Jockstrip: The world as we know it.

Couple gets car back without dog

ST. LOUIS, Nov. 1 (UPI) -- A Michigan couple whose car was stolen in the St. Louis area with their dog inside got the vehicle back but almost a year later their Lhasa Apso is still missing.

Tom and Alice Matthews of Grand Rapids told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch they have spent thousands of dollars searching for Mattie, including nine trips back to St. Louis. They also have offered a $25,000 reward for her return with no result.

"We've slowed down, but we're still getting calls" Alice Matthews said. "But a lot of the time, people call just to ask if all of this is for real."

Mattie was in a dog carrier in the back seat of the couple's Buick LeSabre when it was stolen in University City Nov. 7, 2006. The car turned up in Cape Girardeau two days later and the carrier was found in a St. Louis cemetery.

Two men charged with the car theft deny the crime and say they know nothing about the dog.

The couple's efforts have included blanketing public buses with ads with space donated by the company that handles bus advertising. They have printed thousands of leaflets.

Coach says pheasant's death an accident

BOUNTIFUL, Utah, Nov. 1 (UPI) -- A high school football coach in Utah faces an animal cruelty charge for kicking a pheasant released on the field as a prank.

Richard Layton, an assistant coach at Viewmont High School in Bountiful, said he did not intend to harm the bird and was just trying to catch it, The Salt Lake Tribune reported. The bird was killed after being seriously injured.

"It was not my intention to seriously harm or jeopardize the life of the bird," Layton said in a statement. "Anyone who knows me knows I am a compassionate person with a respect for animals."

Two 16-year-olds from American Fork High School have been charged with releasing the bird on the field as a prank during a game with Viewmont.

Layton said he could tell the bird could not fly because its tail feathers had been plucked. He said he tried to use his foot as a barricade to stop the pheasant but overbalanced and accidentally stomped it.

Police say the pheasant was raised in captivity, not captured in the wild.

Councilman pushes pigeon birth control

NEW YORK, Nov. 1 (UPI) -- A New York councilman is pushing birth control for the pigeons infesting the Staten Island ferry terminals.

Councilman James Oddo, who represents Staten Island, points out that other strategies to drive out the pigeons, including spikes, nets and strips that provide a mild electric shock to any bird that lands on them, have had little success, The New York Post reported. OvoControl-P has another advantage -- the blessing of animal rights' groups.

Pigeons that have ingested OvoControl-P produce eggs that do not hatch because the drug interferes with development of a layer separating the yolk and white. Oddo, who is anti-abortion, has no problem with limiting pigeon reproduction.

He believes Staten Islanders should not have to worry about pigeons and pigeon droppings when they take the ferry to Manhattan.

"There is a morale factor here," he said.

The drug has not yet been approved for use in New York although it has been tried in Los Angeles and a similar one used on geese in New York.

Pumpkin tax smashed in Iowa

DES MOINES, Iowa, Nov. 1 (UPI) -- Iowa Department of Revenue officials, apparently spooked by publicity on the Internet, said they decided to ax the pumpkin tax.

The department said it announced the policy to tax pumpkins intended for use as jack-o'-lanterns last year -- but admitted not many people noticed until Wednesday when the story zoomed through cyberspace, The Des Moines Register reported Thursday.

As it voided the tax, the department defended its original reasoning in a news release, saying "Food and food ingredients are defined as substances that are sold for ingestion or chewing by humans and are consumed for their taste or nutritional value."

The statement didn't say why the department changed its policy, but Gov. Chet Culver issued his own statement, saying he reached out to the revenue collectors.

"I have directed the Department of Revenue to do the common-sense thing and suspend collection of this tax and offer refunds to consumers or retailers who have been affected," he said.