The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
ODDS& ENDS
Stuck squirrel
BERLIN (AP) >> Firefighters, police and a veterinary clinic combined forces to rescue a red squirrel that had gotten its tiny head stuck in a manhole cover in the western German city of Dortmund.
Dortmund’s fire department said Friday they responded Thursday morning to a call about the rodent in peril on a street next to a downtown park.
When rescuers arrived, they spotted the tufted-eared squirrel’s head poking out of a hole in the cover. Initial attempts to free the animal were unsuccessful, so the entire manhole cover was removed and taken to a nearby veterinary clinic, while police were called in to guard the open sewer.
Vets used anesthetic to calm the squirrel and then freed the animal. It was treated for superficial neck wounds and is expected to soon be released back into the wild.
Pacifier pilfering pooch
BOSTON (AP)>> A Boston veterinary hospital got quite a surprise recently when a family brought in their bulldog after he stopped eating.
The Angell Animal Medical Center found 19 baby pacifiers in the dog’s stomach.
It started in April when the Wellesley family noticed that their 3-year-old dog, Mortimer, started getting nauseous before meals. His owner, Emily Shanahan, brought Mortimer to the vet, who prescribed medicine to take care of the issue.
But it didn’t help and Mor t imer eventually stopped eating entirely.
Shanahan went to Angell, where they took an Xray and discovered the pacifiers.
Vets think Mortimer had been taking the pacifiers from Shanahan’s two children over the course of months.
The pacifiers were removed using a medical scope that did not require surgery. Mortimer recovered and is back at home.
Prosthetic ear found
HOLMES BEACH, FLA. (AP) >> Police in Florida trying to find the rightful owner of a prosthetic ear that washed up on their beach got a happy phone call from South Carolina on Thursday.
Holmes Beach Police Sgt. Brian Hall said a woman called saying the rubber ear they posted on Facebook belongs to her husband.
Hall said the Beaufort couple was vacationing in the Tampa Bay area when the man went swimming. She said he was trying to put the ear in his pocket for safekeeping when “a wave knocked it off his hand.”
The police department posted a photo of the left ear, saying a local resident found it in the sand on Saturday after the “World’s Strongest Man” contest on Anna Maria Island.
Prosthetic ears can cost thousands of dollars. Hall said the department will mail it to South Carolina.
“We will put it in box. I hope nobody sees it and freaks out,” he said.
Smuggled finches
NEW YORK (AP) >> Federal authorities say a 39-yearold Connecticut man has been caught trying to smuggle nearly three dozen live finches through John F. Kennedy Airport in order to sell them for singing competitions.
Francis Gurahoo was arrested Sunday after arriving on a flight from Georgetown, Guyana. Prosecutors say customs officials found the 34 live birds in his carry-on luggage hidden inside individual plastic hair curlers.
Gurahoo was arraigned Monday on a charge of unlawful wildlife smuggling. Information on his lawyer wasn’t immediately available.
Officials say the finches from Guyana are prized. They are used in singing contests in Brooklyn and Queens where wages are placed on the birds with the best voice. Prosecutors say Gurahoo said he planned to sell them for about $3,000 each, for a total haul of over $100,000.
Last December, customs officials at JFK Airport found 70 live finches hidden inside hair rollers in a duffel bag froma passenger arriving from Guyana.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection says bird smuggling could threaten agriculture through the possible spread of diseases such as bird flu.