5-Legged Pup Saved From Freak Show

(NEWSER) - And you thought the story of the five-legged puppy and the Coney Island freak show couldn't get any stranger. The woman who swooped in at the last minute to save Lily from the fate of becoming a public spectacle says the dog has had her fifth leg amputated, the Charlotte Observer reports. Case closed, right? "Even if it's been taken off, we're going to sew it right back on when we win the civil case," the freak show operator tells the Daily News. More»

(NEWSER) - TV judge Jeanine Pirro has handed the freak show world a victory in the case of the 5-legged pup saved from a life on exhibit, the New York Daily News reports. Pirro ruled that the dog's original owner shouldn't have reneged on his deal to sell the animal to John Strong and awarded the Coney Island sideshow operator $4,000. Strong hailed the ruling but says he still wants the dog back from the woman who bought it to give it a normal life, even though it now only has four legs, thanks to surgery. More»

Owner gets a butt full of birdshot

(NEWSER) - Good thing Fido's not a better shot. A Utah dog unloaded 27 pellets into his owner's butt as the "excited" hound discharged a 12-gauge shotgun in a boat during a duck-hunting trip. The man was hit as he bent down standing in a marshy area of the Great Salt Lake to reposition his decoys, say authorities. "The dog got excited, was jumping around inside the boat, and then it jumped on the gun. It went off, shooting the owner in the buttocks," says the local deputy sheriff. The dog "did something to make the gun discharge. I don't know if the safety device was on. It's not impossible the dog could have taken it off safety." More»

Women asked to form 'ration lines'; men get none at all: New York Post

(NEWSER) - New York City’s financial woes seem to be taking a toll on its toilets: Public restroom attendants are rationing toilet paper on the Coney Island boardwalk, the New York Post reports following an on-site investigation. With dispensers left empty, women must form “ration lines” to get their squares, while men’s rooms simply have no paper at all. “Never in my life have I experienced anything like this,” said one bathroomgoer. More»

But home is crushed, family can't care for him

(NEWSER) - A still-happy pup blown away by an Alabama tornado last month managed to crawl on two broken legs back home, where his family found him this week wagging his tail on their front porch. Terrier-mix Mason completely snapped his two front legs, but managed painstaking travel on his doggie "elbows." Mason's injuries were deemed the "most dramatic" of any dog survivor seen so far in the devastating southern tornadoes. Sadly, his family couldn't take him back because their home was crushed by the storm. More»