A woman whose chihuahua puppy was killed by a flock of aggressive seagulls has warned other dog owners to be vigilant for bird attacks.

Nikki Wayne said her pet Bella had been made a virtual prisoner in her home after being harassed by "brazen" gulls which gathered on her roof.

The gulls were so menacing that Ms Wayne made sure her dog never went outside without her protection.

But the birds struck when Ms Wayne left a door slightly ajar while she was in the shower and Bella managed to nudge her way out.

She was killed before she could get back into the house.

Kelly Booker cradled his long-lost dog Lilly and kept asking, "Where have you been, Lilly? Where have you been?"

Booker was reunited with the 9-year-old Shih Tzu mix at a cargo facility at Denver's airport on Thursday, weeks after she was found wandering the streets of Elgin. Booker last saw her four years ago when she either got spooked by fireworks and ran off or was stolen.

Lilly was treated for a severe ear infection at a shelter, which discovered a microchip that led to Booker. It's still not known how Lilly made the 900-mile journey.

Lilly -- or "Lilly G-F," for girlfriend -- had "plenty of love and treats waiting for her" when her flight arrived in Denver, Booker said. "I never thought anything like this would happen. I thought she was gone forever."

She disappeared from Booker's backyard on July 4, 2011. "She must have jumped the fence," Booker said. "We put fliers up and searched, but she was just gone."

A police hunt has been launched for the owner of a private zoo whose monkey killed a six-week-old baby after breaking free.

The boy Vladimir (Vova) Verbitsky was attacked as he lay in a pram at his home in Crimea and the unnamed man who kept a menagerie of exotic animals is now believed to have fled to Ukraine.

The blue macaque was tethered in the yard of the wealthy zoo owner's house in Kacha, a suburb of Sevastopol.

Police say the monkey gnawed through the rope and jumped a fence at the Verbitsky family home, leaping into Vova's pram and biting his face.

'The baby's head was almost torn to pieces and the child was thrown out of his pram," said one source.

Henry P sends me this amusing piece of correspondence!

This is an actual letter sent to a man named Ryan DeVries regarding a pond on his property. It was sent by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Quality, State of Pennsylvania. This guy's response is hilarious, but read the State's letter before you get to the response letter, you won't stop once you start. WOW Love this man.

This is an actual letter:

State of Pennsylvania's letter to Mr. DeVries:

SUBJECT: DEQ ... File No.97-59-0023; T11N; R10W, Sec 20; Lycoming County

Dear Mr. DeVries:

It has come to the attention of the Department of Environmental Quality that there has been recent unauthorized activity on the above referenced parcel of property. You have been certified as the legal landowner and/or contractor who did the following unauthorized activity:

Construction and maintenance of two wood debris dams across the outlet stream of Spring Pond.

A permit must be issued prior to the start of this type of activity. A review of the Department's files shows that no permits have been issued Therefore, the Department has determined that this activity is in violation of Part 301, Inland Lakes and Streams, of the Natural Resource and Environmental Protection Act, Act 451 of the Public Acts of 1994, being sections 324.30101 to 324.30113 of the Pennsylvania Compiled Laws, annotated.

The Department has been informed that one or both of the dams partially failed during a recent rain event, causing debris and flooding at downstream locations.. We find that dams of this nature are inherently hazardous and cannot be permitted. The Department therefore orders you to cease and desist all activities at this location, and to restore the stream to a free-flow condition by removing all wood and brush forming the dams from the stream channel. All restoration work shall be completed no later than January 31, 2015.

Please notify this office when the restoration has been completed so that a follow-up site inspection may be scheduled by our staff. Failure to comply with this request or any further unauthorized activity on the site may result in this case being referred for elevated enforcement action..

We anticipate and would appreciate your full cooperation in this matter. Please feel free to contact me at this office if you have any questions.

Sincerely,

David L. Price
District Representative and Water Management Division.

And Mr DeVries' reply?

Biologists will test whether a measles-like virus that killed more than 1,600 dolphins since July 2013 also did in an 11-foot-long pilot whale that beached itself Thursday at NASA's Kennedy Space Center.

"It's a big female," said Megan Stolen, a research scientist with the Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute. "It was emaciated."

Stolen and fellow biologists are examining the pilot whale's remains today (May 8) at Hubb's lab near Melbourne Beach, extracting lung, lymph node and spinal cord tissues to test for the so-called morbillivirus.

The virus has been killing bottlenose dolphins along the Atlantic Coast for more than two years in the worst outbreak of the virus in almost three decades.

The virus claimed 740 dolphins from New Jersey to Florida in 1987.

The rising leopard population in the region has resulted in frequent human-animal conflicts over the past five years. Leopards straying into farms have claimed 12 human lives and caused 6,603 animal deaths since 2010.

Foresters said there have been 10 incidents of leopard straying and/or attacking human beings or animals in the span of past six months. More recently, two attacks were reported in a month in Sinnar area.

The recent attacks in Sinnar resulted in the death of a four-year-old and left a farmer with minor injuries. The forest department laid two cages to trap the leopard but is yet to catch the wild cat.

Forest officials said there has been a significant rise in the leopard population in the region. The recent incidents of leopards straying into human habitats have given rise to the question whether humans have encroached upon their habitats.

A four-year-old disabled boy was reportedly killed by a monkey in Ghaziabad on Thursday, 7 May.

The deceased, Mohan, was playing with his brothers, Golu, 6, Srikant, 6, and Sohan, 4, at their home when the mishap happened in the afternoon.

However, when the incident occurred none of the elders were at home and he breathed his last on the way to hospital.

"The monkey appeared out of nowhere and attacked me and chased my brothers. We all ran outside to save ourselves but Mohan could not. The animal managed to push open the door of the room where Mohan was present. He then grabbed his neck and choked him. I ran out and called my grandmother for help. But to no avail," Golu said, according to the Hindustan Times.

A series of tornadoes, including a major twister, touched down southwest of Oklahoma City on Wednesday, flipping cars and causing the escape of tigers and other animals from an exotic wildlife park, officials said.

There were no immediate reports of injuries but some structures were damaged as a storm system brought severe weather to several Great Plains states, officials said.

Tigers and other animals were able to briefly escape from the Tiger Safari park after a tornado struck the city of Tuttle, about 30 miles (48km) south-west of Oklahoma City, though they were recaptured without further incident, the Grady County Sheriff's Office said.

Residents of Tuttle had been warned to stay indoors by authorities after the escape.

Meanwhile passengers, visitors and employees at the Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City were evacuated to a pedestrian tunnel for about 30 minutes as the storms moved through the area, the airport said on its Twitter feed.

The tornadoes flipped cars, downed power lines and snapped trees. Several roads were closed because of debris, the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management said.

Northern wheatear is an extremely rare sight south of Canada

A rare Arctic visitor came to Lane River Bridge in South Sutton on May 3.

A female northern wheatear was seen and photographed there and leads to Rare Bird Alert for New Hampshire for this week.

These are marathon migrators who don't usually make it into the lower 48 states.

Its conservation status is probably stable and may be increasing as a breeder in northeastern Canada, according to Audubon.

A Wood River Police Officer's five-year-old son was attacked by the family dog Wednesday afternoon.

The incident happened around 3:30 p.m. Wednesday in the back yard of the officer's Wood River home. The dog was a 120 pound English Mastiff. The five-year-old was unconscious when emergency responders arrived at the house.

Officers say they were forced to put down the dog due to it's violent behavior. The boy regained consciousness before he was flown to a St. Louis Hospital. He was bitten multiple times and suffered lacerations to the lower portion of his body. Police did not release details on his condition tonight.