Pink milk problem solved

A farmer whose cows produced pink milk after eating carrots got them to produce normal coloured milk by feeding them white carrots instead.

Peter Houguez from Jersey added carrots to the cows' diet of grass and hay. After the milk turned pink Mr Houguez contacted his local vet who told him to feed them white carrots, imported from France.

According to the Metro, Mr Houguez said: "The cows go mad for carrots. White carrots taste just same as orange so the problem was solved."

Ian Johnson, of the National Farmers' Union, said cows are fed all sorts of things - including liquorice allsorts.Mr Johnson said: "Pink milk is probably healthier with all the nutrients from the vegetables."

Cat put on happy pills

A cat has been put on anti-depressants after being bullied by other cats.

Twiglet's weight ballooned to 15lb because she was too scared to go out.

Her owner Jackie Martin, 28, had to install a bigger cat flap because Twiglet was too fat to get through. Jackie took her to a vet, who prescribed amitriptyline - similar to Prozac, reports the Sun.

Jackie said: "She was given the drugs to calm her down and alleviate her anxieties. "The problem is, you need to hold her jaw and drop the tablets in but she was a violent cat."

Twiglet began to get better as a result of the tablets and when the bullying ginger tom moved away. Twiglet is now average weight after shedding 6lb in five months.

Cat and mouse case for cops

Police were called in after a cat tried to pull a mouse out of a jam jar and got its head stuck.

Officers said the incident was reminiscent of a Tom and Jerry cartoon, reports the Peterborough Evening Telegraph.  A motorist went to a police station for help after finding the cat wandering beside a road in Peterborough, with the jar on its head and the mouse millimeters from its nose.

A receptionist and three officers pulled and twisted but were unable to release the cat.  Eventually the animal freed itself - and the mouse - by smashing the jar on the floor of Thorpe Wood police station. 

"It was like a scene from Tom and Jerry," said a police spokeswoman.  "I don't think anyone had ever seen anything like it before. The mouse ran off - it's still running around Thorpe Wood police station somewhere."

Huge python makes a meal of 11 guard dogs

Guard dogs protecting a fruit orchard in Malaysia have met their match -- a 7.1-metre-long (23-ft-long) python that swallowed at least 11 hounds before it was finally discovered by villagers.

"I was shocked to see such a huge python," orchard-keeper Ali Yusof told the New Straits Times in an article published beneath a picture of the captured snake, which was almost long enough to span the width of a tennis court and as thick as a tree trunk.

Villagers did not harm the snake, which was tied to a tree then handed to wildlife officials, the paper said on Friday.

Dumped bride uses dog as groom

A dumped bride went ahead with her wedding reception - using her dog to replace the groom.

Emma Knight, 41, was dumped two weeks before her wedding to Paul Fox, 37. To cheer herself up she decided to go ahead with her wedding reception anyway. She dressed her faithful dog Dennis up as the bridegroom and he was treated to a piece of the four-tier wedding cake.

Emma wore the £1,500 wedding dress she had bought and partied until the small hours with her 100 guests. The next day Emma flew to France with her best pal on a pre-booked honeymoon to St Malo, France. To try and recoup some of her £3,000 losses, Emma, of Portland, Dorset, is selling items bought for the wedding in a local paper.

According to the Sun she said: "It's the best we could make of a bad situation. We had a great time."

Fox goes shoe shopping

A fox forced a posh shoe shop to close its doors for the day.

The fox decided to have a look at the shoes in Office in Portobello Road, West London.It followed a shopper inside before wandering around the footwear displays, then settling down with snome trainers, reports Metro.

Shop manager Sarah Adeyemi said: "Nobody even noticed him when he first walked in because he was just trotting along behind a woman and a pram, minding his mown business.

"The shop was quite busy, so it wasn't long before he was spotted and then there was a real commotion. We often deal with wasps and pigeons but have never had a fox to visit."

RSPCA officers eventually cornered the fox behind the till, and took him to be released into the countryside.

Beer for dogs

A brewery in the Netherlands has created a beer - especially for dogs.Kwispelbier makes the special brew from a mix of beef extract and malt.

