Yesterday it was a brave cat.  Today, it’s Italian canines.  With at least 300 fully trained dog lifeguards, about 3,000 people are saved each year from drowning according to MSNBC.com,

Hundreds of specially trained dogs form Italy’s corps of canine lifeguards, are deployed each summer to help swimmers in need of rescue.

These “lifedogs” wear a harness or tow a buoy that victims can grab, or a raft they can sit on to be towed back to shore, and unlike their human counterparts, they can easily jump from helicopters and speeding boats to reach swimmers in trouble.

I once dated a guy who was training to be a lifeguard. I learned quickly that I’d be a terrible victim because I couldn’t stop myself from struggling.  But if it were a dog who swam out to me, I think I’d be calm enough to just grab hold and kick.  Canine lifeguards - we salute you!

Photo from MSNBC.

A friend of mine linked on Facebook to an article from Colorado Springs where a photographer Nanette Martin covered Hurricane Katrina.  She took many photos of lost animals and put them online.  She saw when all the animals were adopted, it was good photography that helped them all find homes.

It was suggested that Martin take a picture of each of the animals and forward them through the internet. “By the time we got to Atlanta practically every one of them was spoken for,” says Martin. She realized her pictures could make the difference between a homeless animal living or dying.

Kudos to Ms. Martin for her new career in Shelter Me Photography, the Glamour Shots for Animals!

Visit the wonderful website, make a donation, or adopt one of these beautiful animals that need a home!

Photo from Shelter Me Photography.

Ron at PopFi does such a terrific job of finding interesting stories throughout the world that show just how crazy popular culture is.  He shared a story about how a tiger cub was found recently at Bangkok International Airport… found sedated in a pile of stuffed animals.

The tiger was taken to an animal rehab facility while officials try to determine if it was born in the wild or if it is born in captivity.  Despite its treatment, the tiger kitten seems to be in good health.  As for the smuggler, she was arrested and detained for her not-so-subtle animal smuggling attempt.

People. They are crazy!

Photo by J Tillery via Flickr Creative Commons.

By now, everyone has seen the video where the lady from England walks up to “pet” the kitty and then quickly picks it up and drops it in a Herbie Curbie.  Seriously? Who would do that?  She didn’t think it was a big deal,

Earlier in the day, the British-based Sun newspaper reported that Bale put the cat in the can as “a joke” and didn’t understand what the big deal was. “It’s only a cat,” Bale said, adding that she thought the cat would be able to wiggle its way out.

For sure, she’s a crazy cat lady but not the kind you usually think of.  Here’s the vid.

Gross!

Bedbugs have infiltrated even some of the nicest hotels, homes, fluffy beds, yucky beds, and average beds.  There seems to be an epidemic of them spreading across the country according to the latest news.

According to the Boston Herald, bedbugs are taking over throughout the city to the horror of many, especially in the Back Bay and South End where people are going out of their way to keep their critter crisis on the down low.

The Boston Herald reports that exterminators are told to show up in unmarked vehicles at times when neighbors won’t be able to catch on to what’s going on, as the clients pay huge sums of money to rid these creepy crawlies from their posh homes.

What cities have the most bedbugs?

Be grateful if you don’t live in

1. New York
2. Philadelphia
3. Detroit
4. Cincinnati
5. Chicago
6. Denver
7. Columbus, Ohio
8. Dayton, Ohio
9. Washington, D.C.
10. Los Angeles
11. Boston
12. Indianapolis
13. Louisville, Ky.
14. Cleveland
15. Minneapolis, Minn.

What really gives me the heebie-jeebies is that I’ve spent the night in most of these cities!  No! They weren’t brought by me!  I check my mattresses regularly - even when I go to hotels. Evidently they’re pretty easy to spot in the folds of the mattress.  According to the Harvard School of Public Health, here’s what to look for:

The bedroom and other sleeping areas should be carefully examined for bed bugs and signs of bed bug activity. Folds and creases in the bed linens, and seams and tufts of mattresses and box springs, in particular, may harbor bed bugs or their eggs. They may also be found within pleats of curtains, beneath loose areas of wallpaper near the bed, in corners of desks and dressers, within spaces of wicker furniture, behind cove molding, and in laundry or other items on the floor or around the room.

I hope you don’t find any!

In perhaps one of the strangest “animal” stories of the year, a man filed to have his named officially changed from Gary to “Boomer the Dog.”  The judge denied the petition, but that hasn’t stopped Gary from dressing and acting the part.

According to MSNBC, the would-be Boomer was a fan of a television show that was canceled in the 1980s. He felt a connection to the dog character that rescued people.

Mathews has said he is a “furry fan” — people who attribute human characteristics to animals, and vice versa. Like other ardent followers, Mathews often attends conventions and social gatherings.

And you thought Star Trek conventions held some strange characters!

What better story to talk about on a Friday the 13th than a country being attacked by vampire bats? In Urakusu, Peru, hundreds of people have been exposed to rabies through a plague of vampire bats,

Officials in Peru believe up to 500 people in the Peruvian Amazon have been exposed to rabies thanks to vampire bat attacks, and no telling how many of those 500 are on their way to becoming a foaming-at-the-mouth special edition of Dracula.  Vampire bats are infamous for the way they feed off blood, unlike normal adorable bats.

According to PopFi, the increase in bats could be due to deforestation, cold weather, or just the unstopped spread of the disease.  Ew.  It’s kind of like those movies you watch where you know there’s a bad guy in the house.  Instead of running fast and far, the “victim” tiptoes around the house with just a candlestick for protection.  Me?  I’d be running fast and far from Peru right now… at least until the vampire bats were better under control!

Photo by the biella via flickr creative commons.

A town in Australia has been terrorized recently by three super-sized crocodiles.  Two have been eliminated, but one more is still stalking the local farm animals, pets, and wildlife.  And maybe humans.  According to PopFi,

For whatever reason, the town is saltwater crocodile central, as the town has been plagued by not one, but three different giant crocodiles that have been eating livestock and generally terrorizing the citizens of the small town outside Darwin (where the crocs take water aerobics).

The crocodile in the photo is unable to chew up the kid in the photo (it’s dead, Jim) but still… yikes!  Look at that size.. as big as a truck!

A couple of pit bulls in Colorado saved a chihuahua from a coyote recently, according to Pawesome.  When Buster went outside to do what dogs do, a coyote nabbed him.  His Mom heard him screaming, witnessed the coyote brutally shaking the Buster, then dropped him and ran.  It seems that the neighbor’s pit bulls heard the commotion and came to Buster’s rescue.

The conclusion:  1) Not all pit bulls are bad by any stretch, and 2) Buster is recovering nicely.

H/T Brittney.

The story that I saw today on Yahoo News broke my heart.  A highly-trained military dog with the assignment of sniffing out bombs returned to Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado a changed animal.

Before she went, Gina was a playful two-year old.  Upon her return, she was scared to enter buildings, jumpy, and withdrawn.  The diagnosis from a military veterinarian was post-traumatic stress disorder.  Her rehabilitation is underway,

Haynes and other handlers coaxed Gina on walks, sending someone ahead to pass out treats for bystanders to give her. They got her over her fear of walking through doors by stationing someone she knew on the other side to reward her with pats and play. They eased her farther into buildings with the same technique.

“She started learning that everyone wasn’t trying to get her,” Haynes said. “She began acting more social again.”

According to the article, she’s not expected to make a 100 percent recovery, but should still live a full life of work and play.

Photo by Associated Press.