Matador cheats death at festival after bull's horn blinds him in one eye and paralyses half his face

A Spanish matador has been blinded in his left eye and paralysed down that side of his face after he was horrifically gored during a bullfight.

The bull's horn pierced Juan Jose Padilla's jaw and emerged through his left eye socket during the grizzly incident at the northeastern city of Zaragoza's Fiestas Del Pilar event yesterday.

With blood gushing from his head, he was helped out of the ring screaming 'I can't see, I can't see'.

Caught: The bull's horn pierced Juan Jose Padilla's jaw and emerged through his left eye socket during the grizzly incident at the northeastern city of Zaragoza's Fiestas Del Pilar

Sadistic teenager hangs pet and posts pictures online.

A sick 17-year-old boy filmed himself hanging his pet pooch and posted photos of it on Facebook saying, 'I’ve killed my dog - ha, ha.'

The picture shows the helpless dog - still apparently struggling - swinging from a clothesline while Kamil Hric looks on laughing.

Hric, from Poprad, Slovakia - who was arrested after other horrified Facebook users alerted police - told prosecutors: 'So what? It's only a dog. I did it for fun.'

A police spokesman said: 'We don’t know what made him do this but we will be carrying out psychiatric reports.'

In another shocking display of animal cruelty, a dog was buried alive in Malta last week.

 Appalling cruelty: This is how star the crossbreed dog was discovered; buried alive, with all her legs tied together and with 40 gun pellets in her skull.Sadistic: Teenager Kamil Hric from Slovakia uploaded this picture of him hanging his pet dog on Facebook

WWF takes images of rare tigers in logging forest

A Sumatran tiger plays with its cub in the Bukit Tigapuluh forest in central Sumatra in this image captured using camera traps on April 14, 2011, and released today, May 9, 2011.


The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has recorded images of 12 endangered Sumatran tigers, including a mother playing with cubs, in an Indonesian forest that it said is about to be cleared by loggers.

WWF, which estimates that there are only 400 Sumatran tigers left in the wild, captured the images on camera traps in the Bukit Tigapuluh forest on central Sumatra island, which has seen rampant deforestation for palm oil and paper plantations.

Karmila Parakkasi, leader of WWF’s tiger research team in Sumatra, said the number of big cats seen in two months of observation was impressive.

Harrowing film of the death of the world's most famous polar bear emerges amid fears over his treatment

This is the moment Knut, the world's most famous polar bear, died as he had lived his controversial life - in captivity and in front of a crowd of human spectators.

After compulsively turning in circles, he convulsed violently on his favourite rocky perch, let out a blood-curdling scream then fell dead into his enclosure's water pool.

The final, horrific moments of the world's most famous polar bear were captured on a tourist's video camera at Berlin Zoo on Saturday.

In the deeply harrowing film, spectators' whoops turn to screams as the realisation dawns that Knut's wild convulsions are not one of his usual playful performances.

Crazy Wild boar attacked people in rampage in shopping centre.

A crazed wild boar wreaked havoc when it went on the rampage in a shopping centre in France.

The ten-stone 'hairy pig' with pointed tusks charged into a supermarket through a service entrance, smashing through product displays and sending shoppers fleeing in panic.

The animal then burst through a checkout, along a shopping arcade and into a hairdressing salon in Nancy, Lorraine.

As customers ran to safety, security men managed to trap the boar inside and lock the door.

 Knocked out: The boar slumps on the floor after the sedative finally worked through its syst

Rampage: The boar ran amok in a shopping arcade in the city of Nancy, France, before finally being brought down by a tranquiliser dart (red arrow in its flank)

Extreme measures: A security man readies a rifle loaded with a tranquiliser after being called to the shopping centre

Pizza maker charged with using mice against competition

The owner of a suburban Philadelphia pizza shop has been arraigned on charges he schemed to plant live mice in competing pizza parlours in hope of putting them out of business.

Nickolas Galiatsatos, owner of Nina’s Bella Pizzeria in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, is accused of putting bags of mice at nearby competitors on Monday afternoon, according to Upper Darby Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood.

The owner of Verona Pizza watched Galiatsatos go into his restroom carrying a bag but emerge empty-handed, and alerted two patrol officers who were in the restaurant, Chitwood said.

Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin’s widow denies zoo is facing closure due to debt

The zoo run by the late Steve Irwin is not facing closure despite claims it is crippled by debt, his widow has stressed.

Irwin took over the running of the Australia Zoo in Queensland from his parents and managed the zoo with his wife Terri while rising to global fame as a risk-taking wildlife expert.

