Pets in the paper
Check out these animal stories in The Oklahoman today
- - Teen, dog escape fall into icy pond. (Oklahoma County)
- - Eagle eyes scan the sky. (Arcadia, page 4d)
Staff Writer Carrie Coppernoll
Pets in the paper
Check out these animal stories in The Oklahoman today -
- - All safe after plane splashes into river. (New York)
- - Lisa Kudrow’s career is gonig to the dogs. (California)
- - Vacancies are avaialble at ‘Hotel for Dogs.’ (movie review)
Staff Writer Carrie Coppernoll
Fire alarm mule saves owners life
Jolene Solomon was finishing her dinner when her mule, Lou, started going crazy.
She was braying and carrying on, so Solomon stepped outside of her home in McMinnville, Tenn., to see what could be bothering the old mule.
The house was one fire.
Solomon, 63, lives alone and had no idea the house was ablaze. She called the fire department, which didn’t show up in time to save her house. She lost everything on New Year’s Day. But she was alive, a saving grace she credits Lou for.
Staff Writer Carrie Coppernoll
Cats saved by firefighters
It’s not the first time firefighters have saved family pets by using baby oxygen masks. It probably won’t be the last. But there is a picture.
Apparently six cats were found unconscious in a home during a house fire in England. Police used oxygen masks sized to fit babies to help revive the kitties. A seventh cat died in the fire.
When fire crews were told the cats were in the house, they fought their way in to the smoke-filled room to recover them.
- Staff Writer Bryan Dean
Pets in the paper
- - Paint horse show riding high in city. (Oklahoma City)
- - Wetland case reaches deal. (Michigan)
- - Zoo wants to keep residents busy. (Oklahoma City)
- - House blaze blamed on cord. (Oklahoma City) The photo at the left shows Oklahoam City firefighter C.J. Seitz carring a dog from the house.
Staff Writer Carrie Coppernoll
In Florida, it’s illegal to save your pets from a burning house
OK, it’s not exactly illegal to save your pets from a burning house. But it can get you arrested if you’re in Florida.
Henry Morgan’s house was on fire, and he tried to go back in to save his wife, relatives and pets Firefighters stopped him. He tried again, and they stopped him again. After this back-and-forth hubbub went on and on, everyone got hot, so to speak. Morgan got mad, and so did the firefighters. The firemen apparently had to stop fighting the fire to keep Morgan (shown here) out of the burning building. Eventually, they just arrested him.
I can see both sides of this one. If your Morgan, you want to do everything you can to make sure your pets survive. If your the firemen, you want to do everything you can to make sure everyone survives, even the guy climbing in the window of his burning house.
So I’m with them on arresting him. It was for his own protection. But charging him with several crimes? Really? Totally unnecessary. They lost five cats and four dogs. Thankfully, all his relatives survived.
The man lost everything he owns, including nine pets. Don’t add insult to injury.
Staff Writer Carrie Coppernoll
Speaking of hoarding …
This might be the worst case ever: 800 dogs in a triple-wide trailer in Arizona.
We were just discussing hoarding on the blog yesterday.
Staff Writer Carrie Coppernoll
Paloma storms the Caribbean
Today, people in Cuba and Hispaniola are coping with tropical storm Paloma.
She’s fierce, they say, and could strengthen rapidly into a hurricane.
I’ve been living with a hurricane named Paloma for almost four years.
She’s a gray and white Italian greyhound whose full name is Paloma Belladogga and is a force of nature unto herself.
She barks like a hurricane’s wind blows — that is to say, constantly.
And she is fast. Very fast. Like here:
To see how fast the breed is in motion, here’s a video of an Italian greyhound running:
But the storm, like its 11-pound counterpart, has a calm spot. She can be content and motionless for hours. As long as she is being petted and loved on. Or is sitting for a portrait, like here:
Perhaps the Caribbean Paloma will fly through without wreaking much havoc, or she will graduate to a hurricane that will not soon be forgotten.
Either way, Paloma and I will be watching.
– Amy Raymond, Assistant News Editor
Pets in the paper
Animal stories in The Oklahoman today -
Staff Writer Carrie Coppernoll
Tigers use training to escape flames
Three Siberian tigers, using their circus training, jumped over a wall of flames to safety recently after the truck they were riding in caught on fire in Germany.
The tigers were trained to jump through hoops of fire and 
used that experience when their ringmaster ordered them to jump over the wall of flames in the truck, said circus owner Daniel Renz.
Rescuers saved three other tigers left behind in the 43-foot wagon during the fire. Circus workers coralled the tigers on the highway and police closed the road to traffic.
Renz said one of the tigers suffered some smoke inhallation, but the other five were in good condition. The circus was scheduled to go on as planned Thursday, but the six tigers involbed in the fire will get a rest while some of the show’s other tigers perform.
Renz said an overheated suspension system on the truck is suspected as the cause of the fire.
- Staff Writer Bryan Dean
