Animals

A Florida man has been arrested for what cops are describing as a sick obsession with school shootings and killing animals after he allegedly placed several on a memorial dedicated to the victims of the Parkland school shooting.

Detectives from the Broward County Sheriff's Office say Robert Mondragon is responsible for leaving a dead duck (with its chest cut open), raccoon and opossum at the MSD Memorial Garden over the span of 11 days last month.

Cops say once they discovered Mondragon was allegedly behind the disgusting display, they were able to locate his vehicle July 31 and pulled him over for tinted windows.

Officers say inside Mondragon's car was bird feathers and blood, and he allegedly told the deputy he had a dead bird in his car because he likes "the metal and blood smells that emit from the dead animal."

Detectives say their investigation into Mondragon further revealed photos of dead animals on his phone and text messages as well as Internet searches about school shootings.

What's more ... cops say his shocking face tattoos resemble those of Tate Langdon from "American Horror Story" -- a character based on Columbine.

Not only that, detectives claim two weeks before the end of this past school year, "Mondragon walked the path the MSD school shooter (Nikolas Cruz) took from the high school to Walmart on Feb. 14, 2018."

Cruz is currently in a sentencing trial for killing 17 people when he opened fire at MSD High School.

Kevin Bacon's musical farm just dove into the Beyhive, but he's not getting -- instead, the dude's getting mad props ... and one of his animals might be partially responsible.

The actor posted a video Sunday showing him doing a cover of Beyoncé's 'Heated' -- from her new 'Renaissance' album -- on his Connecticut property ... which is chock-full of livestock, including a crap ton of goats.

He writes, "Hot day, hot song. The goats and I are feeling Heated, @beyonce. Loving this track." Kevin also added the hashtag #GoatSongs ... part of an ongoing collection of his.

Anyway, watch this hilarious video ... one of his goats was VERY curious during KB's performance -- done on nothing but a guitar, as he's perched on what seems to be a goat playground of some sort -- and it was actually trying to nibble at some the strings!

It looks like the little guy did, in fact, pluck a string while Kevin was playing ... and his owner acknowledges it at the end.

Like we said, Kevin does this sort of thing all the time ... he's done stripped-down covers of songs by Harry Styles, Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, Glass Animals and more. Whenever he jams out, his goats all seem to come flocking -- apparently wanting in on the fun.

Tom Cruise's son, Connor, has followed a different path than that of his old man -- and that path is one of a fisherman who reels in big catches ... really big catches.

CC was part of the Sarasota Slam fishing tournament in Florida this weekend, and it looks like he and his crew took the grand prize for a Grouper that literally ended up weighing hundreds of pounds.

To be precise, the beast ended up clocking in at 301 pounds ... which was proudly announced across the docks and got huge applause from the crowd. Word is, Connor and co. actually caught it Friday -- but kept it on ice until Saturday when they checked the poundage.

Connor writes of the haul ... "Got it done yesterday with the boys. 301# Warsaw on the hand crank."

Tom and Nicole Kidman's kid is all into the sport these days. His social media pages are plastered with photos and videos of him posing with a bunch of dead fish ... huge ones at that.

One bald eagle's giving its own wings a break, and hopping a commercial flight instead -- but even being the U.S. national bird won't get you through TSA any faster.

This particular screening eagle, named Clark, was boarding a flight in North Carolina earlier this week ... and as you might imagine, Clark caught a lot of eyes in the airport. Eat your heart out Bennifer!

While he might seem like an unlikely passenger, TSA said the airline made them aware ahead of time that Clark would be a passenger, and agents handled biz as they would for any other animal.

No favors for this guy, either. You'd think being on the cover of every U.S. Passport might get you some celeb treatment, but Clark and his handler still had to wait in line and go through TSA screening. Like everyone else.

Apparently, the eagle is trained to spread his wings on command. TSA agents tweeted about the cool moment ... saying the eagle "showed off a bit during screening" and flapped his wings briefly.

According to the World Bird Sanctuary, Clark is "one of only four bald eagles who travel to fly at different venues throughout the United States”. It's up to each airline to decide which animal is allowed on a plane ... per the FAA website.

A brawl between 2 kangaroos ended quicker than expected when one went straight WWE on the other -- shoving the opponent straight through a metal fence!!!

The 'roo rivalry went down at Canberra Nature Reserve in Australia ... a passerby started filming the animals getting into it. After a few moments of hand-to-hand combat, one delivered the crushing blow ... hurling the loser into a not-so-solid wall.

The "winner" even looked shocked ... seemingly staring down his bounding buddy to make sure it stayed down after the violent tumble.

Don't worry, the fence-crasher's doing just fine -- a witness told Storyful it was later seen jumping down the road like nothing happened, but good luck with that, buddy.

Y'know how kangaroos gossip, bro. Word's gonna get around.

Seriously, though ... don't mess with these 'roos! Remember, a man squared off with one a few months back, even grabbing a stick to defend himself ... but that didn't seem to phase the animal.

