The Daily Beast - May 9, 2013 - Miracle Puppy 'Kia' survives nearly a month in locked car

 

The Associated Press

KANSAS CITY, MO.—A Kansas City animal shelter is caring for a puppy that authorities say survived in a locked car that was impounded for nearly a month in a city lot.

The 12-week-old puppy, which has been named Kia, apparently survived by eating trash left in the car. The terrier and schnauzer mix didn’t have access to water.

Toni Fugate, a spokeswoman for the city’s animal shelter, says the puppy was dehydrated and malnourished but is expected to survive.

Records show that the car was towed to the lot April 8. A lot employee saw the dog Monday afternoon and called police, who broke into the car.

Scroll down for video.

 

 Keith Myers | The Kansas City Star

A skinny puppy is getting lots of love, care and food at the Kansas City Pet Project shelter by Beth Dillow on May 7, 2013, after it was discovered in a vehicle at the city's tow lot. The dog has been given the name Kia.

 Keith Myers | The Kansas City Star

Kia likely survived on scraps of McDonald's food that were left in the car.

 

The Daily Beast - Horse Saved From Slaughter, Goes on to Win Big

THE CANADIAN PRESS

CICERO, Ill. - He may never run for the Kentucky Derby roses, but Illinois race horse Magna Fortuna and his owners are celebrating a victory nonetheless — his survival.

 

AP Photo/Courtesy Four Footed Fotos

Magna Fortuna, with jockey Julio Felix up, rides to a 9 3/4-length win during a horse race at Hawthorne Park in Cicero, Ill., March 13, 2013.

AP Photo/Courtesy Four Footed Fotos

Magna Fortuna, with jockey Julio Felix up, is walked on the track after winning a race by 9 3/4 lengths during a horse race at Hawthorne Park in Cicero, Ill.

His mother Lulu was purchased for $300 at a slaughter auction by Gail Vacca, founder and president of the Illinois Equine Rescue Center. Vacca found out later that Lulu was pregnant when purchased

The 3-year-old gelding's name means "great luck," and he was a long shot when he won a recent race at Hawthorne Race Course outside Chicago.

 

AP Photo/Courtesy Four Footed Fotos

Julio Felix celebrates in the winner's circle with owners after riding Magna Fortuna to a 9 3/4-length victory during a race at Hawthorne Park in Cicero, Ill. Gail Vacca, center, the founder and president of the Illinois Equine Rescue Center, purchased the horse's mother at a slaughter auction and later found out the horse was pregnant with Magna Fortuna. Celebrating in the photo are members of Rescue Me Racing, a team of 16 partners who each own a share of the horse.

 

After the foal was born, Vacca traced his lineage back to an impressive sire — a $2.58 million career stakes winner.

Vacca and others from the equine centre formed a partnership, Rescue Me Racing, and some of Magna Fortuna's winnings go back to the rescue.

 Watch video here

The Daily Beast - Miracle Dog Naki'o - April 27, 2013

Meet Naki'o, a mixed breed dog who lost all four feet to frostbite when he was abandoned as a puppy in a foreclosed home in Colorado Springs.  Naki'o  is also the first dog to receive prosthetic limbs.

Scroll down for video of Naki'o.

REUTERS/Rick Wilking

Naki'o, a mixed-breed dog with four prosthetic devices, goes for a run.


 

REUTERS/Rick Wilking

 Naki'o seen with one of his legs with the custom prosthetic.

 

REUTERS/Rick Wilking

Naki'o looks like a happy and contented dog.

REUTERS/Rick Wilking

Naki'o shows the mountain bike tire tread used for the bottom of his paw.

REUTERS/Rick Wilking

Naki'o jumps up for a treat.

 

Naki'o from Aaron Pendergast on Vimeo.

 

 

The Best of the Daily Beast 2012 - December 31, 2012

Enjoy this selection of my favourites of The Daily Beast from 2012.  Wishing you all the best of the season.

 

The Daily Beast returns January 7, 2012.

REUTERS/Phil Noble

An Asian short-clawed otter eats a fish in its enclosure at Chester Zoo in Chester, northern England, January 5, 2012. The smallest of the world's otter species are part of a breeding programme at the zoo as they are classed as being vulnerable in the wild.

