was no exception.


Despite the damage caused, the bird wasn’t harmed.
Facebook

The woodpecker was left alone, and the homeowners simply patched the holes outside the house.

It was hoped that adding new vinyl siding would encourage the bird to find a new place to store its food, which would ultimately be best for the bird, whose hard work finding acorns was going to waste.

“I never saw anything like that before,” Castro said.

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California teen arrested after violent puppy-snatching

An ailing month-old Maltipoo puppy stolen from a California pet store has reportedly been returned — and a callous teen dognapper arrested.

Surveillance footage shows the female thief and Rosa Muñoz — who runs Planet Pet Shop in Bell Gardens — fighting on Jan. 30 as Muñoz tries to rescue the snatched puppy named Baby Moon, Fox 11 reported.

In the video, the suspect is seen viciously slamming Muñoz to the ground as another woman casually walks by.

Bell Gardens Police said after the brutal attack, the suspect pepper sprayed Muñoz in the face and then ran away with Baby Moon. Muñoz broke her hand during the violence.

Though the heartless thief escaped, Baby Moon was returned to its rightful owner days later — when a pedestrian noticed the tiny male puppy in a shoebox outside the store.


The teenage suspect and the woman who ran the pet store got into a physical altercation outside the store on Monday.
Bell Gardens Police Department

“They told me that was my dog outside and when I went to check the shoe box, it was,” said Muñoz’s son, Jesse Robles.

Robles told the outlet Baby Moon had been seriously ill before he was stolen.

“It was really skinny, it was hanging on for dear life,” he said, noting that four days without his special food and medication left him sickly.

Baby Moon belongs to Robles’ sister, who had gotten ownership of the furball a week before his violent theft. Baby Moon has since been reunited with his rightful owner, the outlet reported.


Surveillance footage taken from a nearby business helped police arrest the teenage suspect, Bell Gardens police said Friday.
Bell Gardens Police Department

Police haven’t released the name or age of the teen suspect, but said tips received after surveillance footage was released led to her arrest. They also alleged a woman caught on camera walking by the fight may have been involved.

“We had footage from the corner and you can see them running together, so we didn’t know that until yesterday,” Robles told the outlet. “Now it all makes sense, how come she didn’t help? She was part of it,” he alleged.

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Missouri farmer traps wild African serval

A Missouri family has seen some strange things prowl on their farmland in the Ozark Mountains, but discovering a wild African cat was a first. 

The Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, received an email on Jan. 17 from a farmer in Ava, Missouri, that he had caught an African serval in a live trap. He told the sanctuary that the cat had been meandering on his property for about 6 months.

“Whenever it was little, I came home late one night, and it runs across the road … I thought, ‘wow, that was a crazy-looking cat,’” the farmer’s son said in a video posted by the sanctuary on its Facebook page.

Refuge president Tanya Smith said the cat escaped somewhere or was let go near the farm.

“They had taken it to the vet and tried to find if it had a microchip in it, and it didn’t,” she said. “There was no identification for this little this African serval.”

The 30-pound cat is estimated to be about 6 years old. African servals are typically found south of the Sahara Desert.


The serval was captured in Missouri ad a wildlife refuge from Arkansas picked it up.
Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge: YouTube

‘Nobody knew where this cat had come from’

The captured African serval had been successful at hunting and was able to find birds to eat, which was evident from the feathers scattered in her lair between some hay bales.

“It’s probably what saved it through this last big storm we had,” Smith said.

After traveling about 2 hours north to Ava, Smith and her team were able to transfer the animal from the live trap into a pet carrier. They brought her back to the sanctuary and put her in their veterinary clinic quarantine area. She was full of parasites and worms.

“Nobody knew where this cat had come from,” Smith said. “She was full of fleas and had some other issues going on with some frostbite on her tail.”

On Friday, Smith said she took two calls from people who thought it was their cat.

“How many are out there? Crazy!,” she said.


The cat escaped somewhere or was let go near the farm.
Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge: YouTube

Looking for a lifetime of love

It can be a rough life in the wild for African servals. Even though they’re not completely domesticated, they haven’t really been taught to hunt like they were raised by their mother.

