Pets

WWE superstar Alexa Bliss is mourning the death of her pet pig, Larry-Steve -- claiming the animal died in severe pain after multiple veterinarians turned them away because he was just too big.

Bliss had raised Larry-Steve since birth back in 2017 -- and loved him like a member of the family at her home in the Orlando area. He evolved into a social media star who racked up nearly 90,000 followers on Instagram.

But, tragedy struck on Monday -- when Bliss says she noticed Larry had become extremely ill and it was clear he was suffering.

"Larry is very ill, can’t move or walk. In a lot of pain," Bliss said ... "His usual pig vet said she is not comfortable treating him in his current condition."

Bliss added, "Most vets are not comfortable treating pigs. If anyone knows of a pig vet please let me know."

Bliss says she ended up reaching out to 13 different animal doctors but couldn't find anyone close to care for Larry.

"Unfortunately in the state that Larry’s in right now there’s absolutely no way we are going to be able to transport him. He is in too much pain and weak."

Bliss says some vets hung up on claiming they only treat pigs "up to a certain weight" ... and Larry was just too big.

Later that day, Alexa had to leave for work to shoot "Monday Night Raw" -- but left him in the care of her family while she spoke with him on speakerphone.

"It is heartbreaking that all I can do is just listen to him squeal in pain and no one will come help. No one will even just come and give him pain meds to help take care of his pain."

Sadly, Larry ultimately passed away early Tuesday morning.

Alexa posted a message on IG noting he died on the day before his 4th birthday.

"This morning Larry-Steve gained his Angel wings," Bliss said ... "I’m so sorry we couldn’t find you the help you needed in time."

"Some people didn’t agree to help you. But I want you to know Larry, YOUR LIFE MATTERED. We are completely heartbroken."

Lady Gaga's dog walker says he's constantly reminded of that horrifying moment he was shot, because strangers constantly want to talk to him about it ... and he's tired of it.

Ryan Fischer poured his heart out Monday, saying over the last few weeks -- ever since Gaga's dognappers were arrested -- he's had to relive the trauma of being shot and nearly killed ... making his recovery and healing that much more difficult.

He says people come up to him and say, "You're Ryan! You got shot. You were shot! Where were you shot? Where'd they shoot you?" In the emotional IG post, Ryan added it's strange being known as the Gaga guy who got shot, but even worse ... he says those conversations bring him right back to the moment he got shot in the chest at point-blank range.

Ryan says, "It's not intentional; it comes from kindness and compassion that I welcome ... It just hasn't always been easy to navigate as I continue to find myself."

He also says he feels like he doesn't have a purpose "because I'm not yet in the proper headspace to care for dogs." Our Gaga sources say Ryan was back at work as recently as last week, but it's unclear when he decided he couldn't do it anymore.

TMZ broke the story ... Ryan was shot in February and thieves ultimately made off with Koji and Gustav ... leaving him bleeding and yelling for help on the sidewalk.

The man who claims to have found and returned Daniel Sturridge's stolen dog in 2019 is now suing the soccer star ... alleging the athlete has STILL not paid him the reward money he promised.

Foster Washington spelled it all out in a new lawsuit, obtained by TMZ Sports ... saying Sturridge owes him reward money -- which was reported to be around $37,000 -- for helping him get his Pomeranian, Lucci, back nearly 2 years ago.

Washington says after Sturridge claimed the dog had been stolen in a July 2019 burglary in Los Angeles ... Washington found Lucci on the street.

Washington says because Sturridge reportedly offered a reward, he reached out.

In the suit, Washington says he got in touch with Sturridge and ultimately returned the dog expecting the reward money in exchange.

The problem? Washington claims Sturridge -- who's reportedly made over $40 million in his soccer career -- never paid him a dime ... so now he's suing him over it, claiming Sturridge breached a contract by not living up to the reward offer.

