BEST FRIEND: Alexander McQueen Left $82K to Dogs!

Alexander McQueen really loved his dogs. The fashion designer, who committed suicide last year, left $82,000 to be put into a trust for bull terriers Minter, Juice, and Callum, to ensure they'd be well cared-for the rest of their lives. The rest of his $26 million fortune went mostly to charities, including two animal-related causes, the Guardian reports. 

He also left money to family members, and bequeathed $82,000 each to his two housekeepers—one of whom found him dead. E! notes that McQueen once said, in a 2009 article, "My dogs are the only thing in the world I really trust." The Telegraph adds that after his death, police found a book on which the designer had written, "Look after my dogs, sorry, I love you."

HUNTED: Rapist Nabbed by Sperm-Sniffing Dog!

Forget drug-sniffing dogs: Sweden has its very own sperm-sniffing dog named Rapports Opus, and he recently helped police catch an alleged rapist. Rapports Opus trained for a year to become the only sperm-sniffing dog in southern Sweden, and he was brought to a park where a man had been accused of forcing a woman to perform oral sex on him. There, the dog found traces of semen, which were matched with the 23-year-old suspect's DNA, the Local reports. 

The man was charged with rape, and Rapports Opus's trainer will testify at his trial. It will be the first time evidence discovered by the dog will be used in court.

Wayward Penguin Better After Surgery

AP) – New Zealand's favorite penguin visitor is more lively and eating fish after undergoing endoscopic surgery today to remove some of the beach sand and twigs it swallowed, apparently mistaking it for snow. Full recovery for the young emperor penguin—nicknamed Happy Feet—may take months, and officials are still uncertain about how it might return home to the Antarctic, about 2,000 miles away. 

Happy Feet is being housed in a room at the Wellington Zoo chilled to about 46 degrees Fahrenheit, and has a bed of ice on which it can sleep. The penguin may be older than experts first thought—perhaps up to 2 1/2 years old rather than the initial estimate of 10 months. Experts still don't know whether it's male or female, although DNA samples should soon provide an answer.

PETS: Dogs Are Expert Readers... of You!

Dogs know when we’re paying attention to them—and when we’re looking the other way, a study suggests. Pairs of experimenters carrying treats stood equidistant from a dog and called out to it. One of the pair had her back to the dog, while the other faced it—and every canine tested, whether a domestic pup, a shelter dog, or a wolf, headed to the person looking at it, the New York Times reports.

“Turning your back—that’s a cue all the animals were sensitive to,” said a researcher. “Dogs don’t have to read our minds. Dogs read our behavior,” she added. “They are watching us,” and “whether we know it or not, we are training them.” That means consistency is key to training. “If we as owners don’t remain consistent, the dog is learning what it’s allowed to do, even if in our heads, that’s not what we desire.”

OBIT: So Long, Trouble: Leona Helmsley's $2M Dog Dead!

Considering her time on Earth was filled with rides in stretch limos and private jets, doggie heaven might not be much better for Trouble. Leona Helmsley's pampered pooch died at age 12 in December, and her death was kept secret for months. The pup, who the New York Daily News points out was 84 in dog years, had her controversial inheritance knocked down from $12 million to $2 million following Helmsley's 2007 death, which was used to pay for things like grooming ($8,000 a year) and a full-time security guard. 

Though Helmsley wanted Trouble to be buried with her in the $1.4 million Helmsley mausoleum, it was not to be: Pets are not allowed to be buried in cemeteries, so Trouble "was cremated, and her remains are being privately retained," says a rep. "The funds held in trust for her care have reverted to The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust for charitable purposes."

ON the LOOSE: A PeaCOCK in the Bronx!

Another exotic animal is on the loose in New York City after escaping from the Bronx Zoo. Net-wielding zoo workers tried and failed to recapture an escaped female peacock seen perched on top of a van a few blocks from the zoo yesterday, reports the New York Daily News. The bird, seen earlier in the day dodging traffic and dining on a hamburger bun outside a subway station, hasn't been seen since.


