from the CC/SPCA news archives

Concern for a cow tied up traffic along a freeway in Debary, Florida. The cow was grazing in knee-deep water and passersby thought she was stuck and stopped to phone authorities. The police determined the cow wasn't stuck, so to keep traffic moving, they installed a large lighted sign saying "The cow is OK." Once the cow moved on, though, traffic jammed up again as motorists slowed down to try and find the cow that the sign was referring to.

RUN ALONG, LITTLE DOGGIE

Runner Bob Holtel of Ashland, Oregon says his Welsh corgi is the perfect running partner. Sierra follows his master everywhere ... including his 50-mile training runs. Holtel figures he and the little dog have run a total of 9,000 miles together. He jokes that Sierra used to be 4 feet tall, but all that running wore down her legs.

GET YOUR GOAT

The city council in Waukee, Iowa has banned pets from its new community center, except seeing-eye dogs and nanny goats. Why goats? Economic Development Director Joshua Smith saw on the Discovery Channel that nanny goats are being used where there are shortages of seeing-eye dogs, so he didn't want to ban them.

WRIGGLY PATIENT

There aren't many dentists who can claim that one of their patients is a fish. But Dr. Edmond Hanley of Tinley Park, Illinois was called on recently to save the life of a golden puffer. The fish's teeth had become so overgrown that it couldn't eat and was starving. Dr. Hanley filed down the teeth, and the puffer regained its ability to feed.

AND THEN THERE WERE 51

A deadly octopus surprised everyone at a Weymouth, England aquarium by hatching 50 young. The blue-ringed octopus - a native of Australia - has a bite which causes nearly instant paralysis and death, and there is no known antidote. Marine expert Oliver Buttling says the creature displays its bright blue rings only before it's about to attack. He says for many, the ring display is the last thing they ever see.

LUCKY TRAVELER

Lucky is a very apt name for a kitten who traveled 200 miles across Washington state in a tiny space inside the front bumper of a Honda Civic. What originally seemed like an annoying squeak in the car turned out to be the kitty, who survived the trip from Benton City to Seattle with no injuries.

BUCKY'S BLACKOUT

The communities of Andover, Danberry, Salisbury, Wilmot and Grafton, New Hampshire were plunged into darkness when a beaver chewed through an underground electrical cable. Amazingly the beaver, dubbed "Bucky" by electrical workers, was unharmed. Bucky warded off the utility crew by slapping his tail against the water, and chattered menacingly as they repaired the cable.

EXPLORER RETURNS

A cat named after British explorer Ranulph Fiennes lived up to his name. An Archiestown, Scotland couple - too busy to care for their pet - gave the black tomcat to a family in the north of England, 300 miles away. Ranulph made his way back to Archiestown 18 months later, where the couple found him meowing on the doorstep. They decided to keep him and get a cat-sitter.

TWEET, TWEET, NO WHEAT

Amateur ornithologists have saved a pair of buzzards and their chicks from a combine harvester. The buzzard family nested in a crop of wheat outside Brussels, Belgium. To assure their safety, the bird watchers bought 5,000 square yards of the crop from the farmer to keep him from harvesting it.

ON TODAY'S JERRY SPRINGER SPANIEL SHOW...

When Southern California bathroom fixture manufacturer Sidney Altman died, he left his Beverly Hills home and 350- thousand dollars to his cocker spaniel. Altman requested that his girlfriend, Marie Dana, live in the house and care for the animal. She was left 50-thousand dollars for a shopping spree and 60-thousand a year for a stipend. But Dana doesn't like playing second fiddle to Fido. She's suing for two-point-seven million -- to get out of the doghouse and into the main house.

MYSTERY CATS

Overgrown alley cats? Weird-looking dogs? Pet panthers that got loose? Those are some of the theories being considered amid more than a half-dozen reports of large black cats lurking near Lincoln Memorial Hospital, 25 miles west of Spokane. "What we're hoping is that somebody will get a picture of one of them so we can figure out what we're dealing with," said Curt Wood, state game officer for Lincoln County. Initially, the reports were met with disbelief. But Police Chief Charlie Varain knows some of the witnesses personally and believes too many of the reports are credible.

MAY THE FROG FORCE BE WITH YOU

The federal government, an environmental group and a children's television show joined forces to recruit children to help find out what is killing the nation's frogs. They set up an Internet web site devoted to the search and hope to commission thousands of schoolchildren as a nationwide ''frog force'' to try to save the disappearing amphibians. Numerous studies show that frogs are dying in alarming numbers. Others are turning up with gross deformities. Frogs are considered a "sentinel species," succumbing early to threats that may later affect humans. Because of their permeable skin and because they live both on the land and in the water, chemicals and pathogens can affect them easily. The new Internet site, www.frogweb.gov, is meant to be interactive. It gives information about frogs and invites users to enter details about dead or deformed amphibians they might see while outdoors.

