2 men trying for eagle photo rescued from mudflats

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Two men who got stuck waist-deep in mudflats off Alaska's Kenai Peninsula as they attempted to photograph an eagle were rescued before the tide came in.

KTUU-TV reports (http://is.gd/hu6bcn) John Prince of Little Rock, Arkansas, and William Shannon of La Porte, Indiana, had ventured out onto the mudflats in Kasilof (KUH'-see-lahf) late Thursday.

Alaska State Troopers say they made it about 500 feet onto the flats before they got stuck in the mud.

Troopers say they were buried above their waists, and couldn't get out of the muck. A third man who was with them called for help.

Rescuers got the men out about 12:30 a.m. Friday, just as the tide was coming back in.

Troopers say both men refused medical treatment and didn't report any injuries.

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Information from: KTUU-TV, http://www.ktuu.com

Alaska State TroopersmudflatsKTUU-TV

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Bear rescued after head gets stuck in cookie jar

This undated photo provided by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection shows a bear cu …

RINGWOOD, N.J. (AP) — A frightened bear cub got its head stuck in an oversized cookie jar while rummaging through some trash and had to be rescued from a tree in New Jersey.

Environmental Protection Department spokesman Larry Ragonese says the 6-month-old cub apparently found the animal crackers jar Friday night in Ringwood, near the New York border.

As the 28-pound animal tried to eat what remained in the jar, he apparently pulled it over his head and it got stuck.

The cub became spooked when approached and went up a tree, but got wedged about 40 feet up.

DEP staffers arranged netting in case the bear fell to the ground. After the animal was tranquilized by a DEP biologist, it was brought down and local firefighters gingerly cut the jar off its head.

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Enormous alligator snapping turtle rescued from drainage culvert

Something that caught a Baton Rouge, Louisiana resident’s eye led to the rescue of an enormous alligator snapping turtle. WAFB 9 News reports that Travis Lewis was outside his home when he saw what he thought was a log in a nearby canal. Lewis told the station, “So, I took a closer look and it was a big ole turtle, so I jumped up screaming and hollering for Martin to come help me.”

The rescued alligator snapping turtle (WAFB)

Lewis’ loud cries for help made his friend, Martin LeBlanc, think he was being attacked. When LeBlanc got a look at what Lewis was screaming about, he saw the huge turtle with a head the size of a football and thought, “I’m from Pierre Part. I was thinking dinner, no lie. ”

Travis Lewis and Martin LeBlanc (WAFB)

The turtle was in a predicament. "He was wedged in a culvert and one of our friends actually climbed in the culvert and pulled the turtle out. He was wedged in real tight," said LeBlanc. The group was able to free the nearly four-foot-long alligator snapping turtle 45 minutes later and knew to stay clear of the animal’s business end. "Because it latches on to you, it's not going to let go. It's almost like an alligator. Once it latches on to you, it's going to take whatever it bites with it," Lewis explained.

The rescued alligator snapping turtle (WAFB)

The men plan on releasing the turtle once they identify a spot where it can roam free. So, this big guy is safe from LeBlanc’s turtle soup pot.

The culvert where Travis Lewis first spotted the turtle. (WAFB)

Video and more info: WAFB

Animalsalligator snapping turtleTravis Lewis

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Rescued Florida sea turtle headed for Las Vegas casino "retirement"

MIAMI (Reuters) - An ailing 320-pound, green sea turtle, believed to be about 50 years old, was packed in a customized FedEx crate to be shipped to Las Vegas on Thursday to give it a better home at a luxury casino.

The turtle, named OD, after a dive charter boat that rescued it in 2008, has been cared for at the Florida Keys-based Turtle Hospital for almost five years. It cannot be released due to an irreparable collapsed lung that left it floating on its side.

Officials at the Turtle Hospital decided OD needed a better home with a larger and more stimulating environment.

The Shark Reef Aquarium at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas offered to give OD a home for his "retirement" at its 1.6-million-gallon aquarium which already houses several sea turtles.

"He's ready now for a forever home ... where he can live out his life," said Turtle Hospital Manager Bette Zirkelbach.

FedEx is providing free air transportation for OD for the 2,400-mile trip to Las Vegas in a specially moisturized and foam-padded crate, accompanied by Zirkelbach and Turtle Hospital founder Richie Moretti.

(Writing by David Adams; Editing by Nick Zieminski)

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Trapped horse rescued from well on ranch

A horse was trapped in a brick well and in danger of drowning until rescuers saved the frightened animal with the help of a crane, reports KPIX-5.

The incident occurred Monday at a ranch in San Rafael, Calif., near San Francisco. Nine-year-old Buddy fell into the 20-foot-deep well after a wooden board collapsed under his weight.

A worker on the ranch heard Buddy's panicked cries, and went to get help.

[Related: Photo of dog in warm embrace with woman who saved him goes viral]

Lt. Douglas Pittman of the Marin County Sheriff’s Department told KPIX-5, "We thought we might lose this horse. Specifically when we first arrived and the horse was having difficulty keeping his head above water."

According to KPIX-5, rescuers put Buddy's head in a harness to help keep it above water. They tried adding more water to the well in the hopes that Buddy would climb out.

Eventually, a crane was brought in and hoisted Buddy back onto dry land. KPIX-5 reports that the horse had a few cuts and was being treated with an IV. For the most part, though, Buddy was just fine.

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Abandoned Chinese baby rescued from toilet pipe

BEIJING (Reuters) - Firefighters in eastern China have rescued an abandoned newborn baby boy lodged in a sewage pipe directly beneath a toilet commode, state television reported, in a case which has sparked anger on social media sites.

There are frequent reports in Chinese media of babies being abandoned, often shortly after birth, a problem attributed variously to young mothers unaware they were pregnant, the birth of an unwanted girl in a society which puts greater value on boys or China's strict family planning rules.

In the latest case the infant was found in the sewage pipe in a residential building in Jinhua in the wealthy coastal province of Zhejiang on Saturday afternoon after residents reported the sound of a baby crying, state television said late on Monday.

Firefighters had to remove the pipe and take it to a nearby hospital, where doctors carefully cut around it to rescue the baby boy inside, the report said.

The child is in a stable condition and the police are looking for his parents, state television added.

The case has been widely discussed on China's Twitter-like service Sina Weibo due to the graphic nature of the footage, with calls for the parents to be severely punished.

"The parents who did this have hearts even filthier than that sewage pipe," wrote one user.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard and Sally Huang; Editing by Michael Perry)

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Tourists drift away (and then are rescued) while dining on ice floe

Nearly four months ago, Oklahoma Senators Tom Coburn and James Inhofe both voted against H.R.152, the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act that eventually sent $50.5 billion in relief to victims of Hurricane Sandy. And in the flurry of last night's devastation in Moore, Oklahoma. it was impossible not to forget that fact, knowing the federal government would soon rally to the cause.

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