UK — A runaway cow who fell into a swimming pool in Haywards Heath has been successfully rescued by emergency services.

A couple living at a house in Colwood Lane, had a shock yesterday afternoon when they discovered the cow stuck in their swimming pool.

It is believed the animal escaped from nearby fields along with seven other cows who chose to graze in a neighbouring garden.

Owners of the house had covered their pool in tarpaulin, and the cow may have mistaken this for a hard surface.

The incident happened yesterday at around 2pm and firefighters, animal rescue and police were on the scene soon after. Divers were also present to enable close contact with the cow and to keep it calm.

Ian Walker, watch manager at Haywards Heath fire station said: “We emptied the water in the pool and used the high crane to lift the cow out. The cow was very tired and cold but once it has had some rest it will be OK.”

THURSDAY November 1 will see the start of the biggest ever bird survey to hit the UK.

The British Trust for Ornithology is mobilising an army of 50,000 birdwatchers to undertake a stock-take of the UK’s birds with the aim of understanding how recent changes to our climate and habitats are affecting Britain’s birds.

Bird Atlas 2007-11 is a four-year project covering the whole of Britain and Ireland during the winter and breeding season. It aims to check the numbers and distributions of over 250 species, including the 40 red-listed and 121 amber-listed Species of Conservation Concern.

It is hoped that the results will set the agenda for bird conservation in the next two decades, helping to answer questions such as:

• Is barn owl conservation working?

• Have willow tit and hawfinch become extinct in some counties and regions?

• Are birds spreading further north as a result of climate warming?

• Where are the remaining breeding concentrations of turtle doves and nightingales?

Dawn Balmer, the Bird Atlas coordinator said: “The aim is to cover every 10km square in the UK, and BirdWatch Ireland will be organising the same sort of survey in Ireland.

“We are delighted with the enthusiasm birdwatchers have shown for the Atlas. There is a real sense of concern about how birds are coping with changes to our climate and their habitats.”

VALLEY COTTAGE - For a week straight, Nancy Deacon-Owens and her neighbors heard a constant meowing at night.

Just down the street, a cat had made its way 50 or 60 feet up a tree. It turned out 3-month-old Blackie belonged to Owens’ neighbor, Doreen McQuillan on Christian Herald Road.

“I’m assuming either a truck or an animal or something must have chased it,” McQuillan said. “It’s been out before, but this is the first time this has happened. I’m sure it’s going to be the last.”

Together, with other neighbors in the area, McQuillan and Owens called fire departments, animal shelters and Clarkstown Animal Control Officer Pat Coleman with the hope that someone would get the cat down.

But no one came.

Cats typically come down after 24 to 48 hours, Coleman said, so town officials don’t respond to such calls.

After several days passed, however, McQuillan and Deacon-Owens were beginning to wonder if the cat would even survive.

Other people in the neighborhood came out and brought ladders, or food, to try to lure it down, but nothing worked.

“It’s been this whole sort of event,” Owens said. “It’s been a whole little community trying to save this cat.”

Finally, a representative from Ira Wickes, a tree service company, told neighbors it would send someone over for free.

Yesterday afternoon, Rich Hawkenberry, a foreman-climber with the company, reached toward the cat as old branches and twigs fell off the tree and bounced on the ground below.

It was the third cat rescue for Hawkenberry, who said he’s quickly becoming accustomed to the cat-rescuing technique.

“The cat did exactly what I thought it would do, run away from me,” he said, back on the ground and gathering his equipment. “It seemed pretty fearful, though we were trying to help it.”

His colleague then reached for the cat on the other side of the tree and managed to secure it in a white and blue pillowcase.

A happy McQuillan, meanwhile, whisked her cat back home to feed it and make sure it was healthy. But not before opening the pillowcase to take a peek and say hi.

Blackie looked up and meowed right back.

Taipei - A 16-year-old dog has become the talk of the town in Taipei after it travelled 50 kilometres to find its way home, only to be abandoned again by its new owner, Taiwanese media and a dog rescue agency said Thursday.

The dog, a local mix named Hsiao Huang (Little Yellow), was left to the care of the son of its former owners, a couple who died of old age and illness earlier this year, the Taipei-based China Times reported.

Its new owner, identified as Mr Ho, was busy with his work and had to send it to the care of his friend in Pingling in a suburb of Taipei in early October. But the dog missed home and ran off to find its way back five days later, travelling 50 kilometres, the paper said.

Mr Ho, however, did not want to keep it, letting it stray in the neighbourhood and resulting in its being caught and sent to a stray animal centre on October 15, waiting to be destroyed, the daily said.

The Animal Rescue Team Taiwan learned of the destruction plan and sought help from the public to adopt the 16-years-old dog, the paper said.