KUDOS FOR KALAMAZOO KITTY

C.C. the cat, of Kalamazoo, Michigan, is a hero, after her 75-year-old owner suffered a diabetic blackout. The cat loudly meowed and licked Elsie Massey's face, until she awakened and was able to reach her blood-glucose meter. A Borgess Medical Center nurse says Massey may have slipped into a coma and died if the cat hadn't been so persistent.

BIG APPLE CRITTERS

Think New York City has gotten too tame? If city officials get their way, the Big Apple will soon be crawling with peepers, screechers and even weasels. The au natural approach to urban renewal calls for reintroducing dozens of animals and plants. The goal is to increase biodiversity and park attendance around a city that has seen plummeting crime rates and a renewal of such popular tourist spots as Times Square. Some 87 luna moths were set free in Central Park in July, dozens of bobwhite quails were let loose this month in Pelham Bay Park and eight screech owls were released last month. "We do see a hawk every so often, though," said Michael Bibitello, who jogs daily in the 800-acre park. His hope? That the owls do in the rats.

LaRUSSA SLOGAN: "ANIMALS MAKE BETTER PEOPLE"

Tony LaRussa manages 40 rowdy St. Louis Cardinals, including home-run king Mark McGwire. But off the field, the four-time Manager of the Year works with an entirely different cast of characters -- four-legged ones, that is. In 1991, LaRussa and his wife Elaine founded the Animal Rescue Foundation outside of San Francisco, where the LaRussas live. A lost cat started it all. In 1990, when LaRussa was managing the Oakland A's, a stray wandered onto the field. Play was halted as the frightened animal scampered around most of the infield and outfield before running to LaRussa. The next day he brought the cat (whom he named "Evie") to a shelter near his home, but was shocked to learn that Evie would be euthanized within the week, because the facility was so overcrowded. LaRussa personally placed her with a new owner. In the wake of that experience, the LaRussas founded the Animal Rescue Foundation, with the simple motto Animals Make Better People. It operates under a no-kill policy, which means that all the animals it takes in are guaranteed permanent homes.

YUCK OR YUM?

You not only can see bugs at The Philadelphia Insectarium -- you can eat them, too. Five-year-old Andrew Belcher visited the bug museum and sampled a cheese-covered worm. Andrew has high praise for the creepy, crawly delicacy. He says the worm tastes like a cheese doodle. Bug lovers of all ages can see everything from the lowly cockroach to bugs so exotic, they're worn as living jewelry in Mexico. Museum director Maureen Kennedy says bugs don't deserve their yucky reputation. She says without bugs, the world would be a far dirtier and probably an uglier place.

SSSSSSSSORRY, OFFICER

Colorado Springs officer Joe Waskom had heard it all from speed violators. Until he stopped a woman going 50 in a 35. She said she was hurrying home because her daughter's pet snake was loose in the car. Officer Waskom declined to help her search for it.

BARK OF LIFE

A German shepherd is being credited with saving the lives of her human family, who were sound asleep when an early-morning fire broke out. The 6-year-old dog, Aussie, scratched on the housekeeper's door and woke her up, then went to the rooms of three young children and barked to wake them up. The children's mother was able to call 911 as the family fled from the house in Saratoga, California. The dog - which the family had rescued from a shelter - apparently smelled smoke while sleeping in the kitchen.

NUTTY SQUIRRELS

Florida wildlife officers have been besieged recently with calls from animal lovers worried that the state's bushy-tailed residents are acting, well, squirrelly. Squirrels across Florida have been rolling on the ground, banging their bodies on things and growing odd lumps, prompting the calls to the Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission. Rick Horton, a biologist with the commission, says the squirrels are infested with bot fly larvae, worm-like baby bugs the size of a human thumb, that grow beneath their skin. It's a natural phenomenon ... It's just a parasite-host relationship that has always occurred," Horton said. The squirrels will be fine and the larvae pose no threat to humans.

HOW MUCH IS THAT DOGGIE IN THE WINDOW?

It was love at first sight when 15-year-old Jennifer Coxwell saw a German Shepherd in a New York City pet store window. The dog loved her, too. After oohing and awwing over the dog, Coxwell continued down the block when she heard the crash of glass behind her. The dog had bolted through the window to go play with his new friend. The pet shop owner let Coxwell have the pooch for the price of fixing the window - less than half his asking price for the dog.

GUARD KITTY