 

Seth Casteel/TandemStock.com

A black Labrador retriever says hello.

Dog plus ball equals game of fetch. Add water to the equation and it unleashes Fido’s inner beast — a canine return to a more primal chase-and-capture instinct captured through animal "lifestyle" photographer Seth Casteel’s submerged camera in backyard pools.

 

Humbree family photo

Lucas Hembree hugs Juno, his Belgian Maliois service dog that was rescued from a  shelter when she was days away from being euthanized. Lucas, 4, from Alcoa, Tennessee has a very rare genetic disorder called Sanfilippo (pronounced San-fa-lee-po) Syndrome or also know as MPS III type A.

Newspix / Rex Features

It was a race against the tide that pulled at the heartstrings. For three hours, show horse Astro was stuck neck deep in thick mud at Avalon Beach on Corio Bay, Australia as the tide inched closer.

Rescue crews first tried to pull the 18-year-old, 500kg horse free with fire hoses, and then a winch before a vet turned up to sedate Astro and pull him clear with a tractor.

The crews knew by  5pm that the tide would have come all the way in. But within minutes of the waters rising around him, Astro was being dragged up on to solid ground slowly but surely - the team filthy but ecstatic.

 

 

U.K. based photographers and brothers, Will Burrard-Lucas and Matt Burrard-Lucas embarked on a project to get unique close-up, ground level photographs of African wildlife in 2009. They built the BeetleCam - a remote controlled buggy with a DSLR camera mounted on top. Matt and Will travelled to Tanzania and used the buggy to get groundbreaking photographs of elephants and buffalo. However, they lost a camera and the BeetleCam was almost destroyed in the only encounter with a lion.

In 2011, two new BeetleCams were created, one with more advanced capabilities and one with an armoured shell. They returned to Africa to photograph the lions of the Masai Mara. BeetleCam received a battering but it survived, providing a spectacular portfolio of lion photographs, like this portrait of a male lion covered in flies.

 

AP Photo/Appeal-Democrat, David Bitton

On tippee toes;  a duckling tries to navigate its way over a curb near Ellis Lake in Marysville, California.

 

Matt Marriott/Busch Gardens Tampa Bay

Busch Gardens Tampa celebrated  a milestone anniversary for a very special relationship.  April 16th marked the one-year anniversary of the first time park guests got to see an 8-week-old male cheetah cub and a 16-week-old female yellow Labrador puppy start to strike up a friendship that the park’s animal experts expect to last a lifetime.

 

CU Independent/Andy Duann

A bear that wandered into the CU-Boulder dorm complex Williams Village falls from a tree after being tranquilized by Colorado Wildlife officials.   CU Police Spokesman Ryan Huff said the bear was likely 1-3 years old and weighed somewhere between 150-200 pounds.

 

 

AP Photo/Kerstin Joensson

In this combination photo, freshly shaved alpacas at Alpaca-Land farm, in Goeming in the Austrian province of Salzburg, April, 29, 2012. The annual shearing should be done in the spring to make the animals more comfortable for the summer months. This will give them plenty of time to grow a thick new coat before winter.

 

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

A Bengal Tiger named Akasha dives into the water after a piece of meat at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom on June 20, 2012 in Vallejo, California.  On the first day of summer, temperatures in the San Francisco Bay Area ranged from the mid seventies by the coast to mid nineties inland.

 

AP Photo/Wendy Eskew, Kodiak Daily Mirror

A kayaker watches a brown bear swimming in Anton Larsen Bay near Kodiak, Alaska, on July 13, 2012. Wendy Close Eskew, who operates kayak tours on Kodiak Island, said her group came across the 2 or 3-year-old animal as it swam from Whale Island to the shore of the bay, a distance of 4 miles. The bear eventually reached shore and ran unharmed into the brush, Eskew said.

 

Rob Leeson/Newspix / Rex Features

Anzac the joey and Peggy wombat share a snuggle together at the Wildlife Kilmore Rescue Centre in Victoria, Australia.

