Maine coon kittens, originally uploaded by eleda.

I’m sorry….. I love you….

A mechanical cow that breaks wind on the hour has become Edinburgh’s latest tourist attraction.

The bovine backside has been attached to the side of the Rowan Tree pub in the city’s historic Old Town.

It lifts its tail and shoots out a cloud of white smoke at passers-by throughout the day.

Pub landlord Norrie Rowan, a former Scotland international rugby star, said the cow was becoming as popular with tourists as nearby Greyfriars Bobby.

It was installed on the side of the pub earlier this year, but the mechanics that allow it to break wind at 1100 GMT, noon and 1300 GMT are a new addition.

A dry ice machine ensures the flatulent beast is regular and helps locals keep track of time in a similar way to the city’s famous One O’clock Gun.

Mr Rowan said the cow was a bit of fun that had already become a popular landmark in the Cowgate area of Edinburgh.

He added: “The cow is already famous around Edinburgh and I get hundreds of tourists coming by and taking pictures of it.”

For two weeks Lightning has been sending Patricia Fisher, the woman who nursed her back to health, a wordless message.

It’s time to let her go.

Lightning, a bald eagle, was severely injured in June of 2005 when the tree holding her nest in Waushara County was struck by lightning and started on fire. Lightning and another young eagle dubbed Thunder were badly burned.

Thunder was released a year ago. Lightning will be released late Saturday morning at the Petenwell Dam east of Neceda on the Wisconsin River.

It’s a day of mixed emotion for Fisher, who at 71, has been a volunteer wildlife rehabilitator for 21 years. Her Feather Rehabilitation and Education center in New London tends to about 100 birds each year. Both the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources license the center.

“It’s a sad day and a good day. When you care for them you become part of who they are,” Fisher said.

DNR Warden Dave Algrem in Wautoma found one of the eagles on the ground. The second one came down with the nest after firefighters chopped the tree down to put out the blaze. Algrem placed them in a box and took them to Fisher.

“They were a mess when they came to me. Their feathers were absolutely annihilated. You could see the exit wounds on their feet where the lightning left their bodies,” Fisher said.

The first two weeks of rehab were intense as Fisher applied medication and bandaged their feet. After that she purposefully had minimal contact with the birds. That improves their chances of surviving in the wild once the rehab is complete, Fisher said.

After the wounds healed it was simply a waiting game to see if the feathers would grow in. It turned out to be a long wait for Thunder who was released a year ago. She lived only three months. She died of a spinal injury, but she was found 75 miles from where she’d been released and had gained two pounds.
Fisher was not sad.

“She died outside doing what eagles do,” she said.

Lightning’s wait for freedom has been longer. She’s finally ready.

Throughout the rehab Fisher has kept an eagle eye on Lightning.

“She’s on camera. I’ve been watching her. The last two weeks she’s been flying continually. She’s been telling me ‘You’ve got to get me out of here,’” Fisher said.

Several volunteers will accompany Fisher to the Petenwell Dam this morning. They expect to arrive between 11 a.m. and noon. Lightning will be released where there is a food source and other eagles.

One of the volunteers will toss her skyward.

“The rest is up to her,” Fisher said.

A drunk Cambodian man became embroiled in an unfortunate genital incident when, as he was urinating through a fence, a happy little puppy on the other side bit onto his penis.

News reports in Phnom Penh said that Kann Veasna was relieving himself through a hole in the fence after a hard day drinking wine when the incident occurred.

The Rasmei Kampuchea newspaper suggested that the puppy may have thought Veasna’s penis was toy.

A cat that had been missing since its owners’ home was leveled by a natural gas explosion has been found alive, according to a local newspaper.

David and Valerie Fitzgerald’s other cat, Oscar, was found shortly after the blast at 44 Willowdale St. on Tuesday.

Lilly emerged from the rubble as crews cleared charred debris on Wednesday morning, the town’s Dog Officer Sue Hogan told the Lowell Sun. She said the cat was singed, but appeared OK otherwise.

The blast was blamed on KeySpan subcontractors, who investigators said didn’t check where the gas line was or if the line was in the wrong place.

Cat and mouse may never be the same. Japanese scientists say they‘ve used genetic engineering to create mice that show no fear of felines, a development that may shed new light on mammal behavior and the nature of fear itself.

“Mice are naturally terrified of cats, and usually panic or flee at the smell of one. But mice with certain nasal cells removed through genetic engineering didn‘t display any fear,” said research team leader Ko Kobayakawa.

Kobayakawa said his findings, published in the science magazine Nature last month, should help researchers shed further light on how the brain processes information about the outside world.

“People have thought mice are fearful of cats because cats prey on them, but that‘s not the case,” Kim said.