The beverage is the brainchild of pet shop owner Gerrie Berendsen from the eastern town of Zelhem.The beer is non-alcoholic and fit for human consumption, but costs four times as much as a Heineken.

Ms Berendsen said: "Once a year we go to Austria to hunt with our dogs, and at the end of the day we sit on the verandah and drink a beer. So we thought, my dog also has earned it."

'Dead' duck survives two days in fridge

A duck has been found alive in a fridge two days after being shot.

The duck was discovered alive after the hunter's wife opened the door and the duck lifted his head.at their home in Talahassee, Florida.

Local vet Laina Whipple said: "The man's wife was going to check on the refrigerator because it hadn't been working right and when she opened the door, it looked up at her.

"She freaked out and told the daughter to take it to the hospital right then and there."

The duck was transferred to Goose Creek Wildlife Sanctuary, where it was been treated for wounds to its wing and leg.

Sanctuary veterinarian David Hale said it will probably never be released back into the wild, reports the BBC.

He said the duck, which has a low metabolism, could have survived in a big enough refrigerator, especially if the door was opened and closed several times.

House fire? Grab a donkey...

A fire safety leaflet translated from English to Urdu advises people to grab the nearest donkey when escaping from a building.

Strathclyde Fire and Rescue produced the leaflet for ethnic communities across Scotland, reports the Mirror.

The English text on the leaflet reads: "Never jump straight out of a window, lower yourself on to cushions etc."

But when translated into Urdu says: "Never jump out of a window straight. Put yourself on a donkey etc and come down."

Teacher Ilfan Malik explained: "The Urdu word for cushion is gadda. But the word for donkey is gadha.

"It appears whoever translated the leaflet has mixed the two words up or the spelling has been printed wrongly."

A Strathclyde Fire and Rescue spokesman said: "A replacement leaflet will be distributed soon."

Swan in love with paddle boat

A swan who fell in love with a swan-shaped paddle boat has been moved to a zoo with his plastic lover.

A black swan which has fallen in love with a swan paddleboat in Muenster, Germany, is being given a winter home in a local zoo because he won't leave his 'girlfriend' to migrate /PA

Biologists in Muenster, north-western Germany, say the rare Black Australian Swan has been showing all the typical signs of love for its species, circling its plastic lover, staring endlessly at it and making crooning noises.

The swan now refuses to fly south for winter without his mate.

Park keepers say that 'Black Peter' as the lovesick swan is known, refused to leave the boat on the Aasee Lake - which also should be taken off during the cold weather.

Boat-owner Peter Overschmidt has agreed not to lock his boat away for the winter.

He said: "When you see how Peter circles the swan boat you know there could be no other option, it's the centre of his life."

Hearing about Peter's plight Allwetter Zoo then agreed that both Peter and the boat could spend the winter on their pond near the elephant enclosure, which is more protected from the elements than the lake.

Zoo director Joerg Adler said: "This arrangement could go on for ever because the animal now firmly believes he has found a partner for life."

Rare tigers found in mini-van

Customs officers doing a routine border check opened the back doors of a mini van to discover two fully-grown Siberian tigers.

The male and female tigers were being smuggled into Montenegro from neighbouring Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The driver and two passengers were arrested for the illegal trafficking of animals, which are one of the world's most endangered species.

The tigers are being temporarily looked after in a local zoo.

Siberian tigers tend to live in snow-covered areas and it is unclear how the animals ended up in the Mediterranean country, or what their final destination was.

Panda bites off part of woman's thumb

BEIJING - A panda cub bit off part of the thumb of an American visitor who was feeding it at a reserve in southwest China, state media said Thursday.

The 50-year-old woman, identified only as Lisa, had registered in the Wolong Giant Panda Protection and Research Center in Sichuan province as a volunteer, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

She was wearing gloves and feeding the panda bamboo on Tuesday morning when "suddenly, the panda bit into her thumb," Xinhua said.

"When she cried out, the cub became excited and gripped more tightly," it said. "Lisa finally managed to wrench herself free."

