A North Dakota farmer has a unique way of forecasting the weather - using pig spleens. Paul Smokov swears his method is 85 percent accurate, insisting the weathermen - with their state-of-the-art radar and other scientific equipment - "aren't any better. "

A 200-pound potbellied pig named Romeo is living as a major part of the household of a family in St. Albans, Queens. The part-Vietnamese potbellied, who was bought from a farm in Long Island, was described by the Cummings family to be completely housebroken, and has never brought any complaints from the neighbors. He was reported to consume three pounds of pellet food daily, and is taken for a walk four times a day without a leash.

Two runaway pot-bellied pigs turned what would have been a simple chase into a 35-minute complete crowd pursuit, involving two animal control officers, two police officers, and two utility company workers Wednesday morning. The pigs reportedly ran amidst speeding cars and trotted across a number of streets in the west side of Davenport, Iowa. The chasers were apparently at a loss, attempting all tactics from cornering the two animals to just plain diving for them, unfortunately missing.

Tetley, measuring three inches in height and 5 inches in length, was the smallest of a litter of eight Pennywell miniatures born to his mother, Poppy Two Socks, at Pennywell Farm, near Buckfastleigh in Devon. "Tetley is the star of the farmyard. " Said Pennywell owner Chris Murray adding that his staff had to get through several false pregnancies before the brood came along.

Watching "Animal Planet" sure paid off for Erin Kemp when she decided to capture a 2 1/2-foot-long stray alligator on her own. Kemp spotted the dangerous gator in her suburban Washington, D. C. neighborhood while taking out the garbage. She immediately told a 9-year-old neighbor to get away and then got hold of her kids' guinea pig's pen and tried her best to capture the reptile.