Latest from the Buddies Pet Insurance news team… A pig the size of a Shetland pony has trapped an Australian woman in her country home, according to national radio. When the woman tried to leave her house to use the outdoor toilet the animal bit her and tried to push her back inside. “It’s a beautiful male pig, but he just so big and pushy,” she told the radio. Rangers from the local council tried to rescue her but could not capture the huge animal. They came with a dog cage but the animal would not fit. “It was like trying to put an elephant in,” she said. She added that her neighbours started feeding the pig, whom they named Bruce, when he showed up at their homes 10 days previously after the owners let him loose in the rain forest because they could not handle him. But Bruce became aggressive, demanding more food and biting her on the leg when she tried to go to the toilet. The rangers will be trying again next week.
Latest from the Buddies Pet Insurance news team…More than 400 dogs were “married” in an Indian ceremony designed to improve that country’s attitude towards canines. In Delhi scores of owners met in a shopping mall to join their pets in matrimony, while similar events were held in 13 other locations throughout the country. A lavish ceremony, conducted with a Christian theme so as not to offend the predominantly Hindu gathering, was laid on as the dogs were paired off by breed and “married”. Some were dressed for the occasion with flowers and veils. The organiser of the event commented: “What we are doing here is to change Indian attitudes towards taking their pets out to the shops with them. Indians do not have a great tolerance for dogs and we want to change that.”
Latest from the Buddies Pet Insurance news team… A Labour Party supporter is seeking damages from a dog owner after allegedly having the end of his little finger bitten off while delivering leaflets. The man, who is 65, claims he was the victim of a terrier which severed the finger as he put his hand through the letterbox. He is claiming £15,000 from the owner who discovered the fingertip alongside a Labour leaflet on his doormat. When he contacted the police, he claims they told him to dispose of the finger tip. He is also adamant that his 12-years-old dog Jack was not capable of inflicting the injury. “He has few teeth left and the one he does have are rotten,” he said. The case is due to go to the county court next month (October), two years after the incident during a city council by-election in Newcastle upon Tyne.
Latest from the Buddies Pet Insurance news team… Swiss owners of goldfish have been warned that in future the creatures cannot be flushed down the toilet because of strict new animal protection laws. Instead it must first be knocked out and then killed before its body can be disposed of. The new legislation spells out in exhaustive detail how all domestic animals are to be treated, whether they are pets, farm animals or destined for scientific experiments. Wild animals are also covered by the law if they are in circuses or zoos. Anglers are forbidden to practise catch-and-release fishing or to use live fish as bait. In the domestic environment, common household pets such as budgies and hamsters can longer be kept alone – they must have a companion.
Latest from the Buddies Pet Insurance news team… Sniffer dogs trained to detect the plastics used in DVDs are leading the police fight against the flourishing £200 million trade in pirated films. The Times last week joined Lucky and Flo, two black Labradors and their handlers on their first operation in London tackling the illicit market. The search began among parked cars around Whitechapel. The cars are used by traders to stock the illegal discs. Within minutes the dogs led police to a stash of 474 illegal discs stuffed into plastics bags. Trained in Northern Ireland, the dogs have been so successful that gangsters have put a £17,000 bounty on their heads. Sales outlets for the discs include some of the UK’s legal street markets as well as under the counter in pubs and clubs and even door-to-door. They are created in South East Asia – mainly Malaysia, Pakistan and China.
Latest from the Buddies Pet Insurance news team… Britain’s largest dog charity is following the lead of the RSPCA by withdrawing support for Crufts over controversial breeding techniques for show animals. The Dogs Trust has cut all links with the Kennel Club, which organises the show. The trust is demanding that the Kennel Club reviews its breed standards to ensure the main focus is the health and well-being of the dogs, not the aesthetics of the breed. Clarissa Baldwin, the trust’s chief executive, has been in touch with Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs asking for laws to be brought forward to regulate dog breeding. Concerns were raised over the effects of intensive breeding by a BBC documentary Pedigree Dogs Exposed shown last month. The RSPCA decided to boycott Crufts after the investigation showed some pedigree breeds suffered diseases and deformities caused by decades of in breeding. The issue was heightened when an official of the Kennel Club told the BBC he approved of breeding female dogs with male offspring.
Latest from the Buddies Pet Insurance news team …A Labrador which rattled as it walked was found to have 13 golf balls in its stomach. Chris Morrison noticed the unusual sound from Oscar who he regularly walks on a local golf course in Dunfermline, Fife. When he took the five-year-old to the vet he was stunned to discover 13 balls, each weighing 45 grams (1.6oz) and around 4cm in diameter, were lodged in the dog’s stomach. The balls were removed after an hour-long operation with the vet commenting: “It was like a magic trick. I opened him up and felt what I thought was two or three golf balls. But they just kept coming until we had a bag full. I think they must have been there for several months.” Oscar is on the road to complete recovery and now wears a muzzle while out walking.
Latest from the Buddies Pet Insurance news team… The first pet on Blue Peter was replaced after one show without viewers realising, according to a former editor of the BBC programme. Petra, the dog drafted in to replace the other animal, spent the next 15 years on the show becoming known to millions of children. No one ever spotted the difference. The first dog died two days after its only appearance. Biddy Baxter, the show’s former editor, who oversaw the programme from 1962 to 1988, reveals the secret of Blue Peter’s first pet in a book, Dear Blue Peter. She recalls how on the last episode before Christmas 1962 the head of children’s television appeared on screen with a large cardboard box which he gave to the presenters. When the box was opened a black and brown mongrel puppy emerged. It was the dog’s first and last appearance on TV. He died two days later of distemper. In order not to disappoint millions of children a look-alike was found in two days and called Petra.
Latest from the Buddies Pet Insurance news team… A dog needed a three-hour operation after a 20-inch-long stick became lodged in its throat during a game of catch, reports the Daily Telegraph. Archie, an eight-month-old border collie ran into the stick at speed after it was thrown for the dog to chase. The stick tore through the animal’s windpipe and shredded the muscles down the side of its neck. The dog collapsed unconscious and the owner carried him half a mile to his home in Exeter. One of the vets who operated said: “It was impossible to know what damage had been done to vital structures in Archie’s mouth, throat and neck but it obviously a life-threatening condition. Amazingly the major blood vessels of the neck had avoided potentially fatal damage and after three hours of intense surgery the stick was removed through the neck incision and all the wounds repaired.” Archie’s owner, Anna Harding, 27, said: “Archie is back to his old self – there will be no more sticks for him.”
Latest from the Buddies Pet Insurance news team … A dog that stayed at its dead master’s side for 11 weeks on a remote mountain side is being recognised with a bronze statue. Ruswarp, a border collie, stuck with Graham Nuttall, 41, from Burnley when he got into trouble in Powys in January 1990. The 14-years-old dog was so weak when they were found in April that he died soon afterwards. The statue will be erected at Garsdale Station, North Yorkshire, on the Settle to Carlisle railway line which Mr Nuttall helped to save.