“Who knows how long she was out there,” Smith said. “If we hadn’t rescued her, I’m afraid that she wouldn’t have lived more than a couple more weeks because of the infection in her paw was pretty significant.”

The African cat species is not used to Ozark winters. Even at the Arkansas sanctuary, caregivers provide heated buildings for these animals because they are indigenous to Africa.

Smith said there’s a problem with these types of animals being let loose. This was the third over the years that ended up at the sanctuary after it was released into the wild environment.

Today, the cat is doing well. As she recovers, the sanctuary is looking for somebody to sponsor her care. The non-profit is looking for anyone that wants to commit for the cat’s lifetime – which could be up to 20 years of age.

“This was an emergency rescue. We weren’t really prepared for bringing another African serval in,” Smith said. “We do have nine already at the refuge, but we have decided to keep her here, and we have made room for her.”


After a medical checkup, the serval was placed in a recovery cage and monitored by staff at the Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge.
Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge: Facebook

African servals make terrible pets

Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge was founded by Smith’s family in 1992. The nearly 500-acre ranch was started after a black-market breeder showed up on a woman’s doorstep with 42 lions and tigers in three cattle trailers. The breeder was on the run from the law in Texas and desperately needed to find a home for the cats.

A friend of the woman’s family lived on a ranch in Eureka Springs and offered temporary refuge for the cats. The ranch, known today as Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge, has rescued more than 400 big cats and 100 other animals over the last 31 years.

The sanctuary was also instrumental in getting the Big Cat Public Safety Act passed last year. Signed by President Joe Biden on Dec. 20, it officially ends the dangerous trade in pet big cats. It also helps ensure that no more cubs are ripped from their mothers at birth to be traumatized for profit, according to the Animal Welfare Institute.

While the law stops people from speed breeding big cats, the smaller cats, like African servals, caracals, and Savannah cats aren’t part of that same legislation. Smith said she continues to get calls on these smaller breed exotic animals from people thinking they are going to make a good pet. However, they soon discover that they can’t train it right and stop feeding on raw meat.

“It’s not going to be fine in your house,” Smith said. “It’s going to eat your other pets or attack your children or pee in your house, because they’re very territorial.”

They are predators, Smith warns, not pets.

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Cow caught on video in Dubrai, India, shopping mall

Shoppers in India had a cow when one wandered into a shopping mall there.

The bovine was caught on video in Dubrai, in the Indian state of Assam, strutting through the aisles of the men’s section of a clothing store.

In the clip, which has gone viral, customers and employees can be seen moo-ving out of its way.

The cow was seen strutting through the aisles of the men’s section of a clothing store.
sarmah_nitish/Twitter

The brazen cash cow must have run out of money, and left the store unharmed.

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Wild video shows escaped bull rampaging through Israeli bank

It’s a bull market.

Wild footage captured the moment an escaped bull charged into an Israeli bank on Monday sending terrified employees running for their lives.

The bizarre incident took place on Monday morning at a Bank Leumi branch in the city of Lod near Tel-Aviv, reported the Israeli news site Ynetnews.com.

The large farm animal had somehow gotten loose from its owner’s property and made its way to the bank’s parking lot, with a rope still tied around its neck.

Cellphone videos that have been circulating on social media then show the panicked bovine running wild through the hallways in a scene more appropriate for Pamplona, Spain, than a regional bank branch in an Israeli suburb.

An escaped bull on Monday barged into a branch on Bank Leumi in Lod, Israel.
CEN
Cellphone videos show the horned animal running up and down a hallway, causing panic among bank staff.
CEN

According to reporting by Ynetnews.com, several bystanders had made futile attempts to scare away the horned interloper including by wielding a plastic cone.

After about 30 minutes of bull-inspired chaos, the animal’s owner arrived and tied up the rampaging mammal.

The bull was said to have gotten loose from a nearby property and still had a rope tied around its neck.
CEN
The animal’s owner later arrived and tied it up, and a veterinarian shot the bull with a tranquillizer dart.
CEN

A city veterinarian was summoned to the scene and shot the bull with a tranquillizer dart to get it under control.

A Bank Leumi representative said in a statement that “there were no casualties and no damage.”

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