Woman’s Pet Micro-Pig Grows Into 150-Kg Behemoth

A Chinese woman who thought she had bought a pet micro-pig three years ago ended up with a 150-kg regular pig usually bred for its meat.

In 2018, Zhang Li, a young woman living in Shanghai, decided to get a pet animal for company. She wasn’t really a cat or dog person, so she started looking for an alternative, and thought she had found it when she saw an advertisement for a micro-pig. She did her research, and learn that the miniature pigs made great pets; they were adorable, grew only about the size of a small dog, and were very intelligent. So she decided to take the plunge and get one for herself, not knowing that she would end up with a 150kg beast as a pet.

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Russian Couple Share Their House With Full-Grown Mountain Lion

Aleksandr and Maria Dmitriev, a young couple from Penza, Russia, have been sharing their home with a mountain lion for the past three years.

Cats are in the top two most common pets worldwide, but the cat Aleksandr and Maria Dmitriev live with in their small one-bedroom apartment is a little different. Messi is a 3-year-old cougar, the second-largest feline in the Americas, after the Jaguar. In the wild, it is considered an apex predator, but Messi was born in a petting zoo and has spent most of his life as a house cat, so he basically behaves like an overgrown cat, for now. The Dmitriev’s are aware that Messi is a predator that will, at some point, test their strength to establish who is in charge of the house, but they have taken steps to keep his wild side in check.

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Galaxy Dane – Woman Uses Vegetable-Based Dye to Make Her Dog Look Out-of-This-World

Echo, a two-year-old Harlequin Dane, has been turning heads everywhere she goes after her owner dyed her coat purple, blue, pink and turquoise.

Sierra Schoon, a 22-year-old woman from Grand Junction in Colorado, has been coloring her psychiatric service dog, Echo, using pet-safe dye, ever since the dog was about six-months old. The young dog groomer said that she uses vegetable-based Arctic Fox hair dye, and that Echo loves to just sit there and be pampered for three or four hours, while she applies the dye. Apparently, the dog also loves the attention she gets when they go out for walks, as people tend to get very confused by her unusual look.

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The Gunthers – The Incredible Story of the World’s Richest Dog Dynasty

The world is full of pampered pets, but while some depend on their owners wealth, a lucky few have their own fortunes. And no animal is as wealthy as Gunther IV, a beautiful German shepherd and member of the world’s richest dog dynasty.

It’s hard to imagine any animal being the beneficiary of a fortune of nearly $400 million, but such a lucky pet actually exists. Gunther IV, a descendant of Gunther II, the original world’s wealthiest animal, is worth a reported $375 million. He lives in a multi-million-dollar mansion in Miami, has a full staff looking after him, included his own maid and butler, spends his days playing and swimming, and eats only the finest food money can buy, including caviar and truffles. Gunther also has his own corporation, whose employees manage his assets and make sure the dynasty’s fortune keeps growing.

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Man Spends Over $400 Treating Limping Dog, Only to Learn It Was Only Imitating Him

A UK man who had spent around £300 on vet bills after his pet dog started limping, learned that there was nothing wrong with the animal, and that he was allegedly only limping out of sympathy for him.

Russell Jones was left unable to walk without limping after breaking his ankle in an accident last year. One day, while out on a walk with his dog Billy, Russel noticed that the canine was limping as well. On another occasion, as he was limping around the house, his partner Michelle noticed that Billy was sort of copying him, so they called a vet to have the dog checked out. Only after paying around £300 ($410)  for X-rays and checkups, did he learn that Billy was only imitating his gait out of sympathy.

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Japanese Family Has Been Sharing Their Home With 7-Foot-Long Crocodile for 39 Years

Some people wouldn’t get anywhere near an adult crocodile for all the money in the world, but one Japanese family in Kure City, Hiroshima, has been living with one for almost four decades.

Nobumitsu Murabayashi bought “Caiman-san”, his pet crocodile, from a pet store, after his young son begged him to. He never thought he’d become part of the family, and still be with them nearly 40 years later. Today, the domesticated crocodile measures just under 7 feet long (6feet 8inches) weighs around 45 kilograms, but he’s a gentle giant, as Nobumitsu says he would never hurt anyone. Caiman-san lives in the family home, but also goes on walks with his master and is tame enough to let young children touch and even ride him.

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Animal Lover Shares Her Home with 480 Cats and 12 Dogs

Maryam al-Balushi, an animal lover from Muscat, in Oman, shares her house with 480 cats, most of which were strays, and 12 dogs, spending almost $8,000 a month on food and vet bills for them.

The 51-year-old retired civil servant might seem like a life-long animal lover, but the truth is she hasn’t always been fond of them. It all started in 2008, when her son brought home a small Persian cat as a pet, which al-Balushi wasn’t at all thrilled about, especially since her son didn’t really take care of it. As time went by, Maryam started getting used to her feline pet, and eventually they became inseparable. In 2011, Maryam al-Balushi went through a severe depression, and she credits her first cat for helping her through that difficult period. In the years that followed, she dedicated herself to helping stray cats and taking them into her home.

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Chinese Company ‘Hires’ Alpaca to Help Its Human Employees Relax

A Chinese video production startup has been getting a lot of attention on social media because of its adorable office pet – a two year-old llama-alpaca mix.

We’ve written about companies bringing pets into the office to help their human staff unwind, but that usually meant cats and small dogs. Now, a Wuxi-based company has ‘hired’ Tuo Baiwan, a young llama-alpaca mix to strut around the office and just be his adorable self. The furry animal loves attention and treats, and his human colleagues are more than willing to give him both. In return his simple presence help relieve stress and puts a smile on employees’ faces.

