Please vote for one of the following Pet News of the Week candidates by (1) sending an e-mail to jgerber@ideastream.org or (2) calling the WCLV Contest Line at 1-800-343-WCLV (9258) and leaving a message. You can also post your vote by commenting on the “Queen of the Morn” Instagram page posted Friday, July 8. The winner will be announced on WCLV Monday, July 11 at 7:20 a.m. EDT and posted here. Your four Pet News contenders:
- The eight puppies found under a wooden storage building in Jacksonboro, S.C., that had caught fire. The firefighters heard whining coming from under the building and rescued seven, with an eighth found by an animal control officer who arrived later. The puppies were born to a stray mother. The owner of the property did not know they were there. The animal control officer took the puppies, who were covered in soot but otherwise unharmed, home with her. Two had been adopted by the next day;
- The kitten trapped in a Pepsi vending machine at a Wal-Mart store in Morristown, Tenn., also rescued by firefighters. Employees heard mewing from inside the vending machine, but even after unplugging the machine and opening the back cover, they could not find the kitten. Firefighters found another opening in the machine, made visual contact with the kitten, and coaxed it to safety. The kitten was adopted by the employee who originally heard the cat’s cries;
- Thor, the parrot belonging to the owners of a Zachary, La., bird sanctuary, who learned to open the lock on the enclosure of Baxter the kangaroo, resulting in Baxter’s unexpected freedom. Baxter was recaptured but since it is against the law in Louisiana to keep a kangaroo as a pet, the owners will have to part with him;
- Harley, the brown pit bull originally adopted by Betsy, a woman living in Fort Myers, Fla. Harley disappeared eight years ago. Betsy moved to Missouri a few years later, but when Harley was recently discovered wandering around a Fort Myers neighborhood, he was taken to a veterinarian, where his microchip was scanned and Betsy got the call that Harley was found. She drove 1,200 miles to claim her beloved dog.