Ashley Swendsen

Uncertain if this is THE bear or a random brown bear.

Another photo that is unattributed but it looks like the other bears, so maybe it is.

In the lower left you can see the bear's paw. Image from AP.

Pregnant woman chased by bear, hit by car
April 23, 2009  |  www.latimes.com  |  Tammy Vigil, Reporter
COLORADO SPRINGS — Talk about a bad day. A pregnant woman not only was chased down by a brown bear, but got hit by a car in her attempt to get away.

It happened Thursday morning on a trail in Colorado Springs near woodman road and Vincent Drive.

On the trail, there are warnings about possible flash flooding. But nothing prepared a pregnant Ashley Swendsen for a dangerous encounter with wildlife.

“I heard a rustle. I looked behind me and it was a bear–2 feet away,” says Swendsen, who is 6 months pregnant.

The 26-year-old kept on walking, and then noticed the bear was following her.

“I freaked out and start running. It was chasing me for about 20 seconds,” she says.

She made it to the street. But her troubles were far from over.

“This lady hit me with her car. She wasn’t going that fast. I just rolled off her car,” she says.

An elderly woman hit her from behind then took off.

The female bear also took off. Officers later tracked it down about a mile away and tranquilized it near some homes.

“If it is the one and Division of Wildlife policy is any aggressive bears do have to be euthanized,” says an unidentified division of wildlife officer.

It turned out to be the bear. Its fate decided, the DOW had no choice but to kill it.

“Bears not afraid of people are the most dangerous because they don’t run away,” says DOW spokesman Michael Seraphin.

“It’s still sad. It spared me and it still has to die,” says Swendsen. But she says she’ll remember the bear in her own way.

“We’re going to name the middle name of our baby, ‘bear.’”

Police are looking for the woman who hit Swendsen for possible hit-and-run charges.

She is white, in her seventies and was driving a black 4-door sedan, possibly a Mitsubishi. It’s unknown if there is any damage to the car.

Image from movie-SNAKES ON A PLANE

Snakes escape on Qantas flight
BBC NEWS  |  2009/04/16 09:53:17 GMT

An Australian airliner was grounded after four baby pythons escaped from their container in the aircraft’s hold.

The snakes, just six inches long, were among 12 Stimson’s pythons being flown from Alice Springs to Melbourne.

At first it was thought the reptiles may have been eaten by the other snakes, but this was discounted after they were weighed on landing.

Passengers were transferred to other aircraft. The jet was fumigated but the snakes’ bodies are yet to be found.

“They’re not endangered so a decision was made to fumigate…if these snakes turn up they will be very much dead snakes,” David Epstein of Qantas said.

It is not known how the snakes – which can grow up to a metre in length – escaped from their container.

They were being transported in the cargo hold of the aircraft in a bag inside a plastic foam box with air holes.

The passenger aircraft returned to service on Wednesday.

How do you upgrade a tortoise? With wheels, of course! Say hello to Tonka the tortoise. Tonka got in a tussle with a local dog, who bit off one of her legs. Unable to walk around properly, rescuers had the idea to strap the wheels from a Tonka truck to her underside, turning her into the fastest tortoise around.

Speedy Tonka has got wheels
www.thesun.co.uk  |  By LEON WATSON  |  Published: 27 May 2009

THIS tortoise on wheels could give any hare a run for its money — despite having her leg bitten off by a dog.

When vets found poor Tonka her left front leg was in tatters and they feared she would never be able to move properly again.

But after patching her up one rescuer had an ingenious idea to help the little reptile — using wheels from a child’s toy truck.

Now she has gone from three legs to four wheels and been named Tonka in honour of the toy which gave her a new lease of life.

The reptile is able to roam with ease using her back legs to push her along while steering with her front right leg.

Tonka was found in the hills of San Mateo County, California, by a resident, who dropped her off at the local Society For The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals branch, Peninsula Humane Society.

Local resident John O’Dea, 35, has now adopted Tonka and said she loves nothing better than racing through the vegetable patch and going for “walks”.

Surfer John said: “She is doing really well and loves roaming around the vegetable garden on her shiny new wheels.”