An orphaned kangaroo and wombat have found creature comfort with one another. Anzac the joey and Peggy wombat have become best friends after sharing a pouch together at the Wildlife Kilmore Rescue Centre in Victoria, Australia. At just over five months old, Anzac was brought to the centre after being rescued in the Macedon Ranges. Missing his mum, Anzac was placed with wombat Peggy and the two now sleep together. Worker Lisa Milligan said the unlikely friends are comforted by each other's movement and heartbeat. She said: "There are lots of baby animals about at the moment, and they are orphaned for a range of reasons". One of the reasons the lively duo get on so well is their similar personalities - with Anzac described as very social while Peggy is boisterous and cheeky.

 

Dr. Arthur Anker, NUS

Zoologist Arthur Anker's captured these images of a Venezuelan poodle moth which has stirred the imaginations of viewers online.  See more of Anker's incredible images on his Flickr site.

 

 

Joe Jaszewski/Idaho Statesman/MCT

Idaho Department of Fish and Game veterinarian Mark Drew, examines "Boo Boo".  Drew said that the cub has second-degree burns on all four of his paws and needs daily medical care for the next four to six weeks.

 
AFP PHOTO / GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS

A handout picture released by Guinness World Records on September 13, 2012 and taken on November 3, 2011 shows 3 year-old Great Dane called Zeus (L) from Otsego, Michigan in the US which is featured in the new Guinness World Records 2013 book as the tallest dog ever, measuring 111.8 cm (44 in) from foot to withers and Zeus's owner Denise Doorlag (R).  A Great Dane who towers 2.2 metres (7 feet 4 inches) on his hind legs is named the tallest dog ever recorded in the latest Guinness Book of World Records launched on September 13, 2012. The giant canine from Michigan in the United States weighs in at 70.3 kilograms, the 57th edition of the global records book says.

 

Photos by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

Susan Gell and Roy Rodgers, swim their horse Shoshoni in Loch Lomond on September 19,2012 in Luss, Scotland. Roy and Susan both live on Inchtavannaich Island on Loch Lomond and regularly take their horses to the mainland for exercise by letting them swim across the water. Loch Lomond is the largest freshwater loch in Scotland with about thirty islands.

 

Photo courtesy Chester Zoo

Porcupette Noko.

 

Two baby porcupines have had their first ever health check-ups at Chester Zoo, in Chester U.K. The African Crested Porcupines – named Stempu and Noko - were born on Sept 1 and Sept 4 to mom Roxie and dad Nungu.
Keepers gave the duo a physical examination, inserted microchips and took their weights during the routine checks.

Chris Grindle, one of the zoo's keepers said, “We're very pleased to say that both of our spiky new arrivals are in great shape. “Noko tipped the scales at 865g while Stempu was a little heavier at 1075g.

 “Both look to be very healthy indeed and so we are extremely pleased with them – as are our visitors judging by their reactions when they see them.” 

Porcupine babies, called porcupettes, are born without sharp quills. Instead their spikes are soft and bendy but gradually harden after a few days.

 

REUTERS/Mihai Vasile/Four Paws/Handout

Ivan, a 4-year-old lion, sits inside a private roadside zoo in Novi Pazar September 23, 2012.

Three lions Ivan, Cornel and Lepa were acquired from the Belgrade Zoo by a private person in 2009, before the Serbian legislation that prohibits possession of dangerous wild animals came into force in 2010. The Serbian CITES management and enforcement authority confiscated the animals and asked Four Paws Animal Welfare Foundation to transfer them to Africa. Four Paws on September 25, 2012 will release the three lions from Serbia and two tigers from Germany in Lionsrock Big Cats Sanctuary in South Africa.

 

 

 AP Photos/Denis Farrell

Seven-and-a-half month old orphaned elephant calf named Moses was found alone and close to death in the Vwaza Wildlife Reserve in Malawi. He has been adopted by the Jumbo Foundation where he  shown being is cared for by his adoptive "mother" and foundation owner, Jenny Webb.

 

The winners of the internationally acclaimed Veolia Environment Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition were announced in October, 2012.

