Reptiles smuggled in garden gnomes
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Australian officials found more than a dozen snakes and lizards stuffed inside garden gnomes and other ceramic statues during a recent international mail check, customs officials said Tuesday.
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Police say they're sure they shot a four-foot-long, 80-pound monitor lizard that had been lurking in an Orlando suburb for months. Still, neighbors aren't ready to let their children or pets back outside until they see a carcass.
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MONTEREY, Calif. - A menagerie, some 86 critters in all, were found in a Fort Ord home.
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An animal protection group on Friday rescued more than 200 animals, including 26 hissing cockroaches and two bearded dragons, from an eastern Texas home.
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By Sallie James, South Florida Sun-Sentinel  Dec. 8--CORAL SPRINGS -- With every scoop made by a rumbling trackhoe, injured turtles and waterbirds came closer this week to having a new home at the Sawgrass Nature Center.
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CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - A family was startled when they were confronted by masked intruders. But it wasn't burglars Tina Tavernie found in her home. It was two 15-pound raccoons.  Tavernie, 33, was home with her three children Saturday evening when they heard noises upstairs.
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BRATTLEBORO, Vt. - A 125-pound pet alligator that had been living in a basement cage is headed to a new home after it was confiscated by the Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife. The 6-foot-4-inch American alligator, estimated to be 17-years old, had been living in the home for seven years.
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ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. - What do you do when a 1,250-pound crocodile turns into a diva? Take him away from his audience. Officials at the St. Augustine Farm and Zoological Park said Maximo has been refusing for about a month to cooperate for his daily feedings of guinea pigs and quail.
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Snakeheads are drawing attention to the proliferation of non-native species nationwide.
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A MAN has been arrested at Brisbane airport while trying to smuggle 19 snakes into Australia hidden in his clothes. His arrest came less than 24 hours after another man was found trying to smuggle in 52 birds eggs.
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MANILA, Philippines - A grumpy-looking iguana, a slithery python, and an enormous turtle were among a church full of animals blessed in an annual ceremony in the Philippines on Sunday.    The unusual service - which commemorates St...
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Fast-moving pest exploits site, player holes to steal passwords.
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Hearing this shout, Skip Snow slammed on the brakes. When the off-roader plowed to a halt, he and his partner, Lori Oberhofer, leaped out and took off running toward two snakes, actually &#151; a pair of 10-foot Burmese pythons lying on a levee, sunning themselves.
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WASHINGTON -- Guam's tropical forests are silent. The rattling, screeching, and cawing of the island's native birds have been erased by the brown tree snake, a devastating predator accidentally introduced to the island shortly after World War II.
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Environmentalists win legal round to protect a reptile, but off-roaders push to keep desert areas open.
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A new floating mink trap developed in the UK incarcerates the predators while letting other species go free.
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Criminals may be stealing Staffordshire Bull Terriers and using them to guard stolen property, a police report says.