Zoo workers, who stress that the bird is no danger to people, believe the fugitive will eventually make its own way back to the zoo, where there's more food and less traffic. Local residents aren't so sure. "Somebody is going to steal it and keep it as a pet," one man said. "It's the Bronx, man." A cobra that made headlines after escaping from its box at the zoo in March was eventually found curled up in the zoo's Reptile House.

FUNNY: Ticklish Penguin!

Final Verdict: Knut Drowned!

The sad final verdict is in: Celebrity polar bear Knut died from drowning. But the four-year-old's collapse into his enclosure's pool at the Berlin Zoo was caused by encephalitis, according to a necropsy performed on the bear. The AP reports that a zoo pathologist said she could not tell what caused the encephalitis—a swelling of the brain likely brought on by an infection—but ruled out rabies, botulism, and mad cow disease. Even if Knut had not drowned, the damage from the brain swelling would have killed him, reported the pathologist.

Some animal rights groups have tried to blame Knut's death on stress caused by living in a zoo, but the pathologist said there were no signs stressed played any part. Knut was rejected by his mother at birth in December 2006, and was raised instead by zookeepers, soon becoming an animal celebrity at the zoo.

Baby Dolphin Rescued From Japan Rice Paddy!

A baby dolphin trapped in a flooded rice paddy after Japan’s tsunami has been returned to the sea, Reuters reports. "A man passing by said he had found the dolphin in the rice paddy and that we had to do something to save it," says a pet store owner who’s been saving animals since the disaster. He couldn’t net the 4-foot-long creature, so he carried it out in his arms, wrapped it in wet towels, then drove it a mile to the ocean.

Once in the water, he says it seemed energized: “I don't know if it will live, but it's certainly a lot better than dying in a rice paddy."

Mourning Knut, Dead at age 4!

Likely one of the only zoo animals to grace the cover of Vanity Fair, the hand-raised Knut polar bear reportedly died Saturday (Mar. 19) at the Berlin Zoo.

The bear, born in captivity on Dec. 5, 2006, became a sensation after he was rejected by his mother and so hand-raised by zookeeper Thomas Dorflein, who died of a heart attack in 2008.

The cause of Knut’s death is not yet clear, reports say, though hundreds of zoo visitors apparently saw the polar bear wade into the water in his enclosure before having a short spasm and then dying, according to the Associated Press.

Yesterday, I noticed that the post about Knut's 4th Birthday (from December) was getting lots of Hits and am saddened to hear the reason why. 

OUTview Mourns Knut's loss!  

Italian Man Leaves Home— and Pets—to Boston?

Boston just got a new piece of real estate—in Italy. An Italian man whose mother and aunt lived in Boston left his estate to the city, the Boston Globe reports. But if Beantown wants it, it's going to have to do some petsitting. “The City of Boston, MA, USA, is obliged to look after the old dogs Argus and Jak,” says the will of Luciano Vissochi. Also, “To feed the cat Rossina, easily recognizable from her great size, as well as the cats: Giacchino, Rossino, Pasquale, Francesco, and others as well.’’

“It’s unbelievable. I want to know who is going to feed the cats and dogs,” says Boston’s mayor, Thomas Menino. Local politicians in Vissochi’s town of Altina might like the responsibility: they say the estate, reportedly worth $700,000, is rightfully theirs based on a stipulation in Vissochi’s first will, which he later changed. They’re planning a “war of documents” to win back the estate. Meanwhile, Menino is pondering what to do with the place. “I’ll send some departments out there that get on my bad side,” he says.

HEALTH: Dog eats sleeping man's toes to Save him!

Animal experts believe a dog in Oregon was only trying to be helpful when he chewed off three of his diabetic owner's toes as the man slept. The dog, a Shiba Inu called Cosmo, was acting on instinct to help remove diseased flesh and doesn't seem to be dangerous, according to a county official. Its owner, who suffers from numbness in his hands and feet caused by diabetes, called 911 after waking up to find himself short a few toes. He has put the dog up for adoption, AP reports.

The dog has to remain quarantined for 10 days after eating human flesh but the animal adoption center hopes to find a home for him afterward. Cosmo, who was healthy but anxious when he arrived at the center, "is a bit aloof, but overall he's a friendly dog, I suppose," the director of the center tells Seattle Weekly. Bizarrely enough, this has happened before...