Lisa Vanderpump's barking up the RIGHT tree when it comes to raising money for her dog foundation ... 'cause she's using Cameo vids to raise big bank for the pups!!!

So, get this ... Lisa usually hosts a huge in-person gala for her Vanderpump Dogs Foundation but when the pandemic hit last year, those plans went kaput -- and that's when Lisa made a brilliant pivot.

The ex-'Real Housewives' star turned to Cameo to raise the money, and so far, after recording more than 1,100 Cameo shout-outs, we're told she's hauled in $215k ... with more to come.

All proceeds from her $275-per-video fee go straight to her non-profit dog rescue org to fund all kinds of necessities -- housing hundreds of dogs and getting them medical treatments.

We're told the foundation's executive director, Dr. John Sessa, and Lisa's daughter, Pandora, have also been instrumental in raising funds for the org outside of Lisa's Cameo gig.

Just to give you an idea of how much time LV's putting into this ... we're told, at one point, she recorded roughly 50 videos in one sitting. #GoodHooman.

And, those who are still new to her work with dogs will soon get a closer look.

Peacock, NBC's streaming service, just announced Lisa's new show, "Vanderpump Dogs" ... which will follow the stories and adoptions that go down at her foundation in WeHo.

Ezekiel Elliott's dogs have gotten the running back in legal trouble once again ... this time, cops say the NFL star's animals -- including a Rottweiler -- got loose and bit two neighbors.

Police say three of the Dallas Cowboy's dogs escaped Elliott's Frisco, Texas home just before 9:30 AM on Thursday and attacked bystanders.

Cops say when they arrived on the scene, they were able to secure the dogs ... and put Elliott's Rottweiler into a mandatory 10-day quarantine after they determined it had done the biting.

Police say Elliott was issued three citations for "Dog at Large" (one for each dog) ... and added the two people who were bitten were treated at local hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries.

Cops say they've launched an investigation into the incident, and charges could be coming depending on the findings of the probe.

You'll recall, this is not the first time Elliott's dogs have allegedly attacked people ... remember, Elliott is currently being sued by a pool cleaner who claims Zeke's dogs bit her in March 2020.

In that case, the woman said Elliott's Rottweiler bit her arm and dragged her ... before the 25-year-old's two bulldogs began attacking her legs.

The woman claimed she had to have surgery over the incident ... and in pictures TMZ Sports obtained of her alleged injuries, you can see it all looked VERY painful.

The woman is asking for over $200,000 from the Cowboys superstar in the suit.

Elliott's attorney, Frank Salzano, had adamantly denied wrongdoing in that case -- which is still playing out in the court system.

As we previously reported, Elliott is SUPER fond of his pups ... his Rottweiler is tattooed on his forearm -- and he even introduced all of them to his followers on a Twitch stream last year.

Nearly 70 cats from Jeff Lowe's "Tiger King" Park alleged to be endangered and abused have been seized by the feds.

The massive operation corralled 68 animals, including lions, tigers, lion-tiger hybrids and a jaguar from Jeff's zoo in Thackerville, Oklahoma. The feds say the seizure was part of an ongoing probe for Endangered Species Act violations.

According to the feds ... the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service conducted 3 inspections of the park since mid-December 2020, and during those inspections, the Lowes "received citations for failing to provide the animals with adequate or timely veterinary care, appropriate nutrition" and shelter that allows for normal behavior and protects them from bad weather.

What's more ... the feds say Lowe was supposed to employ a qualified veterinarian and establish a program of veterinary care that meets the requirements of the Animal Welfare Act, but Lowe's been found in contempt after months of non-compliance with court orders requiring him to do so.

The feds say they'll work "to ensure that [the animals] go to responsible animal preserves where they can be safely maintained rather than exploited."

TMZ broke the story ... the feds descended on Jeff's park earlier this week with a search warrant. During the raid ... Jeff was told to stay inside his house or he'd be arrested.

An out-of-control boat with a dog on board is not something any animal lover wants to see, but fortunately ... this wild story has a paws-itively happy ending.

