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ST. LOUIS - A two-headed snake named “We,” the main attraction at the World Aquarium, has died.

The 8-year-old rat snake died of natural causes during the weekend, said caretaker Leonard Sonnenschein. Most two-headed snakes survive for only a week or two.

“It’s terrible news,” Sonnenschein said. “People come in every day and say: ’I’m here to see the two-headed snake.”’

Sonnenschein said more than a million people have seen We over the years. Children were especially fascinated by the snake, wondering how two heads could coexist on the same body as We sometimes strained to slither in two directions at once.

“These kinds of questions helped spur the science spirit in children,” Sonnenschein said.
Sonnenschein said he bought We from a snake breeder in Indiana for $15,000 when the reptile was just a few weeks old.

A taxidermist is preserving We’s body, which should be back on display within a week, Sonnenschein said.

(Article Source)

This saddens me beyond words. Snakes are such beautiful and misunderstood animals and to thinkt hat one so rare and beautiful as this one has passed on makes want to cry. I have never seen a double headed snake myself and would have loved to meet this one.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A jockey who kicked his horse in the stomach before a race was suspended for 30 days and fined $1,000 by Philadelphia Park officials on Monday.

The decision against veteran jockey Victor Molina came three days after his 40-minute disciplinary hearing for kicking 2-year-old colt Yes Yes Ohyes. Molina, a 27-year veteran who’s been racing at Philadelphia Park since 1988, hoped for only a fine and was surprised by the severity of the penalties issued by the track’s stewards.

“The kick wasn’t what I’m about,” Molina said by phone. “The penalty doesn’t warrant what I did. I got punished a little harder than other ones. I think most people around the track, if you asked them, would say it was a little too harsh. People in the industry wouldn’t judge me the way I’ve been judged.”

Molina’s agent, David Yannuzzy, said he was considering an appeal. The suspension was retroactive to June 19 — the day after Molina was ejected from the park — and continues to July 18. Yannuzzy blamed the officials for overreacting because Molina’s kick was simulcast to tracks around the country and was live on racing channel TVG, prompting fans who saw the act to call the track and complain.

(Article Source)

You know I’m really not liking these people’s attitudes. They act as if kicking a horse if perfectly fine and an everday occurence. If it is occuring everyday then there is something seriously wrong here. This attitude of “oh it happens, but it’s just a $250 fine” is absurd. Talk about a lack of regard for the welfare of animals. And this upset that the jockey got a harsher punishment? Is this blogger’s eyes the stiffer punishment was just long overdue.

Milan’s Linate airport was forced to close down today between the hours of 5a.m. and 8a.m. causing 12 flights to be rescheduled. No it wasn’t a terrorist threat and no the weather wasn’t bad, but it was the airport’s hare population’s mating season.

Blowing whistles and waving their arms frantically, some 200 volunteers spooked the hares out of their holes and into waiting nets. The animals — 57 hares and four wild rabbits — were put in wooden crates and transferred to a wildlife preserve, officials said.

Usually the hare hunts takes place overnight, when the airport’s runways aren’t terribly busy, but because there were so many hares this season, officials mounted a daylight capture so volunteers could better catch their bounding prey.

The airport reopened after a hare delay of just a few hours.

(Full Article)

Last night I made my first attempt in making an edible dish for my kitties and I was met with an amazing amount of success. Denali will eat just about anything, provided it doesn’t eat her first, and given the fact that she apparently doesn’t mind eating coyote meat that might not be an entirely accurate description of dietary tastes. Isis however is absolutely finicky. Though she likes canned cat food, only certain flavors appeal to her and she certainly doesn’t like to eat it on a regular basis either. She’s not much for human food either except for, strangely enough, cookies and the odd bites from one of our hamburgers. She does love chicken though, so endeavored to make something that would appeal to her since she is the one in primary need right now. We still have a sufficient amount of safe dry food left.

I didn’t have enough ingredients readily available to make a properly well balanced dish for the cats but seeing Isis trying to crunch dry food for another nigt was out of the question so I made due with what I had. Somehow I succeeded beyond my wildest dreams! Both Isis and Denali loved this recipe! Isis even went back into the kitchen and availed herself of the remains from their dinner twice! Three helpings. That is utterly amazing for my finicky girl.

The ultimate test came earlier today when I took out the portion I had placed in a covered bowl and spooned out a serving to her. It was still chilled a bit from the refrigerator and had a thin coating of her medicine on it but Isis happily dug into it. Now I know this dish is appealing to cats. Now I happily offer this recipe up to you:

What you’ll need:

• 2 chicken breasts, skinned.
• 2 teaspoons catnip
• 1 bay leaf (whole)
• 2 cups steamed white rice
• 1/2 cup milk
• blender
• large mixing bowl
• strainer

Preparation

In a pan, add in white uncooked rice, bay leaf, and catnip and allow to boil. When the rice is soft and ready, carefully strain so as not to loose the bay leaf and catnip.  When finished place in a covered mixing bowl and set it to the side.

Over an open flame, grill both breasts until cooked. Do not add any sauces or herbs - especially garlic! When ready the chicken should be nice and tender. Remove chicken from grill and cut into bite size portions then place into a blender. Set blender mode to chop and proceed until all pieces have been finely diced up.  As you do this add in a bit of milk to allow the blender to better able chop and blend the meat. Do not add in all of the milk yet.

Once  the chicken is finely chopped and mixed with some milk pour it into the mixing bowl where you have the rice. Carefully stir and mix the ingredients. Due to the stickiness of the rice you will need to add in a bit of milk and a touch of warm water as you stir. you do not want the mixture to be runny though so do not add in all of the milk at once - you may not need it! The mixture texture should be akin to making cookie dough or tortilla mixture.

Once the mixture has been fully mixed and the texture is as desired it is ready to serve. This mixture makes approximately 5 servings for 2 cats.

Now, because my mother interfered this recipe was altered slightly from my original intention, it remains to be seen what results the original would have yielded, so if you’re feeling gutsy you may want to try alternating the preparation of the chicken. Leave the skin on, boil instead of grill ect. The choice is completely up to you.

Please note, this mixture is not perfectly balanced so you would not wish to feed this to your animal continuously over a lengthy period of time. It would be akin to you having a fast food diet. However, if you do not have the time or money to run out to the store to buy all of the recommended ingredients to make a perfectly balanced meal and you do not want to risk the cat food on the shelves this is a quick and simple alternative that will tide your cat over nicely. It will also serve as a great treat as well. Enjoy!

This is just an absolute low for commercial products and capitalism:

Chinese authorities have told the FDA that the wheat gluten was an industrial product not meant for pet food, Sundlof said. Still, melamine can skew test results to make a product appear more protein-rich than it really is, he added. That raises the possibility the contamination was deliberate. (source)

FDA officials won’t know for sure until their visas to China are approved and they begin the inspection of the facilities, but the fact remains, there is a high probability that the food was deliberately contaminated just so the food would pass muster. Pathetic.

To top it off some of the melamine may have gotten placed into pig feed as well. The agent was found in pig urine at a pig farm and that farm has been quarantined. FDA officials are now looking into the possibility that the meat sold from that farm was contaminated.