A local wildlife guide has taught an orphaned heron how to fly by flapping his arms and squawking. Gary Zammit, a 42-year old wildlife expert at the Gwel an Mor complex in Portreath, Cornwall, said that he managed to teach Dude, a heron he raised from a chick to an adult, how to take to the skies by first running across the field with food in his pockets. The food led the bird to follow Zammit, who then spread his arms and flapped them.

A birthday party invitation posted on the popular social websites Facebook and Bebo attracted some 400 guests and gatecrashers, who destroyed and robbed the plush celebration venue in Spain. The birthday celebrator, British 16-year-old Jodie Hudson, and her mother Amanda learned too late the disaster the online invitation would cause to their luxurious Marbella vacation villa, which suffered ruined walls, destroyed carpets, and broken banisters, doors and furniture.

A dog rescued a baby joey found in the pouch of the dead mother kangaroo, and brought it back to be cared for, according to the dog's owner. The dog, a short-haired pointer cross named Rex, was out with owner Leonie Allan, when he suddenly began to get agitated.

The city of Minneapolis may get the snub from an annual fundraising circus because of an ordinance that allowed elephants to be included in the show, but prohibited children from touching or riding them. The ordinance touched on issues of animal cruelty, as well as public safety concerns.

A talkative parrot who was never lost for words, lost his will to talk after straying in the wilds of Cambridgeshire for four days. According to his owner Cedric Tunnell, 66, Harley, an African Grey, loves to call them "Mom" and "Dad", could recite his telephone number and was constantly talking all of the time.