Taco Bell Chihuahua Dies at 15

Could get 4 years for fit of anger fatal to dog

(AP) - A Maryland man who tossed a stranger's Chihuahua off a bridge in a fit of anger faces up to more than four years in prison after pleading guilty yesterday to theft and aggravated animal cruelty. David Beers, 35, snatched the 4-pound Zoey after her owners ordered him off their property, and threw her out his car window driving over a bridge last June. Beers, mistaking the couple's quarter-mile-long driveway for a utility road, had stopped to make a cell phone call, the AP reports. More»

From Betty White to Stevie Wonder, these ads bank on the familiar

(NEWSER) - Yes, there were still the requisite ads using slapstick violence to get a laugh, or objectifying women—but the reigning theme of this year's Super Bowl commercials was nostalgia. Thanks to the economy, many advertisers used familiar faces to pitch products, writes Stuart Elliott in the New York Times . A few of the most notable, which you can watch in the gallery:

• Snickers: Featuring Betty White and Abe Vigoda.
• Teleflora: Uses the voice of Don Rickles.
• Volkswagen: Stevie Wonder makes an appearance at the end.
• HomeAway: Brings back the Griswolds of Vacation fame.

(NEWSER) - It is never fun to be a chihuahua in a wind storm, but this tale has a happy ending. It seems Tinker Bell, all 6 pounds of her, blew away from her owners amid 70mph gusts while at a flea market, the Detroit News reports. Her owners consulted a pet psychic, assembled 50 volunteers, and, lo and behold, found Tinker Bell two days later nearly a mile away in the woods. More»

(NEWSER) - Loki, the Chihuahua who figured prominently in Mickey Rourke’s Golden Globe acceptance speech, died Monday, E! Online reports. The 18-year-old dog accompanied Rourke on the red carpet at the awards. The Oscar-nominated actor is very attached to his canine friends. “Sometimes, when a man is alone, that's all you got is your dog,” he said. “And they've meant the world to me.” More»

'Lucky' the most common name

(NEWSER) - At least 1,262 Chihuahuas named “Princess” live in Los Angeles. That priceless pearl of wisdom comes from “LA’s Top Dogs,” a new searchable LA Times database of every registered canine. Only half the city’s dogs are legally registered, but of that population, Chihuahuas are the most numerous (59,684), followed closely by Labradors (58,071). Pit bulls are a distant third (20,851). More»