It was claimed this week that just five years after the Crocodile Hunter’s death at the hands of a sting ray, the zoo was on the brink of being closed down due to financial problems but Terri Irwin has insisted the tourist attraction is comfortable.

Animal lovers: Steve and Terri Irwin ran the zoo after he inherited the centre from his parents

In trouble? Former employees have said Australia Zoo has massive debt but Steve Irwin's widow claims the attraction's future is secure

Chinese demand ban on goldfish magic trick watched by hundreds of millions on TV amid claims of animal abuse

A magic trick with goldfish that was watched by hundreds of millions of Chinese on TV during the Lunar New Year celebrations may have involved abuse including implanted magnets and should be banned, according to animal rights activists.

The trick was performed during a China Central Television gala on January 30, eve of the Lunar New Year festival. The gala is China's most watched broadcast of the year.

Goldfish are a symbol of wealth in China, but the image of six of them swimming in perfect synchronisation under magician Fu Yandong's direction alarmed many Chinese, who worried that magnets were implanted in the fish or that they were controlled by electric current.

Don't be so rough with the kids!' Lioness gives male a real earful after playfight with cubs

He's supposed to be the king of the jungle, but these pictures clearly show who's in charge.

The male lion cowers his head as he is given an earful by a lioness after a playfight went too far.

The father had pinned his daughter Lusaka to the ground in mock anger after the playful cub had repeatedly nipped his tail.

But the pair's fun came to a dramatic halt after the mother arrived and bared her teeth in fury at the male.

The remarkable images were recorded by amateur photographer Jennifer Lockridge, who took them at the National Zoo in Washington DC.

Yes dear: The male lion cowers as the lioness lets him know exactly how she feels about his playfighting at the National Zoo in Washington DC

Courting controversy: The playful cub grabs hold of her dad's tail as he pretends not to notice

Private Wojtek, the 35-stone 'soldier bear' which drank, smoked and battled the Nazis, remembered with £200,000 statue

A bear which 'fought' alongside Polish soldiers during the Second World War is to be honoured with a £200,000 statue in Edinburgh.

'Private Wojtek' was a 6ft-tall 35 stone Syrian brown bear which was adopted by a Polish regiment stationed in the Middle East .

When Allied commanders issued an order that troops advancing on Rome were not to be accompanied by animals, the bear was promptly enlisted in the 22nd Transport Division (Artillery Supply) of the Polish 2nd Army Corps.

Wojtek, which means - 'he who enjoys war' or 'smiling warrior' - became a popular figure, enjoying treats of beers and cigarettes given to him by soldiers.

Gentle giant: The 6ft-tall bear weighed 35 stone and 'fought' his way across Europe with Polish troops

Friendship: Private Wojtek and handler Peter Prendys will be memorialised in a statue to be put up in Edinburgh. The bear accompanied Polish soldiers during their march across the Middle East and Europe during the Second World War

Meet Zhu Jianqiang, the two-legged pig who's become a celebrity in China

A pig which was born with just its two front legs has become an unlikely celebrity in Henan Province, China.

The 10-month-old animal, known by villagers as Zhu Jianqiang, which means Strong-Willed Pig, was born with only two front legs, which it now uses to walk on.

According to owner Wang Xihai, Zhu Jianqiang was one of nine piglets born in a litter this January.


He recalls: 'My wife asked me to dump it but I refused as it's a life. I thought I should give it a chance and unexpectedly it survived healthily.'

Zhu's owner Wang Xihai was offered a high price to sell her to a circus, but he turned it down

That'll do, pig: Wang said it took Zhu just 30 days to master the art of walking upside down

Amazing images of rare pink hippopotamus captured in Masai Mara

Wading through the muddy waters this rare pink-o-pottamus stands out from the crowd.

British brothers and wildlife photographers Will and Matt Burrard-Lucas captured these images of the brightly coloured hippo in the Masai Mara, Kenya, last week.

Visiting the African country on the hunt to photograph the legendary wildebeest migration the Londoners were in for a treat when rumours of a pink hippo surfaced.

Shy guy: As soon as the hippo notices the brothers snapping away on their cameras, he hides in the water behind his mother

Rare white elephant found in Burma hailed as positive sign for elections

The discovery of a rare white elephant in Burma has been hailed as a positive sign for upcoming elections.

The 7ft1in animal was found in Rakhine state in the north-west of the country on Thursday.

