Free Republic

The lines go down the sidewalk before the doors even open - families, backyard farmers, and people fighting high egg prices are here to get a first look. These early birds get the chicks. Kathy Swint called it “our regular chick order day” at Swint’s Feed and Garden Supply in Jonesboro. They started the day with hundreds of tiny 2-day old chicks, and they were all snapped up in 40 minutes. Phyllis Gardner told Channel 2’s Linda Stouffer that she found exactly what she was looking for. “We have Lavender Orpingtons, these are Buff Orpingtons. They grow up to be...

California authorities say they caught an alleged “serial cat killer” after the man was supposedly captured luring a feline on camera. Santa Ana Police Department said in an Instagram post Wednesday that they received multiple reports about “the suspected abuse and killing of cats in a local neighborhood.” Reports from neighbors said that a man was luring neighborhood cats to his property where he then allegedly harmed or killed them. Police say these reports came in over several weeks. Alejandro Acosta Oliveros, 45, was “positively identified by several victims and witnesses as the suspect responsible for acts of animal cruelty,”...

The two men had entered Kenya on a tourist visa and were staying in a guest house in the western town of Naivasha. Their lawyer said that her clients did not know what they were doing was illegal. Two Belgian teenagers who were found with thousands of ants valued at more than €8,000 and allegedly destined for European and Asian markets will be sentenced in two weeks, a Kenyan magistrate has said. Njeri Thuku, sitting at the court in Kenya's main airport, said she would not rush the case but would take time to review environmental impact and psychological reports...

A fox with rare black fur made a brief roadside appearance in Yellowstone National Park last week. The fox’s coloring is probably the result of a condition called melanism. Stacy O’Nell caught photos of this extremely rare black fox in Yellowstone National Park, when it made a brief appearance along the roadside last week. The fox’s unusual coloring is probably the result of a condition called melanism, which can cause black skin, fur or feathers in numerous species. (Courtesy Stacy O'Nell, SO Photograpy) Now in her third season of working at the Yellowstone National Park’s Old Faithful Inn, Stacy O’Nell...

The 75-year-old star has teamed up with a group of ecologically minded real estate moguls to develop a remote stretch of the Mexican shoreline in a way that doesn't make the locals hate them.Costalegre, a 200-mile ribbon of Pacific coastline stretching between Puerto Vallarta and Manzanillo, is one of the last truly wild corners of Mexico. There are no mega-resorts here. No spring-break beach clubs or 20-story condos. Just sandpipers skimming the surf, green sea turtles digging moonlit nests — and, every so often, Richard Gere strolling on the beach. This is Xala, a 3,000-acre development so “low-density,” it’s practically...

Terrifying video shows a diver being attacked by a shark as horrified beachgoers watched on helplessly. The unidentified diver is assumed dead after the attack at a beach in Israel that has been drawing tourists to see the sharks — with one video showing one swimming right up to a child standing in the water. The attacked diver was heard screaming, “They’re biting me!” before being dragged further out to sea off the city of Hadera on Monday ... They’re eating him, eating the man!” .... “Wow, wow, he’s with the shark, he’s fighting him,” ... “I was in the...

During the recent earthquake in Thailand, one woman found herself struggling to evacuate, not because of the disaster, but because her dog, blissfully unaware of the mayhem around it, was determined to sleep through it. An 18-second clip of the viral incident was posted to TikTok on Saturday (March 29), showing a woman desperately trying to wake her dog while pulling on its front paw. Despite the chaos, the samoyed, named Echo, refuses to budge, completely unbothered by its owner's desperate pleas. At one point, the woman even tried pulling both of Echo's paws but didn't get anywhere. Shortly after,...

Ancient rhinos in Nebraska lived in large local herds and died slowly from volcanic ashfall, not sudden disaster. Credit: John Haxby/The University of Nebraska State Museum ************************************************************************* Volcanic eruption from 12 million years ago preserves a snapshot of extinct animal life. Rhinos that once roamed much of North America 12 million years ago likely lived in large herds, according to a new study by the University of Cincinnati. Researchers examined isotopes in the teeth of rhinos found in what is now northeast Nebraska. At this site, more than 100 rhinos died at a single water hole and were buried in...

Shocking new statistical evidence has emerged that suggests the golden eagle could be on a wind turbine-induced glide path to extinction in the United States. Eagle deaths due to wind turbines in the western US were increasing by around 9% a year from 2013 to 2020, but this annual increase leapt to 13% from 2020 to 2024, a jump of 49% in the annual increase in death rate. Bird maps are said to show that the relative abundance of golden eagles across much of their western range has declined and areas where declines occurred, “align with areas where the most...

