People Pets

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The course of true love never did run smooth, indeed: A Miami zoo giraffe learned the true pain of unrequited romance when she found herself fending off unwanted advances from a suitor. As zoo visitors looked on, the giraffe ran into a rocky area and fell down. She was uninjured, but it took nearly a dozen staff members to help her stand back up. –Miami Herald

Hundreds of seabirds, some dead and some injured, have been washing up along England's south coast covered in an unknown slimy substance environmental officials think is a refined mineral-based oil mixture. Many of the rescued birds, mostly guillemots, suffer from sore legs. –Discovery News

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She 'nose' what she's doing! Englishman Ken Wilman was walking along the beach with his dog, Madge, when she came upon a smelly rock formation, and wouldn't step away from it. Intrigued, Wilman Googled the mass and discovered it's ambergris, a byproduct of sperm whale digestion that fetches high sums for its usage in spices, perfumes and medicines. –AP

After adopting an orange tabby cat named Chester, Vancouver couple Gyan Harwood and Roya Eshragh discovered their feline needed expensive and risky surgery to help correct the injuries he sustained from a car accident. Unable to afford the procedures – or even a hotel room near the Washington hospital where Chester was being treated – the duo turned to the Internet, where they created an online fund that was eventually able to pay for Chester's care through the donations of strangers. –Huffington Post

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Sure, they're cute and fluffy, but cats are more deadly than previously estimated. Scientists from the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service say that domestic cats kill about 2.4 billion birds and 12.3 billion mammals a year, making them the largest human-linked threats to wildlife in the country. –New York Times

Meet Lisa: a 43-year-old Detroit, Mich., woman who has digested more than 3,200 cat hairballs since she discovered her addiction to feline fur. Featured on TLC's My Strange Addiction, the cat owner cannot go more than two hours without consuming a hairball. –Huffington Post

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It was a happy ending for a Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, family, who have found their tortoise alive and well 30 years after the pet originally went missing. While clearing out a room, the family discovered the tortoise, named Manuela, inside a box containing an old record player. –The Sun

Should dogs be allowed in the maternity ward? After a Bristol, England, woman requested the presence of her Labrador, a certified therapy dog, in the delivery room, not all hospital staff supported her canine companion, who they say was a hygiene problem. –Today

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A San Francisco artist named Flora Davis takes her cat Gaia's fur balls and turns them into necklaces. Ranging from $35 to $240, the pieces are crafted from wire and Gaia himself often sports them in photos to display the merchandise. –Vice.com

Researchers believe dogs's ability to withstand a starchy diet, whereas wolves cannot, led to their domestication. Similarly, humans who eat mostly farmed foods as opposed to hunting and gathering also exhibit such genetic changes. "It's cool that we've shared an environment for such a long time and we've eaten the same kind of food for such a long time, that we have started to become more similar in that way," said study researcher Erik Axelsson. –Huffington Post

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