About 20 percent of the thumb had been bitten off, Xinhua said.

A man who answered the telephone at the center's administrative office said it had no comment.

The center has been recruiting volunteers since 2004 for stints that last from one day to more than a month, Zhang Hemin, the center's director, was quoted as saying. They can prepare food, feed pandas under supervision and clear the enclosure with the help of professional keepers, he said.

More than 1,200 volunteers from America, Japan, Switzerland, France and Spain have already worked in the center, Xinhua said.

Last month, a drunken Chinese tourist bit a panda at the Beijing Zoo after the animal attacked him when he jumped into the enclosure and tried to hug it.

Woman finds black widow spider in grapes

HARTFORD, Conn. - Price Chopper removed a brand of black seedless grapes from the shelves at its Newington supermarket Thursday after a woman said she found a poisonous black widow spider.

Sheryl Rosen of Rocky Hill bought a bag of Autumn Royal black seedless grapes on sale Tuesday. It wasn't until Thursday, when she was eating some grapes at work, that she found the spider in the bag.

"I couldn't believe it," said Rosen, who was not injured. "I never thought I'd see a black widow around here."

The spider was taken to the Connecticut Poison Control Center at the University of Connecticut Health Center, where Rosen works, and verified as a black widow.

"Right now, we have it in a jar and we will wait until we hear if anyone is investigating further about the source," said Bernard Sangalli, toxicologist and administrative director of the center.

Though a black widow's venom is not usually fatal to humans, the bite is extremely painful. The spider is best known for a distinctive red hourglass shape on its abdomen.

Mona Golub, Price Chopper spokeswoman, said the grocery chain confirmed the incident and removed the grapes as a precaution. She said they came from California.

Golub called the incident "rare" saying the supermarket chain has had only a few such cases over the past 20 years.

Paul Hutcheon, director of health for the Central Connecticut Health District, cautioned consumers to stay alert.

"I think it's important for consumers to know this is a possibility and to keep your eyes open and look at what you're doing," he said.

Prize cat does 14-hour disappearing act

NEW YORK - A champion cat was not exactly gracious about his win: He bolted for 14 hours. Evgeny Plushenko, named after the Olympic gold medal-winning Russian figure skater, jumped from a judge's arms after being named best of its breed at the Cat Fanciers' Association Cat annual show. He beat out 200 other felines at the Madison Square Garden event on Sunday.

The "Best in Show" Russian Blue with emerald eyes was found Monday, after 14 hours, huddled in a carpenter's room.

"They love small spaces and can fit themselves into areas that you would not believe could make a cat feel comfortable," the association's Web site explains.

The 15-month-old bolted after one judge handed him to another.

Apparently, this member of a breed - called "clever and extremely agile" by the association - didn't fall for traps baited with the best cat food. Instead, he found a hole in the wall under the stands and slipped into the workroom.

When found, Evgency Plushenko was tired and thirsty, but fine.

His story has a happier ending than that of Vivi, a show dog that bolted from her crate at Kennedy Airport in February after competing at the Westminster Kennel Club show. The beloved whippet is still missing.

Dog saves owner, dies trying to save cat

ELKHART LAKE, Wis. - After a disabled woman's cat started a house fire, her specially trained dog came to the rescue, then died trying to help the cat still in the house. Jamie Hanson said the 13-year-old dog named Jesse brought the phone so she could call 911 and also brought her artificial leg.

"She got me outside and then she heard the cat upstairs and she went up there to get the cat and she wouldn't come back to me," Hanson, 49, said at a news conference Monday at Aurora Sheboygan Memorial Medical Center where she was being treated for her injuries.

She received third-degree burns to an arm in the fire Sunday night at her home in the town of Rhine south of Elkhart Lake, the Sheboygan County Sheriff's Department said, adding that both pets died in the fire.

Hanson, who lost a leg in a car accident three years ago, said she was on the couch watching television when the cat ran over the back of the couch.

"And he jumped onto a table that had a candle on it and tipped it over and lighted the artificial plants on fire," she said.

