A local woman attempted to exit a pet store with a boa constrictor hidden inside her pants to avoid paying for the animal. Reports from the staff of the Preuss Animal House said that the woman had most probably grabbed the snake while the employee's back was turned, quickly stuffed it inside her pants and exited the store.

Authorities at a woman's house discovered a black python that they said might have been in the residence for two months, without the woman's knowledge. Officers from animal control received the report from the woman, who had been living in her apartment for two months, was watching television when the snake slithered out from behind the set.

While there was an unexpected uptick in the February sales of existing homes at 2. 9 percent, home foreclosure filings across the U. S. grew by 60 percent and bank seizures more than doubled for the second month of the year. Aside from Americans struggling with the economy, the subprime crisis also hit a vulnerable sector who could do nothing about losing their roof, except whimper. Homeowners and their pets are being separated by escalating incidents of home foreclosures across America. According to USA Today, thousands of pets are being sent to animal shelters although no exact figures are available due to the lack of accounting standards for recording pets affected by foreclosures.

PGA Tour golfer John Henry "Tripp" Isenhour III has apologized after he was charged on Wednesday with killing a hawk on purpose with a golf shot because it was making noise as he videotaped a TV show. The 39-year-old Georgia Tech graduate was charged with cruelty to animals and killing a migratory bird. He was at the Grand Cypress Golf Course on Dec. 12 to film "Shoot Like A Pro" when he became annoyed with the shrieking hawk.

Scientists recently discovered fossils that completed the biological structure of a prehistoric giant toad the size of a slightly deflated beach ball. The animal, referred to by scientists as "Beelzebufo," or Devil Toad, measured 40 cm long and weighed 4 kg. This size made the toad to have been much larger than the Goliath Frog of West Africa, known today to be the world's largest toad.