Pet Scoop: Family Fights Town Over Pet Bunny, Olympic Horse Had Stem Cell Therapy
Published on August 10, 2012
August 10, 2012: We've scoured the Web to find the best and most compelling animal stories, videos and photos. And it's all right here.

Connecticut Family Battles to Keep Their Pet Bunny
A 7-year-old girl and her family are locked in a fight with the town of North Haven, Conn., over a 20-pound pet rabbit named Sandy. Town officials say that the Lidsky family's property is too small to keep the bunny because zoning laws require two acres of land for a rabbit. But the family isn’t backing down. "Don't make me give my bunny away because she is my best friend," said Kayden Lidsky. Officials note that the family hasn’t responded to blight violations, and owes back taxes. "We don't want to take the rabbit away from the little girl," a town selectman said. Kayden's father, Josh, says that he wants the town to leave other issues out of this: “This is about my daughter and her pet bunny.” — Watch it at CNN
The Biggest Modern Hazard For Birds Is . . . Glass
According to Christine Sheppard, an ornithologist with the American Bird Conservancy, an estimated "100 million to a billion" birds in North America die annually by flying into glass because they don’t have good depth perception and become confused by reflections. So Sheppard is testing a possible solution: glass coatings that are visible to birds — but not people. The hope is that the coatings will stop birds from crashing into windows without impacting the look of buildings. — Read it at NPR
Endangered Leatherbacks Return to California's Bay Area
After traveling thousands of miles from Southeast Asia, rare Pacific Leatherback sea turtles have been spotted earlier than expected in the San Francisco Bay Area, causing concern among marine biologists because many large fisheries have not yet put protections in place to avoid catching the endangered animals in their nets. — Read it at CBS Sacramento

Olympic Horse Received Cutting-Edge Treatment
Ravel, a 15-year-old dressage horse who advanced the furthest of any horse on Team USA, is believed to be the first Olympian to benefit from a stem cell-based treatment. Ravel had the treatment to help heal a leg injury that had threatened his career. — Read it at Discovery News, and watch Ravel compete earlier this year in the World Dressage Masters
Plus: In other Olympic news, British gold medal-winning boxer Nicola Adams paid extra for her Doberman, Dexter, to watch her fights on TV at the kennel where he was staying. Meanwhile, history-making American gold medalist Gabby Douglas says that she’s ready to head home to see her family — and walk her dog. Find out even more about the pets of Team USA at Crittr.
Bear With a Sweet Tooth Raids a Rocky Mountain Chocolate Store
A black bear in Colorado indulged in English toffee and large chocolate chip cookies — aptly named Cookie Bears — when he broke into the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. The apparently polite bear made several trips in and out of the store. "He was very clean and very careful," said shop owner Jo Adams, who spotted the culprit on security cameras. — See the photo at People Pets