The unmanned Zodiac boat was spotted circling in the ocean Monday, about 300 meters off the coast of Almunecar, Spain with no one at the helm except a dog. Photographer, Huw Evans, knew something was up, and captured the ordeal that unfolded.

Evans says he feared the boat's actual skipper had fallen overboard so his crew went to investigate, and that's when they noticed the poor solo doggy tied up on board.

The Coast Guard arrived soon after, and first tried to corral the boat by snagging its propeller but that didn't work. So, then someone tried to jump on board, but also failed and fell in the water.

Evans said, "It was quite a wild ride, when [the rescuer] fell off I was worried he might be hurt by the propeller but luckily it missed him." Thankfully, a much bigger Coast Guard boat showed up and managed to snag the boat.

Lady Gaga's dog walker is getting back in the saddle after his near-death experience ... he's walking her French Bulldogs again after putting his life on the line for them.

Sources close to the situation tell TMZ ... Gaga's dog walker, Ryan Fischer, is back on the job less than 3 months after nearly losing his life while taking her pups for a late-night stroll.

He stopped by her home Friday afternoon in L.A. -- bearing gifts and looking pretty healthy in the wake of his lengthy hospital stay after the shooting and dognapping incident

Although they weren't spotted with him on Friday, we're told he's walking the dogs during the day now ... a departure from the nighttime walk that ended in gunfire and the suspects making off with Koji and Gustav.

The only measure of comfort Ryan can take is that cops say the suspects were not targeting the dogs because they were Gaga's.

TMZ broke the story ... 3 alleged dognappers are charged with attempted murder and robbery and 2 others have been hit with accessory charges.

Remember ... Gaga put out a $500,000 reward after the February 24 dognapping, which cops believe was carried out by a dog-stealing ring, and she eventually got her dogs back safely after they were left tied up in an alley and a woman called the number Gaga posted.

The woman who "found" the pups was also arrested, according to law enforcement sources, because police were suspicious of her from the start.

Ryan, meanwhile, was hospitalized for several weeks and even had part of a lung removed ... but he's looking great now.

New Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell is pleading with team execs to allow him to walk around the facilities with a real-life lion ... saying he's dead serious about adopting a big cat!!

"I would love to literally just have a pet lion," Campbell said. "Just a legit pet lion. On a chain -- a big-ass chain."

The 45-year-old coach explained the thought process on Barstool Sports' "Pardon My Take" podcast this week ... saying he believes the animal could help motivate his squad to win games.

"He really is my pet," Campbell said of how he'd treat the beast. "We just walk around the building. We go out to practice. We're in 7-on-7. We're behind the kicker when he's kicking. We're just -- there we are."

Campbell added, "I mean, think about it. It'd be outstanding."

Campbell says he's approached team owner Sheila Ford about the plan ... but, sadly, he admitted there might be too many issues with it all to make it actually happen.

"The problem -- I don't know if PETA is going to allow that," Campbell said. "That's going to be hard."

SPOILER -- PETA WILL NEVER EVER APPROVE THAT IN A MILLION, BAZILLION YEARS BECAUSE LIONS AREN'T SUPPOSED TO BE PETS!!

That said ... if he somehow gets a lion, Campbell promised he'd take great care of the king of the jungle ... and even said he'd let it eat his arm if it meant a Super Bowl ring!!

"That would be better," Campbell said. "'Cause it would validate -- this is a freakin' -- this is a creature now. This is an animal. This thing is from the wild."

The tiger hunt is over ... the big cat is fine, though super stressed out.

The 175-lb Bengal Tiger was not found ... it was turned in by a woman named Gia, who is the wife of the guy who was arrested earlier this week -- Victor Cuevas, who claimed the tiger didn't belong to him.

The 9-month-old tiger, whose name is India, was the subject of a massive search last week after it was spotted roaming a Houston neighborhood.

