THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Charleston’s Municipal Beautification Commission says it won’t oppose a request from People for the Ethical Treatment Animals to display a statue of a shackled, weeping elephant in the city.

But there are conditions.

The animal rights group has put the 4 1/2-foot fiberglass statue in cities around the country to protest what it calls animal cruelty in circuses. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

FORT COLLINS, Colo. — Sixteen snakes, 26 lizards, five turtles, 10 red-spotted toads and 69 hamsters seized from an exotic animal dealer in Texas in December have arrived in Colorado.

They were delivered to the Larimer Humane Society on Wednesday.

The creatures were among about 27,000 that animal services workers took during a raid of U.S. Global Exotics in Arlington, Texas, in December. The animals had been housed in a 5,000-square-foot building where city officials say hundreds of animals were found dead or dying. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

DETROIT — The Detroit Zoo is serving as a sanctuary to more than 1,000 mammals, reptiles and spiders seized from a Texas exotic animal dealer.

The Macomb Daily reports that the 1,100 animals now at the Detroit Zoo home were among nearly 27,000 animals seized Dec. 15 in the nation’s largest exotic animal rescue effort.

After a judge ruled the animals will not be returned to U.S. Global Exotics, Detroit Zoo employees spent seven weeks helping care for the animals at a temporary site in Dallas. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ARLINGTON, Texas — The operators of an exotic animals won’t get back the 27,000 or so creatures seized by the city of Arlington.

A judge on Saturday affirmed a previous ruling against the company, U.S. Global Exotics.

The animals were taken in a Dec. 15 raid, but the company has disputed animal cruelty allegations. Arlington officials have said the raid turned up starving snakes, reptiles packed in shipping crates and rodents in cramped quarters that ate each other to survive. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

SEATTLE — Alone, in the middle of Sylvia Lake, swims a prince without his princess.

For 25 years, Prince, a mute swan, has called Sylvia Lake home, and up until December 2007 he shared his days and nights with Princess. The two did everything together in this Gig Harbor community, including entertaining the locals, scaring away obnoxious Canada geese and hobnobbing with their duck friends.

Gordon Golob, who lives on the lake, remembers how Princess used to knock on his back door every morning to let him know she was ready for breakfast, while Prince would hang back and wait for his share. (more…)

SCRIPPS HOWARD NEWS SERVICE

WASHINGTON — A man in an astronaut suit stood outside the National Air and Space Museum.

Normal enough, given the contents of the building before him. But he was not promoting an exhibit Thursday, nor was he affiliated with the museum. He and other People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals activists were brandishing signs and distributing pamphlets protesting a NASA program.

NASA is planning to radiate squirrel monkeys. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

FLAGSTAFF, Arizona — Police in a small northern Arizona city are investigating the deaths of two giraffes from Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch, and two others likely will have to find new homes.

Freddie and Tom Hancock of Page acquired the giraffes as part of a plan to build a wildlife preserve on city property they leased in 2008 that also would house exotic birds, reptiles and a camel. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEENAH, Wis. — A year ago, Jake the rooster confounded Neenah officials. Now a household of exotic birds has city officials scratching for answers.

At issue is the Roseberry Bird Rescue, a nonprofit organization that cares for as many as 125 abandoned, abused or neglected birds until they can be rehabilitated and adopted.

The business has operated for 15 years from the home of MaryKay Rosenow and Randy Berryman, but it has been in violation of city zoning codes from the start. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

SALT LAKE CITY — Overstock.com Inc. has stopped selling watchbands, shoes and luggage made from the skins of exotic animals.

The Salt Lake City, Utah-based Internet retailer announced Monday that it pulled listings involving items with alligator, lizard, ostrich, stingray, eel, shark and kangaroo skin from its Web site. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ARLINGTON, Texas — A judge has granted custody of more than 27,000 animals to the city of Arlington after they were seized last month from an exotic animal dealer.

Municipal Judge Michael Smith ruled Tuesday that U.S. Global Exotics owners Jasen and Vanessa Shaw cruelly treated hundreds of species of exotic animals at their Internet-based wholesale business. (more…)

THE WASHINGTON POST

WASHINGTON — A federal judge Wednesday sided with the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus in a legal fight in which animal rights activists accused the circus of abusing its Asian elephants.

In a 57-page opinion, U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan said a former Ringling employee, Tom Rider, and the Animal Protection Institute (API) did not have legal standing to sue the circus under the Endangered Species Act. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ROSTOV-ON-DON, Russia — Eight circus tigers and a lioness died during a 20-hour journey in an enclosed and heated truck across Siberia, and Russian police are investigating whether they might have been suffocated by exhaust fumes or sickened with food poisoning.

The animals were dead when they arrived early Tuesday in the city of Yakutsk, where they had been due to perform in holiday shows, police spokesman Nikolai Sizykh said. (more…)

THE ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

Those interested in casting a vote in the Little Rock Zoo’s Name Our Baby Chimp contest have until 4 p.m. Monday to visit the zoo’s Web site, www.littlerockzoo.com, and choose from four names.

The great-ape keepers at the zoo culled the names from more than 400 submissions made since the male chimp was born in late August to Mahale, a 15-year-old also born at the zoo. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

OKLAHOMA CITY — It’s not unusual to see a deer or a cow crossing Oklahoma’s rural highways. But an elephant?

A couple driving home from church nearly slammed into a giant pachyderm that had escaped from a nearby circus late Wednesday. (more…)

PITTSBURGH POST- GAZETTE

They may be kept with the best of intentions, but exotic pets can create havoc at home and in nature.

Sometimes they turn on their owners, as happened to Kelly Ann Walz, 37, of Saylorsburg, Pa., who was mauled to death Oct. 4 by a 350-pound black bear while cleaning its cage.

Walz reportedly had thrown a shovelful of dog food to one side of the cage to distract the bear while she cleaned the other side, instead of putting the animal into a separate area. (more…)