Any rabid animal -- like this fox -- is nothing to mess with ... but the woman it attacked is no slouch either, as this surveillance video shows her putting up one hell of a fight and likely saving her life.

The wild incident went down in July in Ithaca, NY ... you can see the fox doesn't even hesitate as it sneaks up on her as she's chatting on the phone in her yard, and starts chomping on her leg nonstop.

She gives the animal a powerful kick, launching it into the air, but it doesn't give up ... eventually clamping its jaws down on her hand and doesn't let go while she tries to shake it off. A neighbor eventually shows up and scares it away.

Her hand seemingly got the worst of it, as these gnarly pics after the attack show. She must've gotten some extremely painful rabies shots, too.

According to her husband, who uploaded the video, the fox attempted to do the same to someone else nearby, but it was killed ... the body was taken to the vet lab at Cornell University, where they discovered rabies was in its system.

Dallas rapper Trapboy Freddy was arrested by cops for a weapons charge ... but it might've been a good idea for officers to bring a zookeeper along, too.

Officials say they discovered a tiger cub Wednesday caged inside Freddy's Oak Cliff house. Officials seized the cat, but at this time, he hasn't been charged with anything in relation to having the animal.

The Dallas rapper was charged with one count of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and is due to appear in court on Friday.

As for the tiger, it was transported it to the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department.

Dean Karnazes -- a famous ultramarathon athlete -- was terrifyingly attacked by a coyote during a run on a California trail this month ... and the incident was so bad, it left him with a bloody face.

The 59-year-old went into detail about the encounter in an IG video ... saying he was running in Marin Headlands when a coyote ambushed him.

"I just had something rather terrifying happen," Karnazes said. "I'm out on a 150-mile trail run and I got attacked by a coyote."

"That's a first. It knocked me over and thankfully I'm running with poles so I whacked it and it ran away."

But, Karnazes did suffer injuries ... you can see in his selfie video he had blood all over his mouth, chin and shirt.

"Not sure what I’m gonna do," he said in the clip. "I guess I gotta keep going or else it'll probably come back for me."

After the experience, Karnazes -- who has won the Badwater Ultramarathon and Vermont Trail 10 Mile Endurance Run -- advised people to stop feeding coyotes on the trail, with the hopes it'll keep the wild animals further away from runners.

"If you see someone feeding a coyote, please say something," Karnazes said.

"The local Rangers are doing the best they can, but we trail runners are out in these areas more than anyone. Thank you. It's best for everyone, coyotes included. #letwildlifebewild"

FYI, this ain't the first time Karnazes has been attacked by a wild animal -- he also said on his social media page that he's had a scary run-in with a shark in the past as well.

"I've been attacked by a shark, and now a coyote," he said. "Both incidents were terrifying."

Karnazes has competed in several running and swimming events throughout his career -- in fact, he swam across the San Francisco Bay and ran a marathon in every state in the U.S. for 50 consecutive days in 2006.

He's also a columnist for Men's Health and the author of "Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner."

Anne Heche's death came just before the release of her final movie, and the director tells us he's dedicating the film to her.

The film is "Wildfire: The Legend of The Cherokee Ghost Horse" ... director Eric Parkinson tells TMZ he's adding an "In Memoriam" as the movie's final shot, right before the final credits.

Eric tells us Anne was superb in the movie, which started filming back in 2019 before being delayed by the pandemic, and the entire cast and crew are devastated by her death.

Anne plays a rodeo trainer in the film, and Eric says during negotiations to hire her for the role, her agent cautioned she was not an experienced rider, so producers decided they needed a stunt double for some barrel racing scenes.

The plan for those riding scenes, we're told, was for Anne to slowly ride up on the horse and then cut to the stunt double ... but once they were on location in Oklahoma, Anne surprised everyone.

We're told Anne politely asked the stunt double to get off the horse, then climbed in the saddle and told Eric to roll ... and that's when she took off on the horse in a full gallop, executing the barrel turn and racing to the finish in record time.

Shocked, Eric says he went up to Anne and told her what her agent said about her not being an experienced rider ... to which Anne responded, "I'm not ... but my character is a champ!"

A famous walrus in Norway has been killed after the government there thought it was getting a little too close for comfort when it came to human contact.

The Director General at the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries announced Sunday that Freya -- the 1,300 pound walrus in question -- was euthanized after officials deemed its habits of approaching humans and their boats were becoming too dangerous and a risk to the public.

Frank Bakke-Jensen, the honcho, says, "The decision to euthanize the walrus was made based on an overall assessment of the continued threat to human safety."

Freya made a splash this summer after flopping itself into boats near the Oslo Fjord -- where they'd often be docked. In some cases, she partially sank the vessels ... and in others, she was able to catch a little tan in the sun, minding her own business as people looked on.

It might be those same people who are to blame for this, so say Norwegian officials. Their rationale to putting the animal down has been chalked up to the massive crowds that would form around Freya whenever she'd come near -- which is rare for walruses.

Spectators would approach and take selfies, something the government says was towing the line of potential harm -- and which caused officials to warn everyone to stay away.