The Houston PD posted a vid of India ... bejeweled in a turquoise collar. The tiger's still kinda a baby ... it was being bottle-fed, but don't let that fool you -- fully grown, India will weigh 600 lbs.

HPD Chief Ron Borza said Gia led authorities to a tennis club where India was being kept.  Apparently, the tiger was moved around some over the last week. Chief Borza said the tiger was stressed out and agitated, adding, "The animal likes attention."

Borza said Gia knew the entire week where India was, so it calls into serious question what her husband, Victor Cuevas maintained ... that he did not own the cat.

No charges have been filed, and cops don’t know how the alleged owner, Cuevas, came into possession of India, Borza said.

Cuevas was arrested last week, but not for tiger possession ... he was picked up on an unrelated murder charge.

No charges have been filed in connection with the tiger ... at least not yet.

India will be sent to the Cleveland Armory Black Beauty Ranch in Murchison, TX ... which is 3 hours away from Houston.

Joe Exotic believes he may have prostate cancer, among many other ailments, and he's begging President Biden, Vice President Harris and others to step in and help.

Joe says his PSA count came back very high for prostate cancer. He seems to say it's clear he has prostate cancer, because he says, "The prison has approved testing to verify what state it is in." It appears there has been no diagnosis by a doctor.

Joe's lawyer, John M. Phillips, tells TMZ, Joe is scheduled to undergo further testing in prison, however, the facility is limited in what it can do. Phillips is trying to get Joe a new trial.

Joe says he's riddled with disease ... "I have lost a tremendous amount of weight, the mouth sores are out of control, I throw up more than I eat. I don't want anyone's pity, what I need is when John Phillips gets the evidence he is working on, I need the world to help him get President Biden, VP Harris and the Attorney General to listen to the evidence."

He's asking again for the elusive pardon so he can go home and get medical treatment.

The bizarre case of the tiger on the loose in Houston has gotten even stranger, as the man police arrested for the incident denies being the owner ... and nobody seems to know where the tiger is.

Cops arrested Victor Hugo Cuevas Monday for evading police after officers say he was the guy seen on video Sunday wrangling the tiger that got loose in a Houston suburb and nearly shot by a neighbor.

Police say Cuevas loaded the big cat into a white SUV and drove off as officers arrived, but his attorney Michael Elliott addressed reporters after his client bonded out and says Cuevas is being accused of doing things he didn't do.

The lawyer suggests Houston PD's made some false assumptions, and most significantly -- he says the tiger does not belong to Cuevas and denies knowing the animal's whereabouts.

The tiger is a 9-month-old male named India, and Cuevas' lawyer says ... "We are both very anxious and looking forward to doing everything we can do to find India. We want to find India."

BTW -- Cuevas bonded out for his most recent arrest after previously being out on $50,000 bond in neighboring Fort Bend County on a murder charge ... so there's that.

As we reported ... 'Tiger King' star Carole Baskin put Texas Senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn on blast earlier this week for allowing such a situation to unfold in the state in the first place.

A Florida fisherman is lucky to be alive today ... 'cause the guy was nearly attacked by a giant alligator during an outing in the Everglades last weekend -- and the terrifying scene was all caught on video!!

The drama unfolded on Saturday -- when 22-year-old Tommy Lee was hunting for some tarpon on a large body of water's shoreline.

You can see in the footage ... the dude was minding his own business casting his reel -- when suddenly, a big-ass gator head emerged from the water!!!

Lee knew right away he needed to be alert -- his GoPro camera captured him saying, "You got to be careful here" -- and that's when the scariness began.

The gator climbed out of the water and took off after the guy ... and when it got within feet of Lee, he accidentally fell backward!!

Fortunately, the 11-foot-long animal stopped charging ... and after an intense standoff, it eventually retreated.

Lee was clearly excited to leave the area without gator teeth in his body ... saying on camera, "And I am outta here. Screw that!"

