Watercooler Stories

Police: Woman took cat hostage to get dog

GREENACRES, Fla., July 1 (UPI) -- A Greenacres, Fla., woman allegedly kidnapped a family's cat after they refused to return a dog they adopted that the woman had previously owned, police said.

Investigators said Linda Urioste's black Labrador, Scooby, was picked up by Animal Control in May and was adopted five days later by Jutta Hollar and her husband, WPBF-TV, Palm Beach, Fla., reported Tuesday.

Hollar said she considered returning the dog, now named Buddy, to Urioste after the woman stopped by Animal Care and Control to look for him, but she and her husband decided to keep Buddy after the woman was "very rude and yelled at us and treated us really not very nice" during a meeting.

She said her cat, Mitz, went missing a few days after the meeting and she soon received a phone call from Urioste stating that she had the cat. Police said Urioste admitted to having the cat but refused to return it unless Hollar gave her the dog.

Urioste was arrested and charged with theft and extortion. Mitz was returned safely to her family.

Destructive vultures won't leave house

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va., July 1 (UPI) -- Federal wildlife officials said they will consult with a Virginia Beach, Va., man whose home has been targeted by a group of vultures.

Will Ciccone said all of his attempts to keep the vultures away from his property have failed and the birds have destroyed three grill covers, a hot tub cover, a pool cover and several chair cushions belonging to his family, The (Norfolk) Virginian-Pilot reported Tuesday.

Ciccone said he tried rigging a paintball gun to fire at the birds and he displayed fake owls outside his home, but the vultures quickly adapted to his attempts and continued to congregate in his yard.

"If you've got cockroach problems, you kill them. If you've got ant problems, you kill them," he said. "I've got this problem, but I can't do anything about it."

State wildlife officials have the authority to ward off the birds using non-lethal means, but Scott Barras, director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services, said those solutions are often temporary.

Only federal officials have the authority to use lethal means to get rid of the birds. Barras said his department plans to meet with the Ciccones and local authorities to find a solution to the vulture problem.

Sept. 11 rescue dog to be cloned

MILL VALLEY, Calif., July 1 (UPI) -- A German shepherd that served as a rescue dog in the days following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks has been chosen for cloning by a Mill Valley, Calif., company.

BioArts International said retired Canadian police officer James Symington wrote an essay about his dog, Trakr, that won the company's contest to find the most "clone-worthy dog," the New York Daily News reported Tuesday.

Symington and Trakr were among the first search-and-rescue teams to seek out survivors of the Sept. 11 attacks at Ground Zero in New York City.

Trakr, 15, now suffers from a degenerative neurological disorder that experts said may be linked to exposure to toxic smoke at the World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan.

"We received many touching submissions to our contest, describing some truly amazing dogs," BioArts chief executive Lou Hawthorne said. "Trakr's story blew us away. His many remarkable capabilities were proven beyond all doubt on our nation's darkest hour -- and we view the work of cloning him as a great honor."

Police: Mugger returned to confess

MIAMI, July 1 (UPI) -- A man who punched a woman in the face and stole her car said he returned to the scene of the Miami crime minutes later because he "felt bad," police alleged.

Police said Armando Pena, 44, approached Gladys Gonzalez, 60, as she was arriving for work at an apartment complex, The Miami Herald reported Tuesday.

Pena punched Gonzalez in the face, knocking her to the ground, and sped off in her white Ford Taurus, police said.

The incident was reported by off-duty police officer Omar Grass, who saw the Taurus speed off and tended to the injured woman before paramedics arrived.

Police said Pena returned to the scene with the stolen car 12 minutes after the incident and told police he was the one who struck the woman and stole the car. They said he admitted to smoking crack cocaine before the attack and cited "drugs" as the reason for his actions.

Pena said he turned himself in because he "felt bad.''