It is only the fifth white elephant caught in a decade, according to the New Light of Myanmar newspaper.

The elephant is estimated to be 18 years old. Its discovery comes ahead of the first election in two decades in the military-ruled country.

Now a SECOND deadly snake hits Commonwealth Games: Cobra captured at tennis stadium

This is the deadly cobra snake workers discovered slithering down a drain in Dehli's new tennis stadium just days before the Commonwealth Games are due to start.

The 4ft-long reptile was captured by an expert from animal rescue organisation Wildlife SOS as workers rushed to complete preparations for Sunday's opening ceremony.

It is the second snake to be discovered near Games' facilities after one was found in a South African athlete's room yesterday.

A wildlife activist displays a 4ft-long cobra that was found at the Commonwealth Games tennis stadium in New Delhi today

The swelled banks of the Yamuna river in New Delhi, caused by the monsoon rains, are believed to have driven the snakes towards the athletes' village and the Games venues

The whale graveyard: Around 80 are stranded in mass beaching

Nearly 60 pilot whales - including a calf - died when a pod of 80 became stranded on a remote beach in northern New Zealand, despite a desperate rescue attempt to save them.

Only 24 animals survived a stormy first night ashore following the second mass beaching this month, officials said.

Yesterday rescuers struggled to move survivors above the tide-line. They spent the night at Spirits Bay trying to keep the whales cool and damp as large waves and strong winds lashed the beach.

Beached: Dozens of pilot whales died after they were stranded on a remote beach in northern New Zealand

Extraordinary pictures of great whites stripping a whale carcass shows they're actually quite picky eaters

Ever since Jaws, great whites have had a reputation as killing machines that has never seemed much point questioning.

However, that could all be about to change - after a study into the fearsome predators' dining habits.

Scientists towed a 36ft Brydes whale carcass into a well-known hunting ground for the animals in an exercise aimed at documenting how they tackled the huge free lunch.

And these amazing pictures show how up to 30 of them stripped a single whale carcass - and gave an 'extraordinary' insight into how the much-feared predators behave.

But while many would have expected a feeding frenzy and potentially lethal fights between the razor-teethed gians, the behaviour observed was quite different.

The sharks appeared to select choice cuts of the dead whale and did not appear to be aggressive towards each other.

Sharks preferred blubber and showed little aggression to one another

Free lunch: The 30 great white sharks were provided with a whale carcass so scientists could study their eating habits

Extraordinary moment an elephant teetered on two legs to reach tasty treat from tree branch

Teetering on two legs, this elephant showed he aims high when it comes to getting a good meal.

The animal wasn't daunted when faced with pulling some tasty pods from the branches of a particularly tall tree.

Instead of simply shaking the tree trunk and catching his meal when it fell, he stretched himself to his full height to elegantly pluck it from the branches.

It is thought this elephant, a 40-year-old male, is the only one of his herd who has learnt the extraordinary stunt.

On tippytoes: This elephant has learnt how to balance on his hind legs to reach food in manages the Old Mondoro Bush camp in Zambia

Lion attack trainer in MGM Las Vegas caught in video

Dramatic moment lions attack their trainer in a Las Vegas hotel

Most couples want their honeymoon to be a roaring success, and for Titus and Drew Ellis it was ... literally.

The newlyweds, from Montana, were celebrating in Las Vegas on September 1 and for a bit of added excitement decided to check out the lion enclosure at the MGM Grand Hotel.

Titus was videotaping the male and female lions and their two trainers when all of a sudden the male took exception at something that was going on and made a lunge.

A struggle ensued and a female also decided to join the fray but the trainer managed to break free with the help of his colleague and made a hasty escape from the enclosure with the male still appearing extremely agitated.

The video is now creating a worldwide buzz after featuring on the Wednesday morning edition of Good Morning America.

The lion moves in on one of the trainers as his colleague tries to distract the animal

Taking the pain: The trainer is obviously in trouble as the lion continues the attack despite the efforts of his associate

Playtime with an edge: Six-month-old girl given a PYTHON by her snake-catcher father

It's a sight to make most parents go cold with fear - a six-month-old girl playing with a python.

But Sidhi Siddharth Sinune who isn't even old enough to walk, never mind run away from the reptile, treats it as a plaything.

This is because it was given to her by her farmer father who earns extra cash as a snake catcher.


Giving it a squeeze: Sidhi Siddharth Sinune grabs the python with her little hands. It was given to her to play with by her farmer father who earns extra cash as a snake catcher in a remote area of Maharashtra, south-west India