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Dog Miraculously Survives 37 Days Trapped Under Landslide Rubble

A dog in China recently made national headlines for being found alive and well after spending over a month trapped under the ruin of his master’s following a landslide.

On July 8, the people of Cangbaotian village, in China’s Guizhou Province had to be hastily evacuated before most of their homes succumbed to a terrible landslide. Only a handful of the 130 buildings in the village were left standing, and despite being unable to retrieve most of their possessions before the evacuation, residents weren’t allowed to return until the area was deemed safe by authorities. Earlier this month, one man who returned to see if anything could be salvaged from his collapsed home was shocked to hear barking coming from under the rubble.

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Marimo – The Extremely Rare Algae Balls That Make Great Low-Maintenance Pets

Marimo is a rare growth form of the Aegagropila linnaei algae in which the aquatic plant grows into large green balls with a velvet-like texture and appearance. It’s also a natural treasure of Japan, as well as a popular pet.

Aegagropila linnaei algae has long been a mystery in biology, particularly due to its fascinating spherical growth form. The algae can be found in just a handful of aquatic environments located in four countries – Iceland, Scotland, Estonia, and Japan – and exists either as free-floating filaments, flat growths on rocks or green balls that can reach up to 40 cm in diameter. It’s the latter that has fascinated both scientists and algae enthusiasts for centuries.

Marimo (literally “ball water plant”) are particularly popular in Japan. The largest and most impressive-looking ones can be found in  Lake Akan, in east Hokkaido. For some reason, given enough time marimo her grow up to 40 cm in diameter, much larger that the moss balls found anywhere else. The lake is shallow, providing the conditions needed for Aegagropila linnaei to thrive, so the bottom is full of these giant, fluffy balls just waiting to be squeezed. Only you’re not allowed to take those!

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Italian Man Fined $200 Because His Rooster Crows Too Early in the Morning

An 83-year-old man was ordered to pay a 166 euro fine after he failed to prevent his pet rooster from crowing at 4:30 in the morning, which some of his neighbors had complained about.

Angelo Boletti, a pensioner from the Italian town of Castiraga Vidardo, in Lombardy, was found to have violated local rules, which state that pets must be kept at a minimum distance of 10 metres from neighboring homes. But the real problem was that the pet in question, a rooster named Carlino, crowed loudly as early as 4:30 in the morning and waking up the neighbors. After receiving several complaints about the bird’s morning routine, police started monitoring Carlino, and after confirming his early crowing decided to fine the retired bricklayer.

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14-Year-Old Girl Has Six Giant Pythons as Pets

A 14-year-old Indonesian girl has been getting a lot of attention on social media thanks to her unusual pets – six giant pythons that she loves to pet and cuddle with in her videos.

Most people would run for their life at the sight of a full-grown python, especially one that looks like it could swallow an adult human with ease, but Chalwa Ismah Kamal isn’t most people. The 14-year-old teenager, who reportedly hails from Purworejo, Central Java, shares her home with six massive pythons and appears to have no concern for her safety when she’s around them. Photos and videos of the Indonesian girl playing, bathing and cuddling with the giant reptiles have been going viral on TikTok and Instagram, and leaving viewers with their mouths wide open.

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All-Pet Charter Plane Charges Pet Owners $2,100 Per Pet to Reunite Them With Beloved Animals

An Indian entrepreneur has comes up with an ingenious and ultra expensive way to reunite pet owners with the pets they had to leave behind in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic – an all-pet charter plane to fly the animals back to their owners.

Deepika Singh, a young entrepreneur and cyber security researcher in Mumbai, came up with the idea of an all-pet chartered plane when she was arranging a jet to fly in some relatives from Delhi. Some of them wanted to travel with their pets, but the others refused, so she ended up having to look for another plane for them. She realized that she couldn’t have been the only one to experience this issue, so she devised a plan to reunite pets abandoned during the national lockdown with their owners, without cramming them in cargo shipments.

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Self-Described “Crazy Snail Lady” Cares for 150 Pet Snails

40-year-old Pepper Apollo has been fascinated with snails ever since she saw some outside her workplace, 10 years ago. Today she is a self-described “crazy snail lady” with 150 shelled gastropods in her care.

When I first saw a short video documentary on Pepper Apollo and her pet snails, I though it was just a gimmick to promote her online presence. Yes, that kind of thing happens quite a lot these days, and it usually involves wannabe Instagram influencers looking to grow their following, but it’s definitely not Pepper’s case. The UK-based woman is genuinely fascinated with snails and that becomes obvious when browsing her social media profiles. Her Facebook profile picture is a doctored version of the Mona Lisa where the protagonist’s head was replaced with that of a snail, her handle is always some variation of “crazy snail lady”, and she seems to only post about snails.

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Family Discovers That Their Cat Had Been Living A Double Life Complete with Different Name and Other Owners

A Mexican family recently discovered that their pet cat had been leading a double life, meaning he had a second home, a different name and another family just a few blocks away.

Cats like to be independent, so whenever her cat Pixi went away for longer than usual, Mary Lore Barra assumed that he was out chasing birds on rooftops and going on all sorts of feline adventures through the streets of Tamaulipas, in Mexico. The one thing she never imagined was that Pixi was actually spending time with another human family, who in turn thought they were the cat’s sole owners. But Pixi’s double life was accidentally revealed last month, when he came home to the Barra residence wearing a new collar around his neck.

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