The dog-rescue agency said it posted an urgent notice on its website on October 17, calling for a concerted effort to save the dog.

‘Two hours after we posted the notice, we got a message from a Taiwanese resident in the US, who wanted to adopt it,’ a volunteer worker of the agency said by phone. He said the resident, identified as Jenny, told the agency she was willing to provide a plane ticket and other necessary expenses to have the dog sent to her.

Asked how the agency knew about the dog’s long distance travels, he said they tracked it down through the computer chip it wears.

The worker said if everything goes smoothly, including quarantine and health checks, Hsiao Huang will be sent to its new home in the United States at the end of this month.

Travis the German Shepherd has swopped walkies for wheelies.
The nine-year-old is zipping around the streets of Wigan again after being fitted with his very own specialist canine buggy.
Travis suffers from a degenerative spinal illness called CDRM which has progressively robbed him of the use of his back legs.
There is no treatment currently available to reverse the condition.
But extensive physiotherapy sessions at Wigan’s Anrich Veterinary Hospital hydrotherapy pool have stabilised it, while helping him to regain his fitness.
And now his smart new set of wheels have given him back the mobility he has craved.

Owner Nicola Gray is delighted with his new lease of life, and his vet Dr Shams Mir pronounced: “It has completely transformed him.”
Nicola, of Gidlow Lane, said she first noticed her dog becoming “wobbly” on his back legs 18 months ago and in recent weeks, despite the swimming sessions, Travis had become unable to walk.
She had faced the heartbreaking realisation that she may have had to say goodbye to her pal for good – but then she was told about the “wheelchair” and has been astonished about just how well he has taken to it.

Nicola, 30, said: “When Travis went off his legs I have never been so upset in all my life.
“Watching him stumbling about was horrendous and I was just crying all the time because I knew that this couldn’t go on.

“You could see that he was so depressed, he has his head between his paws and he wasn’t eating.
“Then I heard about the wheelchair and with Anrich’s help it has been a real success.
“You only have to look at him to see how happy he is again.
“He loves going out and now it is a case of trying to keep up with him as he bombs along on his front legs.
“As far as I know he is the only dog on wheels in Wigan so people do stand and stare a bit.”

Dr Mir said: “When most German Shepherds start dragging their hind legs they have to be put to sleep but in some cases this is an option.
“We have helped Travis regain his strength with sessions in the hydrotherapy pool and the owner has been very, very courageous.
“In fact neither of them would give in and both have shown great perseverance.
“To see the dog in his wheelchair is a fantastic sight, he is so happy in himself to be mobile and active again.
“He is clearly very comfortable in it and has taken to it straight away.”

On Tuesday our family dog Roxy, was attacked by a swarm of hornets. She was tied up outside our house and got tangled around a vine and stepped on the nest. Roxy was stung hundreds of times.

The police were called and rescued the dog from the bees and brought her to the Byram Animal Hospital where she was treated. The officer that responded to the 911 call was Officer Dellicker. Officer Dellicker should be considered a hero for his actions on that day.

Despite being allergic to bees, Officer Dellicker picked Roxy up and put her in his squad car even though she was covered with bees. Roxy our beloved dog was considered one of the family and a child of mine. P

et owners will tell you their pets are their families and indeed are their children.

Officer Dellicker we will never forget what you did for Roxy and will remember you forever for your heroic actions. Just because Roxy was a dog does not make her life any less important. We are so proud to be part of a community where our Police Officers know so many of their citizens by site and name and make every effort to ensure all of our safety.

Roxy was treated at the Byram Animal Hospital and was then taken home, by the time I came home from work that evening Roxy’s condition worsened and was rushed to an animal emergency room in Fairfield. Roxy was admitted there on Tuesday night but due to the severity of her condition Roxy died early Thursday morning.

Our Family will never forget Hero Dellicker.

Thank you,

The Erlemann Family

A project for the manufacture of handmade paper from elephant dung in north Bengal’s Cooch Behar forest division is at an advanced stage of completion, the required infrastructure is being put in place and the process of imparting training to the staff is underway.

It would be the first of its kind in the country, Raman Sukumar, Professor, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, and an internationally acclaimed expert on elephants, told The Hindu on Thursday.

The project would not only solve the problem of waste disposal but would also provide alternative earning opportunities to villagers. The raw material would be collected from the waste of captive elephants in the sanctuary, M.C. Biswas, Divisional Forest Officer, Cooch Behar, said. Presently, there are 59 such elephants there.

A feasibility study for setting up a similar project in the vicinity of the Gorumara National Park is on for which technological know-how has been sought from World Wildlife Fund’s [WWF] offices in South Africa, WWF’s senior programme coordinator, Sikkim and north Bengal, Dipankar Ghosh added.

