To the big kennel in the sky

The winner of the 2008 World's Ugliest Dog Contest has passed away.

Courtesy of Perez:

Sad news.

The winner of the 2008 World's Ugliest Dog Contest has passed away.

Gus was a pedigree Chinese crested dog from St. Petersburg, Florida.

He was missing an eye, one leg, and was almost hairless.

Unfortunately, the 9 year-old pooch was suffering from cancer.

Gus was originally rescued from a home where he was being kept inside a crate in someone's garage.

His adoptive family says Gus lost his leg after it had to be amputated due to a skin tumor and he lost his eye in a cat fight.

Evil pussy!

As for Gus' owner, she had said the prize money from the contest was going to be used for his radiation treatment.

Poor pooch.

Rest in peace, Gus!!!!

Keep saying NO to monkey karate

Another shocking case of a monkey being forced into a life of karate has come to the attention of Animal News.

This food is revolting!

In a reversal of the natural orthodoxy, a mouse intended as snakefood has killed its erstwhile eater. South Africa's Independent Online reports:

A tiny mouse was thrown into a cage as food for a viper - but turned the tables and killed the snake instead.

Firefighters in Nantou town, Taiwan, caught the 35cm snake and put it into a mouse cage for safe-keeping.

"We then found it a mouse for lunch," a firefighters spokesperson said. 

But the firefighters were stunned to see how aggressive the mouse became once it saw the predator.

"It attacked the snake continuously, biting and scratching it."

After a vicious 30 minute battle, the snake was dead and the mouse was left with hardly a scratch. Lan Sengqiu, the chief fireman, added: "Perhaps it used up its venom when we caught it, and perhaps it was a novice predator."

The jaws of death

Stunned bystanders witnessed a pigeon meet its final end in the beak of a pelican in London's St. James' Park.

UPDATE! video footage of this amazing animal news has emerged:

Pooh - Jap's a Fair Cop

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese police have arrested a 20-year-old man who attacked and robbed two people after they stared at his Winnie-the-Pooh costume, officials said on Tuesday.

Masayuki Ishikawa was hanging out on a Tokyo street corner after midnight last month while wearing the cuddly costume, accompanied by two friends dressed as a mouse and a panther, when he took offence at being stared at, police said.

"It's uncommon to see people dressed up like this, so the victims were watching them. Then the perpetrator came up and said 'What are you staring at?'" a police spokesman said.

Ishikawa and his friends beat up the two victims and stole $160 from them, the spokesman said, adding the group had apparently donned the unusual garb because they had run out of clean clothes.

Flat Spat

Flatworms, the asbo magnets of the Platyzoa superphylum, have been caught on camera penis duelling.

Stag do

From BBC news:

Early morning fog in Richmond Park, in London. Autumn sees the start of the "rutting" season during which stags can be heard roaring and barking in an attempt to attract females. The larger males will also clash antlers with rival males.

Gratuitous Bambi picture: