China’s Real-Life Ace Venture Relies on Technology to Find People’s Lost Pets

He may not have Ace Ventura’s charm or his iconic hairdo, but Sun Jinren is a real-life pet detective in all the ways that matter. When he takes on a lost pet case, he pours all his effort as well as thousands of dollars in expensive equipment in order to find them.

Dubbed China’s first pet detective by the country’s media, Sun Jinren launched his business seven years ago and has since reunited about 1,000 lost pets with their owners. He has a success rate of around 70%, and despite charging a whopping 8,000 yuan ($1,130) per case, clients know his services are worth it. He now has an entire team working for his company and uses all sorts of high-tech gadgets to increase his chances of finding lost pets, including heat detectors, thermal imaging cameras and even an endoscope.

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New Reality Show Challenges Meat Eaters to Go Vegetarian or Eat Their Pet Animal

Part extreme reality TV show, part social experiment, “Meat the Family” follows four meat-eating families for three weeks as they interact with the animal that they enjoy eating most. At the end they are forced to make a choice between going vegan or eating their pet.

The premise of Meat the Family is that the three participating families have to treat the animal that most frequently appears on their plates like a pet for three weeks, and then decided whether it goes to an animal sanctuary or into their bellies. Deciding whether the animal lives or dies is one thing, but having to choose between going vegetarian or eating the animal you got to know for three weeks is just crazy. Over the course of the show, the four UK families will have to spend time with their pet, taking it for walks and playing with it, but also travel around their country to learn about animal welfare, farming and production, food processing, as well as the impact that eating animals has on the environment.

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Adorable Dachshund Knows Just One Trick, But It’s a Good One

Harlso, a five-year-old dachshund from Belfast, Northern Ireland, has risen to internet stardom thanks to one impressive talent – balancing things on his head while standing really, really still.

From glasses filled with water, to donuts and squeaky toys, there’s nothing that Harlso the “King of Balancing” can’t balance on his tiny head. It all started three years ago, when his owner, Paul Lavery, jokingly placed a squeaky toy on his head and was surprised to see the tiny canine sit as still as a statue, while trying to look up the object. Up to that point, Paul and his partner, Jen Scott, had tried teaching Harlso the usual tricks, like ‘sit’, ‘lie down’, ‘roll over’, but he just wasn’t interested. The first time he saw his pup balancing that squeaky toy in his head, Paul remembers calling his girlfriend: “Jen! Harlso has a hidden talent!”

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Woman Claims She Nursed Pet Fish Back to Health After Half Its Body Rotted Away

In a Facebook post that went viral last week, a Thai woman shared a story about how she treated her pet goldfish and managed to save its life even though its tail and part of its body had rotted away.

In a post that ended up gathering over 110,000 likes on Facebook, Kanya Tantiwiwatkul wrote that six months ago she noticed that her pet goldfish wasn’t feeling too well. Its tail had rotted away completely, and part of its flesh had started to do the same to the point where she could already see bones sticking out. That’s when she took some photos of it and then went to an aquarium fish shop to ask for any medicine that might help. After seeing the pictures, the vendor told her that the fish had no chance and recommended that she throw it away and get a new pet. Kanya didn’t want to give up on the goldfish, so she bought some medicine and over the next six months nursed it back to health.

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Dog Walks 200Km Through Siberian Wilderness to Return to Her Owners

Maru, a one-year-old Bullmastiff traveling on train through the Siberian taiga, reportedly jumped off and walked over 200 km trying to return to the owner who had rejected her.

Born at a dog kennel in Novosibirsk, Maru was sold to a family in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, 800 km away, when she was only five months old. However, six months later kennel owner Alla Morozova received a call from the dog’s owners informing her that they were allergic to animals and could no longer look after their pet. The contract stipulated that in the case that the buyers no longer wanted a dog, they should inform Morozova first, so she could make arrangements to retrieve them. She had someone get Maru and accompany her on a train ride back to Novosibirsk, but 200 km into the journey, something went wrong.

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Desperate Pet Owner Offers His Home to Whoever Finds His Lost Dog

After spending months looking for his lost pet Chihuahua, a desperate Tucson man has announced that he is offering his one bedroom home and the plot of land that comes with it to whoever brings his dog back to him.

Eddie Collins lost his beloved pet, Jenny, back in April and he has spent every day since trying to find her. After searching every place he could think of, plastering posters all over Tucson and visiting dog shelters every day, he decided to increase his chances of finding Jenny by offering his most prized material possession as a reward. Whoever finds Jenny and brings her back, will receive Eddie’s one-bedroom apartment, his workshop and a plot of land in return.

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Online Pet Store Uses Face Recognition Technology to Allow Dogs to Do Their Own Shopping

Brazilian pet shop chain Petz has combined face recognition technology and artificial intelligence to create a groundbreaking platform that allows dogs to buy their favorite products by analyzing their facial expressions.

There’s nothing more disheartening for dog owners that buying a new toy for their pooches only to see them turn their nose up at it. Well, thanks to Pet-Commerce, an online pet-store created by Brazil’s Petz brand, you can avoid such disappointing experiences by allowing the dog to choose his favorite products. All you have to do is hold an internet connected camera to the dog’s face and allow the AI powering Pet-Commerce to analyze its facial expressions as you scroll through the different products listed on the site. Once it detects excitement, it automatically adds the product to your shopping cart and you can finalize the transaction when you’re done.

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A Healthy Dog Was Put Down So It Could Be Buried with Its Owner

Emma, an adorable and perfectly healthy Shi-Tzu was recently put down, because its owner put it in her will that she wanted to be buried with her beloved pet when she died.

On March 8, shortly after her owner passed away, Emma was brought to the Chesterfield County Animal Shelter in Chesterfield, Virginia, where she remained for the next two weeks. Staff there were informed about the dog’s fate, so they kept trying to convince the deceased woman’s estate to sign Emma over, so she could be adopted by another family. The shelter repeatedly told representatives of the estate that they could easily find a home for her, but they declined every time. They did the same on March 22, when an executor came to pick up Emma to have her put down, but there was no convincing him.

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Man Sets Up Hidden Camera in His Bedroom, Finds Out Cat Loves Sleeping on His Face

A Thai man recently checked the footage of a hidden camera he had installed in his bedroom and found out that his pet cat loves using his face as a bed when he’s out cold.

Lomphonten Lomphontan originally had the hidden camera set up so he could keep an eye on his pet cat, Achi, when he was at work. In January of this year, he decided to face the camera towards his bed at night, to monitor Achi’s behavior when he was out cold. To his surprise the feline, who loved nothing more than to curl up next to him all the time, became even more affectionate once he fell asleep. After climbing on his chest and pressing his paws on Lomphonten’s face to make sure he was asleep, Achi made himself comfortable on his master’s face, suffocating him (with love, of course).

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Couple Keep 10,000 Pet Bees in High-Rise Apartment

For over a year a couple angered their neighbors by keeping around 10,000 bees in the balcony of their high-rise apartment in the Chinese city of Ningbo.

Police were recently called to a residential building in the coastal city of Ningbo after a couple living there ignored numerous complaints from their neighbors about the thousands of pet bees they kept on their balcony. About a year ago, the unnamed couple installed a small beehive in their high-rise apartment with the intention of using them for “bee sting treatment”, a form of alternative medicine believed to help alleviate the symptoms of painful conditions like rheumatoid arthritis. However, the insects kept breeding and their number swelled to around 10,000, becoming a nuisance to the other residents.

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Rare Condition Causes Cat’s Fur to Go From Black to Almost Completely White in Just One Year

Vitiligo, a condition that causes the loss of skin color in blotches, affects around 1% of humans and is even rarer in animals. Elli, one of the few known cats suffering from Vitiligo, was born with a mostly black coat, but just one year after being diagnosed with this mysterious condition, her fur is almost completely white.

Nicole, the cat’s owner, found Elli and her sister on a farm in Germany, when they were only four-month kittens. They were both in poor shape and in desperate need of medical attention, so Nicole adopted them and nursed them back to health. Both cats were black with white spots on their chests, which made them look like they were wearing fur tuxedos, but one day, Elli’s tux started losing its color. It was just a tiny white spot at first, but as months went by, her black coat turned into a black and white mosaic.

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Excited Dog Jumps from Second Floor to Greet Owner, Lands on Him and Breaks His Neck

A dog owner in China ended up in the hospital after his excited husky jumped all the way from the 2nd floor of his house to greet him, landing on his head and breaking his neck.

The 67-year-old man, surnamed Liu, was returning to his house in Yongzhou City, China’s Hunan province, on Monday, after visiting some relatives, when something heavy fell from above and landed on the back of his head. Liu was knocked down and rendered unconscious by the impact, and his family immediately called an ambulance. Speaking with Sina News about the incident, Liu recalled that his first thought after waking up in the hospital was that the wall of his house had collapsed on top of him, but he later learned that he had been hit by his pet husky.  Apparently, the 60-pound pooch was so excited to see Liu come home that he jumped from the second floor of he house, landing on top of him.

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Dog’s Ear Falls Off After Allergic Reaction to Bright Red Dye

A dog owner in Thailand has come under fire for dyeing her pooch’s ears bright red, after a severe allergic reaction to the dye allegedly caused one of the animal’s ears to fall off.

The unnamed woman reportedly took her adorable Pomeranian, Diffy, to a grooming salon in Hua Hin, last week, to have its ears and tail dyed. The staff carried out a ‘foil wrap’ dyeing procedure, covering the dog’s ears and tail with red dye and leaving them covered in aluminum foil for 40 minutes. The owner was very happy with Diffy’s new look, but quickly noticed that her ears had drooped, even though they had always pointed up before they dyeing procedure. She asked the grooming salon staff about it, but was told that the drooping was normal and that Diffy’s ears would be back to normal in two or three days. Sadly, that turned out to be a lie.

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City Bans Dog Walking in Public Places to Discourage Dog Ownership

Authorities in Tehran, the capital city of Iran, have enforced a ban on dog walking in public places like streets and parks. The bizarre measure is part of a long-standing effort to discourage dog ownership in the Islamic country.

Tehran’s police chief, Hossein Rahimi, recently announced that he has received permission from the Tehran Prosecutor’s Office to take measures against people walking dogs in public spaces, such as parks. These measures include fines and confiscation. Apparently, dogs create “fear and anxiety” among members of the public, but many consider this recent ban to be yet another effort by Iranian authorities to discourage dog ownership. Canines are considered unclean or impure by the country’s religious leaders, and a symbol of the pro-Western policy adopted by the old Monarchy dethroned during the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

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Woman Hatches Duck Egg Bought from Restaurant, Ends Up with Adorable Pet

A Malaysian woman ended up with a pet duck after buying a fertilized egg from a restaurant and using a makeshift incubator to hatch it instead of eating it.

39-year-old Erica Lim, a creative professional from Kuala Lumpur, in Malaysia, recently sat down with online magazine Star2 to talk about life with a pet duck in a high-rise apartment building. She spoke about Daisy’s love of water, her friendly and adventurous nature, and how she adapted to life in the big city, but Erica’s most interesting revelation was the story of how the duck came into this world. Apparently, she was meant to be eaten as “balut”, a controversial Asian snack that consists of a cooked partially-developed duck embryo.

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