A stolen Chihuahua puppy worth $3,000 was returned to a Long Island, New York pet shop last week along with a note of apology from the 'puppy kidnapper'.

Nassau County police said they don’t know who took the 14-week-old puppy because the thief ran away after returning the puppy in a shoe box to Worldwide Puppies & Kittens in Bellmore, just east of New York City.

 

The shop’s manager said the apologetic note stated that the puppy kidnappers were sorry they stole the dog, but that they hadn't had enough money to buy it. They didn't, however, explain what had prompted them to return the stolen animal.

 

Police have been looking for four teenage suspects in the theft who were captured on CCTV surveillance.  The footage shows a teen hiding the Chihuahua under his clothing and sneaking it out of the shop. The dog is now doing fine.

***

 

In Sao Paulo, Brazil, it appears that the monkey business is just about over for some of its native primates. Health officials there are planning to give vasectomies to 25 wild, urban-dwelling monkeys as a way to control their population and the spread of disease.

 

Officials are trying to trap male Capuchin monkeys that live in three city parks. They say that each of the males has a harem of about eight female mates. They plan on capturing the animals by net, giving them 'the snip' and then sending them back to the wild.

 

The monkey population in the parks has recently grown to about 170 and some of the monkeys have yellow fever. While the sick monkeys aren’t able to pass the disease directly to humans, mosquitoes can spread the disease to people if they bite an infected monkey and then a human.  It is hoped that by controlling the monkey population,  this risk of cross infection can be reduced.

***

Meanwhile in North America, the debate over fish pedicures has raised its head again.

 

A fish pedicures consists of putting your feet into a tank of water filled with small fish which then proceed to nibble any dead skin off of your feet!  While not cruel to the fish (they are happy to get such a great 'meal') US officials are concerned over the health implications for humans.

 

The procedure is apparently common in parts of China and other countries, and although it is still a rare luxury treatment in the US it has been banned in some regions of the country. The Wall Street Journal newspaper recently reported that at least 14 American states have already outlawed the pedicures.

 

The fish are expensive, and the first person to offer the service in the U.S., John Ho, paid $40,000 for 10,000 of the little nibblers!

Of course, many of the spa owners who forked out their money for these fish in order to offer the exclusive treatment to their clients are up in arms over the ruling. The main argument about the procedure is that there is no way to sanitize the fish after they’ve done their job, (can you imagine tiny fish toothbrushes?) and they obviously can’t be thrown away after just one pedicure.