A man accused of biting the head off his pet rooster was arrested Friday and faces up to a year in prison if convicted, an animal protection spokesman said.

A neighbor had complained about a dead rooster near his Manhattan apartment and agents found the body of the beheaded rooster on a fire escape, said Joe Pentangelo, spokesman for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The rooster’s head was not located.

Humberto Rodriguez, 52, told agents that he bit the rooster’s head off because he blamed it for injuring a pet pigeon that he also kept in the apartment, Pentangelo said.

Rodriguez is charged with animal cruelty and could face up to a year in prison if convicted. It is also illegal to possess a live rooster in New York City, Pentangelo said.

[Via the AP]

In an effort to keep monkeys out of the Indian capital’s subways, authorities have called in one of the few animals known to scare the creatures — a fierce-looking primate called the langur.

The decision to hire a langurwallah — a man who trains and controls the langurs — came after a monkey got into a metro car in June.

The langur handler is being paid a retainer of India rupees 6,900 (US$160) a month, and “he will be called whenever there is a monkey problem,” Anuj Dayal, the spokesman for the Delhi Metro Rail Corp., was quoted as saying.

On June 9, a monkey reportedly crawled through some pipes and ended up aboard a train, scowling at passengers and jumping around a car.

Passengers had to be moved to another car while staff chased the dexterous creature, causing delays.

The langur handler was being employed to prevent such problems from happening again.

“There are too many monkeys,” Dayal was quoted as saying.

[via CNN]

OSSIAN, Ind. — A swarm of up to 100,000 angry honey bees sent 10 people to the hospital including the driver of an SUV that hit a hollow tree in northeast Indiana, disturbing a hive.

…

By the time rescuers arrived, a black cloud of buzzing insects had engulfed the car, forcing firefighters to wear full safety gear — complete with oxygen tanks and face masks — with temperatures in the 90s.

Safety workers doused the bees with water and foam while they tried to extricate Cossairt, who was taken by helicopter to a nearby hospital with broken legs and multiple bee stings. She was remained at Lutheran Hospital Thursday morning.

…

“You can’t really train for that. You don’t really know. You look for downed power lines. You don’t look for a million bees.”

[read the full story on The Indianapolis Star web site]

KOKOMO, Ind. — A wayward squirrel invaded a power substation and left more than 5,000 homes and businesses without electricity.

Duke Energy restored the service from the South Main Street substation near Wildcat Creek after about an hour Sunday night.

“We lost the squirrel and 5,039 customers for the space of an hour,” Duke spokesman Rob Norris said.

The outage included much of the city’s central neighborhoods west of U.S. 31.

[via the Indy Star]