Carole Baskin is putting Ted Cruz and John Cornyn on blast over the tiger that got loose in Texas, saying the Senators could have prevented it if they'd done their jobs in Congress.

The 'Tiger King' star squarely put the blame on the Lone Star state's Senators Wednesday morning ... saying exotic cat crises have become too common in TX. Earlier this year, there was another loose tiger in San Antonio, and a couple was also arrested there for having a tiger cub and a bobcat.

Carole says Cruz and Cornyn screwed up because the Senate failed to bring the Big Cat Public Safety Act to a vote in the Senate last year, after the House passed it.

The bill would prohibit cruel activities associated with the big cat trade but, more specifically, it would ban private individuals from possessing lions, tigers, leopards, cheetahs, jaguars, cougars or any hybrid of these species.

Carole told CNN she hopes the senators change their tune this time around. The House reintroduced the bill earlier this year and, once again, it's back in the Senate's hands. So far, it has bipartisan support, and Carole says she hopes Cruz and Cornyn act this time around.

As we reported, the loose tiger this week in a Houston suburb was nearly shot by a neighbor who happened to be a cop. The owner of the tiger eventually showed up and stuffed the animal into a Jeep and fled before cops arrived.

Bob Baffert believes he's figured out why his Kentucky Derby-winning horse Medina Spirit tested positive for a banned substance ... and it all may stem from a case of dermatitis.

As we previously reported, Medina Spirit was popped for betamethasone in a post-race test ... begging the question, did Baffert cheat to win?

Bob issued a new statement Tuesday morning explaining why he believes MS tested positive ... and insists it has NOTHING to do with cheating.

Baffert says Medina Spirit developed a skin condition called dermatitis following the Santa Anita Derby back in April ... so he took the horse to a vet to get checked out.

Bob says the vet "recommended the use of an anti-fungal ointment called Otomax. The veterinary recommendation was to apply this ointment daily to give the horse relief, help heal the dermatitis, and prevent it from spreading."

Bob says his barn followed the recommendation and Medina Spirit was treated with the medication "once a day up until the day before the Kentucky Derby."

But here's the rub ...

"Yesterday, I was informed that one of the substances in Otomax is betamethasone."

"While we do not know definitively that this was the source of the alleged 21 picograms founds in Medina Spirit's post-race blood sample, and our investigation is continuing, I have been told by equine pharmacology experts that this could explain the test results."

In other words, Bob now seems to open to the fact he may have unwittingly given his horse a banned substance.

Question is ... shouldn't a legendary, experienced trainer know if there's a banned substance in medication before administering it?

Pro athletes in other sports are responsible for what they put in their bodies ... so shouldn't horse trainers share the same burden?

Whoever let their tiger out and about on the streets of a Houston neighborhood this weekend is certainly no Joe Exotic, but they were trying to be ... and almost got the thing killed.

Check out this wild scene that unfolded Sunday in the burb of Memorial, where a neighbor -- who is allegedly an off-duty sheriff's deputy -- came face-to-face with the striped beast. The guy had his gun drawn as he tried yelling at it to stop, but it continued creeping toward him.

The supposed owner tells the cop not to shoot it and that he'll get the animal, which he successfully did in the end without any bullets flying. You can even see the tiger has a collar on, and seems pretty comfortable when the human wrangles it in on their front yard.

At this point, there's really not a whole lot of context other than this tiger appears to have been somebody's pet in one of the surrounding houses ... and it escaped somehow.

Of course, 911 was called over this ... but word is once they arrived, the tiger had already been stashed into a vehicle and driven away. It's unclear if anybody was charged yet -- but the police are certainly aware of it.

It's illegal to own exotic pets like this in the City of Houston, but you can, apparently, have a tiger in the surrounding unincorporated Harris County, assuming you have all the right paperwork and a boatload of insurance.

Considering this one was nowhere to be found when cops showed up, something tells us it wasn't meant to be there in the first place.