Officials identified a body found in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area over the weekend as Dr. Shawn Frehner, a high-profile veterinarian who has been missing since April 6. The National Park Service began a search at Lake Mead after Frehner’s keys, wallet, and cellphone were found in his truck parked at Hemmenway Harbor on April 7. According to NPS, his body was found near the Boulder Islands within the Lake Mead National Recreation Area on April 18. On April 19, the Clark County coroner’s office confirmed Frehner’s identity through dental records. His cause and manner of death were not...

The tiny ice inhabitants darken the glacier’s surface, which can accelerate its melting. Glaciers are massive bodies of white ice that reflect a significant amount of sunlight. However, in areas where the snow has melted and the bare ice is exposed, dark patches often appear. These dark areas are caused by microscopic algae that grow directly on the ice. By darkening the surface, these algae reduce the glacier’s ability to reflect sunlight, leading to increased absorption of heat. This, in turn, causes the ice to warm and melt more quickly. Mysterious algae growth Little is known about how the tiny...

CONNECTICUT — A man from Bethlehem said he was caught in a tough situation that involved self defense and breaking the law.Todd Topicz exclusively told Channel 3 that was woken up in August by his pregnant wife after a bear came within feet of his two children. “He walked right into the garage with people in there. He didn’t care. So, who knows what would’ve happened next time,” Topicz said.He said that the bear entered the home through the garage, where the two kids were at the time.The animal grabbed a few bags before being chased up a tree by...

The 7-foot-3-inch behemoth weighed in at 153 pounds and Weston said it took him nearly four hours to reel in on just 2-pound test fishing line. Credit: Captain Kirk Kirkland (Alligator Gar Fishing) and Art Weston Art Weston reeled in this 153-pound alligator gar on Lake Livingston with the help of Captain Kirk Kirkland of Alligator Gar Fishing. LIVINGSTON, Texas — "Sharing what was my most challenging catch of my life," Art Weston wrote on Facebook after landing a massive alligator gar in Lake Livingston. The 7-foot-3-inch behemoth weighed in at 153 pounds and Weston said it took him nearly...

See ya later, alligator. Many Floridians have had bizarre encounters with alligators — but this one might take the cake. A Sunshine State resident took to Reddit to share their frightening experience with two creepy reptiles that came up to their home’s front door, which was all captured on the family’s Ring camera. The footage shows two enormous alligators dilly-dallying around the home’s front porch. When one of the alligators saw that no one was coming to the door to welcome them into their home, they lingered a little bit longer before growing impatient. The video then showed one of...

Every spring, I’d eagerly await my special package — a box that arrived peeping. Inside were just-hatched chicks, still egg-shaped and covered in down. I would raise the chicks in my home office. During our first month together, there was always a chick or two in my sweater, on my shoulder or perching atop my head. They considered me their mother. Later, when they moved outside to a coop, they ranged freely over the eight acres my husband and I own in rural New Hampshire. Whenever they caught sight of me, they would greet me as if I were a...

First confirmed live observation of the colossal squid, Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni, in its natural habitat First confirmed live observation of the colossal squid, Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni, in its natural habitat Image credit: ROV SuBastian / Schmidt Ocean Institute Behold: a live colossal squid in all its glory. After a century of searching, the extremely elusive cephalopod has been caught on camera alive in its natural habitat for the first time (and, for once, not inside the belly of a whale or washed up dead on a beach). The juvenile squid was filmed on March 9 at a depth of 600 meters (1,968...

Millions of people around the world are tuning it watch the Swedish moose migrate to their summer grazing pastures. "Den Stora Älgvandringen" aka "The Great Moose Migration" is an example of what is known as "slow TV", where people watch nature on live-capture cameras, instead of going out and experiencing it for themselves. The moose live feed runs for 20 days, 24/7, and includes the moose walking the same trek they have for 1000s of years, including crossing the Ångerman River, 186 miles north of Stockholm. https://www.svtplay.se/den-stora-algvandringen We have the same thing here in the states like this eagle live...

Police in New York said a report of llama drama in Westchester County turned out to be alpaca-chaos when the loose animal was correctly identified. The Westchester County Police Department said on social media that officers responded about 10:09 a.m. Thursday to a report of a "llama on the loose" on Kisco Avenue. "Turns out it was an actually an alpaca that was on the lam, but still a pretty good initial description compared to some we get," the post said. The officers were able to corral the alpaca, and soon learned the animal had escaped from a trailer near...

The humble egg is one of those foods that pops up just about everywhere. An egg can be cooked in dozens, if not hundreds, of different preparations, and just like any other commodity, the price has really fluctuated over the years. Tracking down the retail price of a dozen Grade A eggs over the decades wasn't an easy task, as prices have varied from store to store over the years, and supermarkets haven't kept track of prices for decades on end. So in order to get an annual retail price that we could stand behind, we worked with the U.S....

Harvard academics have warned they will be forced to euthanize animals used for medical research because of Donald Trump’s $2.2 billion funding freeze. They will also be forced to fire workers, and withdraw critical funding for cancer and ALS patients, CNN reported.