Six-time champion Takeru Kobayashi had to swallow his pride as well as frankfurters Friday when he failed to topple Joey Chestnut as the reigning hot dog-eating champ. Chestnut retained the title he won in last year's hot dog eating contest by gulping down five dogs in an eat-off. He beat out 20 other contestants in the Nathan's Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest held in the Coney Island section of this New York borough.

Villagers at a southern Philippine community reported that a ghoul has killed their livestock. Panicked local residents at Barangay (village) Lower Manongol in Kidapawan City, southern Philippines say that a ghoul, which takes a human form by day but turns into a blood-sucking and flesh-eating monster as darkness falls, was responsible for the killing of three goats who were seen without its inner organs, including hearts and livers.

A famous author offered her $1. 25 million mansion in Ocala, Florida as top prize for a pet essay writing contest. The generous donor is Clementina Marie Giovannetti, who has several bestsellers including "Clementina's Love Story: Diary of a Healer", "Caesar: The Greatest Love Story Ever Told By A Dog," "Oh Fair Maiden" and "The Best-Selling Guide To Dream Interpretation. "

Seventy-seven miles in seven days. That's how how far and how long it took the Siberian husky, Moon, to find her way home to Ely from Railroad Valley .

A castaway cocker spaniel and his companion, a macaw parrot, were rescued by Norwegian Cruise Line workers from a tiny atoll about 1,000 miles south of Hawaii. Snickers, an 8-month-old dog, survived 95 days adrift on a 48-foot boat then four months of being stranded on Fanning Island, one of 33 scattered coral atolls that make up the remote island nation of Kiribati.