News from around the globe of the strangely odd, puzzlingly unlikely, and simply weird.

Sunday, July 29, 2007

It's Not The Size Of The Dog In The Fight

MASONVILLE, Colo. - Zoey the Chihuahua, doesn't appear too intimidating, but when a rattlesnake threatened her owners' 1-year-old grandson, she was quick to display her inner-wolf.
Booker West was splashing his hands in the birdbath of his grandparents' northern Colorado back yard when the snake slithered up to the youngster, rattled and attempted to strike. Five-pound Zoey sprung to action and protectively jumped in the way and took the bites.
"She got in between Booker and the snake, and that's when I heard her cries," Monty Long, Booker's grandfather said.
The dog required treatment for her wounds, and it appeared she might not survive the bites she suffered earlier in the month. Now she prances about.
"These little bitty dogs, they just don't really get credit," Booker's grandma Denise Long told reporters.

Gators Love A Good Burger Too!

VENICE, Florida -- A man who lost his golf ball in a course pond nearly lost a lot more when a nearly 11-foot alligator latched on to his arm and pulled him in the water, according to authorities.
Bruce Burger, 50, was trying to retrieve his ball Monday from a pond on the sixth hole at the Lake Venice Golf Club.
The alligator latched on to Burger's right forearm and pulled him in the pond, said Gary Morse, a spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Burger used his left arm to beat the reptile until it freed him.
"I saw him reach down to get his ball and he yelled" for help, said Janet Pallo, who was playing the fifth hole and ran over to drive the man to the clubhouse.
Burger, from Lenoir City, Tennessee, was taken to a hospital but was not seriously injured, Morse said Tuesday.
It took seven Fish and Wildlife officers an hour to trap the one-eyed alligator, which measured 10 feet, 11 inches, Morse said.
The pond at the sixth hole has a "Beware of Alligator" sign.
"Unfortunately, that's part of Florida," course general manager Rod Parry said. "There's wildlife in these ponds."