 

Frozen moment

© Paul Nicklen (Canada) 

Winner / Behaviour: Birds

Frozen moment Paul Nicklen of Canada Winner Paul was not the only mammal lying patiently in wait on the edge of the Ross Sea, Antarctica, to greet the explosion of emperor penguins. Leopard seals – measuring up to three and a half metres long – were almost certainly lurking at the edge of the ice ready to grab a meal. The penguins were therefore exiting as fast as possible. They can sky-rocket up to two metres high out of the water, landing well clear of the edge. ‘I also kept an eye out for leopard seals myself,’ says Paul. ‘I’d previously had one hit me square in the face when I was five metres from the ice edge, knocking me down and stunning me. Luckily it realised that I wasn’t a penguin and slipped back into the icy water.’ The penguins’ survival is vital to that of their two-month-old chicks, hungrily waiting some 10 kilometres away at the Cape Washington colony. With full bellies, the penguins toboggan to the colony, where they regurgitate the food to their respective single chicks. They then head back to the Ross Sea for another three-week stint at sea.

 

REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko

Wolf whisperer; Ecologist Dmitry Shamovich plays with a tamed wolf at his house.

 

REUTERS/Stringer

A pig dives into the water in Ningxiang county, Hunan province November 11, 2012. Villager Huang Demin drives his pigs to dive into the water from a 3-metre-high platform.

 

AFP PHOTO / Laurin Schmid

The keeper kisses the yet unnamed male aardvark on December 18, 2012 during a press conference at Berlin Zoo. The keeper bottle feeds the animal. 

 

The Daily Beast - December 16, 2012

A hedgehog is pictured on December 10, 2012 in a rescue center in Burow, eastern Germany.  AFP PHOTO / STEFAN SAUER

The Daily Beast - October 18, 2012

Marc Lester/Anchorage Daily News/MCT

Shawna Gallagher, of the Indianapolis Zoo, spends time with Pkaka, October 4, 2012. The Alaska SeaLife Center in Seward has been caring for two orphaned walruses in recent months. Both were discovered near Barrow in summer. The animals will soon move to new homes at zoos in Indianapolis and New York.

The Daily Beast - Caring for Moses the Orphaned Elephant Calf - October 16, 2012

LILONGWE, Malawi (AP) — Lots of mothers wake in the middle of the night to feed their babies, but not many get up to give a bottle to an infant elephant.

Jenny Webb adopted a baby boy elephant who was just a few weeks old in February. The orphaned elephant calf was named Moses after being found in the grasses of a riverbed by game rangers at Vwazi Wildlife Reserve in northern Malawi.

Rangers tried to find his family herd for two days without success, said the 48-year-old Webb, adding that the calf's mother was likely killed by elephant poachers. The illegal killing of elephants is rife in Africa, with conservation groups saying that tens of thousands of elephants are being killed each year for their ivory tusks.

Malawi's national parks did not have the funds to raise the little elephant, so Webb, the founder of the Jumbo Foundation an orphanage for large animals, took on the job of caring for the little pachyderm.

Moses weighs 100 kilograms (220 pounds) and each day he drinks 24 liters (6.3 gallons) of an infant formula that is boosted with coconut milk and 14 other ingredients.

"Elephants are extremely sensitive," said Webb. "It amazed me. We think of elephants as big, strong creatures but they are very emotional. Moses picks up on my feelings. If I am sad, he is nurturing. If I am angry, he quickly gets upset."

Webb has placed a mattress on the dining room floor where she and Moses curl up for the night. Moses gets up about every two hours and shuffles around the room until Webb wakes and gives him his bottle feed.

In the mornings, as Webb has a coffee and watches television, Moses throws his trunk over her shoulder and nuzzles his head against her.

Webb gets advice from veterinarians and from the Elephant Orphanage Project in Zambia, which for 16 years has offered similar support to baby elephants.

In the wild, a baby elephant would shelter underneath his mother to be shielded from the sun and remain warm and safe. To emulate this, Webb puts a blanket over Moses. His still tender hide is also protected with sunscreen and moisturizer.