PETA is putting Zac Efron on BLAST after appearing in an ad campaign with a bear that has spent its entire life in captivity.

The org is urging Zac to "come down to Earth" and recognize that bears belong with their families, not on screen ... according to Debbie Metzler, PETA Foundation Director of Captive Animal Welfare.

She thinks Zac, who's been named Chief Brand Officer for Kodiak Cakes, forgot to ask Tank the bear an important question in his latest ad for the company -- "How wrong is it to use a captive bear to promote 'keeping bears wild'?"

BTW -- 27-year-old Tank was born in captivity and was taken from a breeder at just 6 weeks old ... he was featured on the Discovery+ Show, "Man Vs. Bear."

Kodiak Cakes is running a limited-time collab with Zac, where a dollar-for-dollar match of their "Keep It Wild" merch will go directly to the Vital Ground Foundation, a nonprofit that supports the preservation of wild grizzly bear habitats.

PETA, however, clapped back at the promo saying ... “It’s hypocritical to exploit one animal to potentially help another. No true conservation group would ever force captive animals to perform tricks for the camera in order to raise awareness about their wild counterparts.”

Tragic news for the Houston Cougars community -- the university's live mascot, Shasta VI, has passed away after suffering from an illness. He was 10 years old.

The school shared the devastating statement just minutes ago ... saying, "We are sad to announce that Shasta VI passed away on Thursday, August 4 after a brief and sudden illness."

"He represented the spirit and tenacity of UH's students and alumni, and personified the resilience and strength of the University."

Shasta VI was the school's first live mascot since 1989 ... and was rescued and adopted as a cub back in 2011 after his mother was shot and killed in Washington.

Shasta lived at the Houston Zoo ... and was a fan favorite among Cougars fans.

Shasta -- the school's first male live mascot -- attended many important university events via webcam.

A group of pigs were pronounced dead for hours as part of a study .... and then, incredibly, scientists got it beating again!

The implications here are staggering for humans ... being able, potentially, to regenerate what is essentially a dead heart and bring people back to life.

Researchers from Yale began pumping synthetic fluids through the bodies of dead pigs, finding their hearts began to faintly beat ...  according to a peer-reviewed study published by Nature.

The team used 2 systems for its test -- the first group of pigs got OrganEx, a device that resembles heart-lung machines ... they also got an experimental mixture of fluids that are supposed to reduce inflammation and provide cellular health.

Some motor function also returned -- the head and neck of some of the dead pigs began to move ... something that shocked everyone. The movements appeared involuntary.

Forget hats and hidden T-shirts ... top high school football recruit Aidan Mizell just changed the college commitment game forever -- bringing out live gators to announce his college choice!!!

The four-star wide receiver, who plays his H.S. ball in Orlando, officially pledged to the Univ. of Florida on Friday -- and he did it in arguably the most memorable way ever.

The wideout -- who was down to Florida, Tennessee and Alabama -- walked behind a curtain ... and then carried out two live alligators to reveal he's headed to Gainseville in 2023.

The crowd went crazy ... cheering as he walked to the podium with the reptiles in his arms.

Don't worry -- Mizell's very valuable hands were safe during the announcement ... the gators had small pieces of tape wrapped around their jaws so they wouldn't be able to bite him.

Kevin Love's honeymoon in Africa just took a WILD turn -- the NBA star watched lions hunt down a wildebeest ... and then saw them completely devour it from limb to limb!

Love, who's with his model wife, Kate Bock, in Tanzania celebrating their recent nuptials, shared video of the scene on Friday morning ... and, warning, it's pretty graphic.

In the footage, you can see a group of lions snacking on their prey -- all while Love recorded just feet away in a vehicle.

"We were told it’s very rare (and lucky) to see a kill play out in front of your eyes from start to finish," Love said, before adding, "It’s an ugly and yet beautiful game out there."

Love and Bock have been in Africa for a few days now, and the two seem to be thrilled with their experience so far.

The couple has been spotted watching elephants, giraffes and other exotic animals, all while enjoying some food and drink.

"This place is everything we dreamed of & more," Bock said. "The views, the animals, the light, the warm people, the adventure, the wildness…. Tanzania, you’re something special."

Monkeys are terrorizing residents in a Japanese city ... targeting young children and babies, and even hanging out at preschools to grab them.

The wild scene is playing out in the city of Yamaguchi in southwestern Japan, where city officials say a troop of monkeys has been carrying out the attacks since July 8 ... biting and clawing at human flesh, and sneaking into nurseries to try and snatch babies.

It's a huge problem ... the attacks involve at least 58 people, and the city is responding by hiring a special unit to hunt the monkeys with tranquilizers, with a 15-pound monkey already being caught and killed.

The story gets even weirder ... officials say the monkeys aren't interested in food, so traps aren't working, and they're mostly going after children and the elderly, often sneaking up from behind and grabbing people's legs.

The attacks include an assault on a woman while she was hanging laundry on her veranda, and there are images of monkeys peering through windows and loitering outside schools.

Japanese macaques are the monkeys behind the attacks, which are sending folks to the hospital in droves.