Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Teddy Bears and Fish

My fish tank is chock a block with babies. Baby platys and baby guppies. These pictures are of a mommy guppy who's giving birth in some java moss - you can just make out her head in the photo, and then another picture is her before she gave birth with her big tummy - very typical is the fact that directly behind her is a male guppy chasing her still trying to give her a poke! And then the other picture is of a platy baby - the little orange fish.









I also came across a very funny article today about a guard dog in England that gives proof to the idea that dogs should NOT guard things that they find DELECTABLE.


Dog destroys £40,000 Elvis teddy

Security guard Greg West does not know what made Barney do it

A £40,000 teddy which used to belong to Elvis Presley was among scores of toy bears destroyed when a dog meant to guard them went on the rampage. Dobermann Barney was looking after the rare Steiff bear, named Mabel, which had been loaned for an exhibition at Wookey Hole Caves near Wells, Somerset.

The dog ripped the head off the bear and attacked scores of other teddies.

Barney's owner could only suggest that the bear had a rogue scent on it - or that Barney had become jealous of it. The bear, made in Germany in 1909, was bought at auction in Memphis, Tennessee, by Somerset aristocrat Sir Benjamin Slade.

Heads pulled off, arms, legs here and there, it was a total carnage really Daniel Medley Wookey Hole Caves Wookey Hole general manager Daniel Medley told the BBC: "About 100 bears were caught up in this frenzied attack, some were merely little chews, whereas some of them had some quite devastating injuries.

"Heads pulled off, arms, legs here and there, it was a total carnage really. I've never seen such a mess, there was stuffing, fluff and bear bits everywhere."

'Model dog'

Barney also caused an estimated £20,000 damage to other bears in the collection. Other teddies worth about £20,000 were damaged Security guard Greg West, who was on duty at the time, is at a loss to explain what happened to make Barney go so "berserk".

Mr West, 36, of Totterdown, Bristol, said: "Barney has been a model guard dog for over six years. I still can't believe what happened.

"Either there was a rogue scent of some kind on Mabel which switched on Barney's deepest instincts, or it could have been jealousy - I was just stroking Mabel and saying what a nice little bear she was."

The attraction said Barney's future with them was "uncertain".

1 comment:

  1. Ohh, love the fish babies. I wish I could have tropicals and gold fish again. I used to keep several tanks going but no room any more, sigh. When we bought our place, we traded living area (big house) for a smaller house on larger property so I could have my horses. Can't really say I regret it. :)

    When I first read that article about the teddy bear, I wondered how the dog got access behind the protective glass where the dolls were stored. This is the first pic I've scene of the museum. Egads, everything laying in reach. ...what were they thinking?! So much for 'rogue' scent, another plausible explaination that has gone around, is that the dog actually saw "Elvis". yeah... *groan*

    I'm also mulling over this bit too...
    Shelter's use of dog test suspect -- How reliable are these tests? There's no way to know, is there?

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