Mount Prospect Fire Department responded to the 1800 block of West Catalpa for the report of a dog that returned home with a strange-smelling residue on its paws — sort of like some type of ’stink bomb.’

Mount Prospect firefighters responded and investigated the dog’s paws and determined the dog had been sprayed by a skunk.

Did you ever see the story about the albino skunk sighted in Arlington Heights? Check out The Cardinal story Albino Skunk Trapped in Arlington Heights (with photos to prove it) …

Black-eyed Susan flowers in full bloom in early September in Chicago.

Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta) is an upright annual (sometimes biennial or perennial) native to most of North America, and is one of a number of plants with the common name Black-eyed Susan with flowers having dark purplish brown centers. Other common names include Blackiehead, Brown Betty, Brown Daisy, Brown-eyed Susan, Gloriosa Daisy, Golden Jerusalem, Poorland Daisy, Yellow Daisy, Yellow Ox-eye Daisy.

The genus name honors Olaus Rudbeck, who was a professor of botany at the University of Uppsala in Sweden and was one of Linnaeus’ teachers. The species name refers to the trichomes (hairs) occurring on leaves and stems.

What are those pretty yellow flowers with black centers?
What are those pretty yellow flowers with dark purple centers in late summer?
Black-eyed Susans

The Arlington Heights Park District will be starting the fall broadleaf weed control, beginning September 4 running through November 1. For more information, please contact Jeff Lindstrom at 847.577.3000.

No there is no dog racing at Arlington Park Racetrack, but two coyotes were captured by race track staff during an extraordinary day at the races Wednesday afternoon. An Arlington Heights Police Department animal warden arrived at about 2:00 p.m. to pick them up and transfer the coyotes to another location.

Burmese Python 911 Call Oxford, Florida
9-1-1 Audio of emotional call for help after a Burmese Python apparently killed Shaunia Hare overnight.

Charles Jason Darnell 9-1-1 Call Transcript:
“Our stupid snake got out in the middle of the night and strangled the baby!”

Our snake, we have a Burmese Python … she’s about 12 foot long … she got out of the cage last night and got into the baby’s crib and strangled her to death.

A 12-foot pet Burmese python escaped from a home terrarium and strangled Shaunnia Hare, 2, in her bedroom in central Florida.

The two-year-old girl was already dead when paramedics arrived at about 10am on Wednesday.

The owner of the Burmese Python snake that is known to be a predator of small mammals is Charles Jason Darnell, who is also the boyfriend of Shaunnia’s mother. He discovered the snake missing from its terrarium and, fearing the worse, went to the Shaunnia’s room, and found her dead. The girl was still wrapped in the snake, which is known to kill by constricting the chest of its prey and causing death by suffocation. Shaunnia also had bite marks on her forehead.

Darnell stabbed the snake and was able to free Shaunnia from its hold on the girl. Still alive, the snake was handled by police and wildlife officials and was placed in a bag then inside a dog crate.

The snake will be placed with someone who has a permit, pending an investigation into the girl’s death.

The Humane Society of the United States reports that at least 12 people have been killed in the US by pet pythons since 1980, including five children.

Burmese pythons are not native to Florida, but have become a problem as some owners irresponsibly have freed pythons into the wild, resulting in a python population of them has taken hold in the Everglades. Some Burmese pythons escaped in 1992 from pet shops during devastation caused by Hurricane Andrew. The snakes have been reproducing in the wild.

When the snakes grow to full size, even human adults can be overpowered by pythons.

Red, yellow, and white tulips are among the favorite signals of Spring.

Get tulips on Amazon …