Moses had to have a hernia operation not long after being taken in by Webb because his umbilical cord was damaged when he was born. He stopped eating because of the stress of the surgery and anesthetic and lost weight, but after force feedings the young elephant returned to a healthy weight, Webb said.

Caring for the baby elephant is a 24-hour job. Webb gets help from two employees Matimat Julius and Jim Tembo. All three take turns playing with Moses and using their arms to sweep the dust, the way a mother elephant would do with her trunk.

Like many toddlers, Moses likes to go outside and Webb takes him on daily walks with the family dogs.

"The dogs are like his herd," she said. "He socializes with them in the day and likes going for walks with them. He quickly established dominance with them. But at night, he herds the dogs outside. He doesn't like to sleep with the dogs. He likes to sleep with the cats, and me."

As soon as the sun goes down, Moses lies next to Webb on the makeshift bed.

In a few weeks, Moses is expected to start eating hay, grass, bark and horse feed along with his formula. He has started putting grass and leaves in his mouth but he is not yet eating them. By the time he is four he will stop having formula and will be eating vegetation. And when he is five, Webb plans to reintroduce Moses to life in the wild, possibly in the national park where he was found.

In the meantime Webb plans to raise funds to build a boma, an African-style corral, where Moses can live when he becomes too big for the house.

"By the time he is two years old, he will no longer be able to fit through the door and he will have to live outside," said Webb.

Webb wants to make Moses "an ambassador for elephants" to educate people against wildlife poaching.

Raising Moses has been challenging, said Webb, "but it has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. I have raised children, and this is very similar, but you can't put an elephant in a pram (stroller)."

Webb said that raising Moses gave her the idea to start an orphanage for other animals.

"When we got Moses we found there is a desperate need for an orphanage for large animals. Elephants, hippos, buffalo, rhinos ... there is no place for those babies to go if their parents are killed," she said. "There are some places in Zambia and Kenya, but no place here in Malawi, so that is what I am working for."

 

Seven-and-a-half month old orphaned elephant calf named Moses was found alone and close to death in the Vwaza Wildlife Reserve in Malawi. He has been adopted by the Jumbo Foundation where he is cared for and is being raised by humans.

 AP Photos/Denis Farrell

Moses cuddles with his adoptive "mother" and foundation owner, Jenny Webb.

Moses makes his way into the kitchen as the pet dogs pass by.

 Moses reacts with one of his caretakers.

Moses plays in a dust pit with caretaker Matimat Julius during his daily walk.

Moses takes one of his two-hourly formula bottle feeds.

 

 

Moses gets settled on a makeshift bed, after sunset with his adoptive "mother" and foundation owner, Jenny Webb, where they will sleep together at their home.

The Daily Beast - September 30, 2012

AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam

Penguins walk to the ocean with Table Mountain as backdrop, during their release by workers from the South African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds, SANCCOB, on the outskirts of the city of Cape Town, South Africa, Sept 25, 2012. Over two hundred penguins found covered in oil following a spillage by a stricken bulk carrier the Seli 1 were washed clean of oil, fed and restored to health.

 

The Daily Beast - Orphan Gorilla Baby- September 26, 2012

Photos taken on September 15, 2012 and released on September 24 by the Virunga National Park shows a baby Grauer's gorilla poached from Kahuzi-Biega National Park in Democratic Republic of Congo, that was brought to Virunga National Park to stay at the lower enclosure of Senkwekwe Orphan Gorilla Center.

The baby named Isangi will stay for quarantined and then move to GRACE for orphan Grauer's gorillas.

Sleeping with a caretaker at the lower enclosure of Senkwekwe Orphan Gorilla Center.

The baby drinks from a bottle with the help of a caretaker.

The baby gorilla is weighed.

Sharing a moment with the caretaker.

Isangi, a poached 9-month-old Grauer's gorilla, will be quarantined for a month.

The Daily Beast - September 18, 2012

 

 

AP Photo/U.S. Geological Society, Joe Tomoleoni

A sea otter holds her pup at Seacliff State Beach near Aptos, Calif., on, Sept. 10, 2012. The sea otter, known as Olive, has amazed researchers by becoming the first sea otter not only to survive a dunking in oil but then also go on to deliver a healthy pup.