Once upon a time the SoHo store Yellow Rat Bastard used to actually have a few pet rats caged beneath its front window display on Broadway. Those days are long gone, but this morning folks passing by the CVS on 116th Street and Lenox Avenue got a similar view when a squirrel decided to do laps in the store's front window. more ›

Most people who left their apartments this weekend in the face of Irene made arrangements for their pets—helped by the fact they were allowed into shelters! Of course there were some exceptions. A few pets went off on their own and a few owners apparently just abandoned their buddies. Like the owner of a 10-foot python found yesterday on the eighth floor of the Howard Houses on Mother Gaston Boulevard in Brownsville. more ›

Reportedly some residents of a Queens housing complex, Rochdale Village, "may have a wily coyote — or a close cousin — in their midst." After confirmed sightings of it prowling the territory, Animal Control officers have set up traps to capture the creature, which they say is either a "coyote or a coyote hybrid." A hybrid! There are suspiciously no details as to what kind of hybrid, but this is all starting to sound very familiar. more ›

A Midtown family was held hostage by its pet cat until rescue workers were able to trap the feline yesterday afternoon. It all started at around 3 pm, when Carmen — a 16-pound Russian blue with diabetes and a thyroid condition — turned on her owners, Rosa Davila and her son Victor Marte, 27, the Post reports. more ›

Travel up to the northernmost neighborhoods of Manhattan these days and you might catch a whiff of more than just gentrification in the air—now skunks have invaded Inwood and Washington Heights as well! The area where the only skunk smell formerly found was from the weed sold along Dyckman Street is now crawling with the unwanted pests. The Parks Department's chief naturalist says, “It really seems like the population has gone from zero to many. I’m not sure why." more ›

A drug bust in Springfeild Gardens led cops to a homemade zoo inside a home housing three geckos, two marmosets, three tarantulas, a monitor lizard, a snake, a baby caiman and two iguanas. Animal control was called in to bring in the illegal animals along with seven adult pitbulls, a bulldog and a puppy pitbull with cropped ears. An 84-year-old man who lives nearby said, "This is a nice block. Sometimes things like this happen, but I'm not leaving." [via NYDN]
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One New York City parrot had an exciting weekend, and the NY Times recounts the tale of the red-tailed macaw. Seems it escaped from an office in Hell's Kitchen while its owner was vacationing, which left an employee's boyfriend, Frank Guido, on a wild bird chase for 26 hours. The paper reports back saying he pounced "from rooftop to windowsill to billboard, in sun and rain," trying to capture it. Finally, yesterday afternoon he trapped it on some scaffolding. The 55-year-old was left to capture the bird on his own because after calling the NYPD, FDNY and Animal Control... no one came to help. He told the Times, “They don’t help. Nobody cares.” The NYCACC suggests that if you lose your pet, you contact the closest shelter—but has no advice listed on their site for an escaped bird that you can't get your hands on. Maybe just take PETA's advice and don't get your hands dirty in the world of exotic animal trade. more ›

A Bronx dad had to literally stomp a Husky off his toddler son as the boy was being brutally attacked by the dog more than twice his size while the pooch's owner idly watched nearby. 32-year-old Jeremiah Kendall tells the Daily News how he briefly took his eyes off of his 3-year-old son Kamrin Thursday night around 9 while in front of their Hunts Point home, only to turn around and see the 120-pound unleashed white Husky on him. He says, "My son's face was full of blood. I saw cuts on his eyes, face and nose." The older Kendall had to jump in, kicking the dog and even punching it in the face to get it off of his son. Animal control ended up putting the dog down, while its owner, 23-year-old Louis Delez, is facing charges for reckless endangerment. The News has a heartbreaking photo of young Kamrin as he recovers at Lincoln Hospital. Mr. Kendall did not sound too thrilled with Delez, telling the paper, "He was closer to the dog than me. I'm upset he didn't do anything." more ›

The raccoon look was back in SoHo today. No, that' doesn't mean Gossip Girl was filming a Little J scene at Uniqlo—we mean there literally was a raccoon inside the John Varvatos store on Spring and Greene. Gawker reports: "According to the nice lady I talked to when I called, animal control sadly took him away before they had time to name him, after a significant crowd had gathered outside. No idea how he got in, and she had no idea where they took him to." The website got tipped off by Cheryl Tan, who spotted the raccoon and did what any responsible citizen journalist does these days—Twitpicked it up ASAP. Along with the shot, she tweeted, "A raccoon just snuck into John Varvatos in SoHo-they swear it's not being kept for future fur collar." Does anyone else get the feeling PETA could be involved with this? more ›

Thank goodness WCBS 880 updated its story about a stray cat who was seen in NJ with a bottle stuck on its head. Raritan Township Animal Control and ASPCA helped save the cat! more ›

Oh no! An 8-month-old baby bitten by a family dog was pronounced dead at Kings County Hospital. more ›

">return to his owner. more ›

Maybe fences do make good neighbors: A 75 year old Queens woman was attacked by a neighbor's pit bull. Newsday reports that Phyllis Perillo, a retiree, had "retrieved a wayward garbage pail" for the neighbor, whose relative then opened the door to thank Perillo. But the neighbor's pit bull "came flying out," according to Perillo's brother, and mauled her for 15 minutes. Neighbors say that Perillo tried to get up repeatedly, and that another neighbor tried to stop the dog with a broomstick. The dog's owner was apparently very upset about the attack, saying "I don't care about the dog, [only] that poor lady." more ›

Earlier this week, a New Jersey raccoon decided to visit the big city and hitched a ride on a bus. The bus driver was taken aback when he saw the two-foot raccoon "walking up the aisle to the front of the bus" while driving along 11th Avenue in Midtown. The police helped out by apprehending the stowaway and taking her to Animal Control; a detective guessed, "It probably climbed into a window overnight, seeking shelter." Yes, with the murder rate going down, detectives are studying animal behavior. more ›

- "He's cute. If you can live through the firetrucks and police sirens you can live through a rooster." Neighbors have called the Animal Control and 311 to catch him, but, so far, they've been unsuccessful - five officers couldn't catch him. more ›

The MTA allows service animals on trains and buses; Gothamist doesn't know how they feel about dogs in purses, cats in carriers, or goldfish in bags, but if they don't take up another seat, it's probably okay. A dog rode the rails in England. And the above image is from animals on the underground. more ›

In the chicken vein, there are roosters keeping Harlem residents awake with their crowing from 4AM well into the morning. NY1 called the Health Department and was told "the responsibility lies with the Department of Housing, Preservation and Development since the lot where the roosters roam is city-owned. The HPD told [NY1] it had first been trying to find out who owns the roosters. But now because of this story, HPD had Animal Control remove them." Maybe Andrew Weis needs to get NY1 to do his work for him. more ›