There are 13 captive elephants at Gorumara, according to Tapas Das, Divisional Forest Officer (Wildlife II), Jalpaiguri. “Disposal of the waste of these elephants was a major problem particularly as the dung is not decomposable,” Mr. Biswas said.

“On learning of projects taken up in Thailand and Japan, where elephant dung is being converted into pulp and manufacture of hand-made paper, we took up the matter with the authorities at the National Handmade Paper Institute, Jaipur, and got an encouraging response regarding the feasibility of such a project,” he said.

China — A farmer named Zhou Zhenglong came home with a reporter on the afternoon of October 19 to show his negatives from pictures of a South China tiger taken by the farmer several days ago near a cliff in Zhenping County, Shaanxi Province, according to the Shanghai Morning Post.

Zhou asked for 800 yuan to display his negatives. He took the photographic plates from a small plastic bag, but he did not unwind all of them. The farmer pointed to the negatives while describing what the tiger looked like. The negatives were entirely black. Zhou said that they contained photographic images of a South China tiger, an endangered tiger subspecies believed to have been extinct in the wild for more than 30 years.

“No one can doubt these photos of the tiger,” Zhou said. Pictures of this endangered species have sparked controversy as long as they have been released. Some people suspect that many of the released pictures had been tampered with using digital technologies and photographic experts have been asked to identify these photos in order to reach a more authoritative conclusion.

The farmer hoped that his negatives would bring him a fortune. “I will decorate my house if I earn a lot of money,” Zhou said. He also confirmed that he would like to let people know his phone number in order to sell the negatives. Zhou has been awarded 20,000 yuan (US$2,666) as a reward for finding the tiger by the Shaanxi forestry authorities.

Kerzner International, international developer and operator of destination resorts and luxury hotel properties and their partner, Istithmar PJSC, a Dubai World company, announced the completion of Dolphin Bay, one of the largest man-made dolphin habitats in the world at Atlantis, The Palm.

Dolphin Bay will provide care of the dolphins by an international team of veterinarians, marine mammal specialists and laboratory technicians, said the company is a press release.

The new facility will be home to 28 bottlenose dolphins and is designed to provide extraordinary care for the dolphins. It has an 11-acre lagoon featuring three interaction coves complete with sandy beaches and a tropical setting with medical and quarantine pools. There will also be a marine mammal hospital and a variety of dolphin interaction programs.

According to the developers, the habitat provides the dolphins with seven interconnected resident pools, shelter from inclement weather and almost seven million gallons of crystal-clear seawater, which exceeds all marine mammal regulations currently proposed for the United Arab Emirates.

Dolphin Bay will become Dubai’s first and only marine animal rescue and rehabilitation facility. It will be the only centre for stranded animals in the Arabian Gulf. Every year, many injured marine mammals are stranded and need assistance. Now with the new facility, some of these animals can be rescued, rehabilitated and returned to the wild.

The centre will also provide a broad range of educational opportunities including graduate and undergraduate programming, currently being developed in conjunction with universities and local educational institutions.

With the addition of Dolphin Bay, Atlantis, The Palm will employ over 165 marine mammal specialists, biologists, veterinarians and other experts to oversee its marine animal exhibits, which, along with Atlantis, Paradise Island, count as the largest in the world, with more than 250 species and 65,000 marine animals.

The dolphins came to Dolphin Bay from an existing dolphin facility, the Solomon Islands Marine Mammal Education Center. All local and international wildlife laws were strictly followed in bringing the new Dolphin Bay family to Dubai. Frank Murru, Kerzner International’s Chief Marine Officer, explains, “The care of our dolphins is our first and foremost concern and we carefully reviewed every step in the process. Dubai and the Solomon Islands are both members of CITES, an international organisation, which governs the trade in wildlife.”

At Dolphin Bay, the animals will receive constant world-class care and supervision provided by a dedicated team of 85 marine mammal specialists, veterinarians and laboratory technicians. Murru comments, “We have some of the most experienced people in the world involved in the daily care of our animals. Given the very close and trusting relationships we develop with our dolphins, we know them as well as we know our own families.”

A dolphin, which lost its tail, is now getting another chance to swim.

Winter lost her tail a couple of years ago in a crab trap. Now, with the help of a prosthetic, she’s learning to swim and jump.

In 2005, Winter was found near Titusville, tangled in a crab trap line. She was dehydrated and near death. The blood circulation to her tail was cut off by the trap line, so veterinarians had to amputate.

She was taken to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium where teams of volunteers kept her alive. Now, two-years later, she has adjusted to her new tail.