Hanson said she fell off the couch and was unable to get her artificial leg from the table, "so my dog got my leg for me and went and got the phone and brought the phone to me so I could call 911."

She said she tried to put the prosthetic leg on, but it was too hot, and the dog, a golden retriever-German shepherd mix, came to her aid again before going back inside for the cat.

When rescuers arrived, the house was fully engulfed in flames, the sheriff's department said. Hanson was in the doorway and was assisted by a deputy.

Boy, 14, catches piranha - in Stockport

A 14-year-old boy has caught a 3lb South American piranha - in a Stockport pond.

Josh Boyle caught the exotic fish at a beauty spot, Reddish Vale, near his home in Greater Manchester.

Josh, who had been fishing for four hours before landing the piranha, said: "I recognised what it was straight away, so I wrapped it in a towel so it couldn't bite me.

"I was really shocked, but I was excited too - as I have never caught anything like it. I have been fishing since I was two, and I've seen lots of pictures of piranhas before, so I knew what it was."

Josh, who is a member of the Prince Albert Angling Society, landed his catch with just a spinner on his rod, which imitates a small fish.

After taking photos of the fish he released it back into the water, reports the Daily Mail.

Brian Zimmerman, aquarium manager at London Zoo, said: "This is most unusual. It managed to survive until it was caught, but it couldn't have survived the cold winter as the waters it is used to are between 25 and 30 degrees.

"It would have eaten smaller fish such as roach and tench to survive - the red bellied piranhas usually hunt in shoals and attack in a large group. When they are on their own they have to go for smaller prey."

Dog back in Calif. after 1,400-mile trek

Kobe the terrier is back with his family after a 1,400-mile trip. The small white pooch vanished from his Bellflower home last month and was found by a stranger in Denton, Texas. A microchip implanted in his neck contained his owner's information.

Kangaroo sighted on Austrian highway

VIENNA, Austria - A kangaroo was sighted on a highway in western Austria, but disappeared again, police said Thursday. The marsupial, which escaped from an enclosure in the village of Volders about two weeks ago, was seen by several people on a highway in Tyrol province, a statement said.

Thursday's sighting was not the alpine country's first kangaroo-related incident.

In March, a kangaroo led police in southern Austria on a snow chase after it jumped a fence of its cage. In the end, a local veterinarian helped capture the animal using a stun gun. That kangaroo belonged to a breeder in Tyrol.

Authorities could not say whether this month's missing marsupial came from the same place, and declined to provide any details about its origins.

"We're searching through the area intensely at the moment, but we haven't seen the kangaroo yet," Thomas Auer from the highway police in Schoenberg told Austrian broadcaster ORF.

Woman charged with drunk horse riding

CLAYTON, Ga. - Well, that's a DUI of a different color. Heather Darnell, 22, of Mountain City, Ga., faces a drunk driving charge after she steered the horse she was riding onto the highway and tangled with a car, authorities said. Darnell also was cited for entering a traffic lane.

She remains in fair condition after being airlifted to the Gwinnett Medical Center in Lawrenceville, Ga.

The horse apparently survived, officials said.

Three people who were in the Pontiac Bonneville that struck the horse Friday night were treated at Mountain Lakes Medical Center in Clayton, Ga., and released: Ancella Gragg, 32, of Lakemont, Ga., who was at the wheel; and a 13-year-old girl and 9-year-old boy.

Trooper Anthony Coleman said Gragg did not see the horse until too late and was unable to avoid hitting it.

"If it's on the public right-of-way, you're under the same jurisdiction as if you're in a car," Coleman said.

Man used snake as car alarm

A Serb man who left a 6ft snake inside his car because he couldn't afford an alarm has been arrested after it escaped.

Radovan Darkic, a pet shop owner from Belgrade, left the snake in his E-Class Mercedes every evening to make sure no one would steal it.

But he was forced to call the police when he found it had slithered its way out through an open window and into the engine compartment. He was arrested by officers for endangering public safety.

He said: "I only wanted to make sure that even if I couldn't take revenge on anyone who dared to rob my car then at least the snake could do it for me."