THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

BANNING, Calif. — Riverside County animal officials say they are evacuating the Banning Animal Shelter of more than 100 pets in case the ongoing storms cause flooding.

Animal Services Director Robert Miller said Wednesday the animals were being moved to protect the pets and the shelter’s staff.

Some of the kennels flooded on Tuesday and a handful of pets were sent to the Coachella Valley Animal Campus in Thousand Palms. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

MARENGO, Ill. — Honor and Haven didn’t have the easiest start to life.

The shy, miniature horse siblings now ages 8 and 9 were born into a family of inbreds. But three years ago, they showed up skinny and scared at the farm that would become their home. They, in turn, would inspire its name.

Destination Safe Haven in Marengo first began caring for the brother-sister pair and soon moved on to help dozens of aging hooved animals, some once unwanted and others rescued from lives of mistreatment or neglect. (more…)

THE ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

Four goats, three dogs, two cats and a mule were washed out of their Northwest Arkansas home Friday after a small levy holding Little Piney Creek broke amid storms.

Kariann Engebretsen’s “hippy shack,” 11 miles south of Berryville, was one of at least three homes in Carroll County that flooded, said Jason Morris, the Carroll County emergency management director.
Engebretsen said 12 inches fell on her property. (more…)

McCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — In Southwest Ranches, Fla., a 100-pound Siberian lynx named Sasha roams Steve and Barbara Burk’s house like the alpha-male predator he is.

At times the powerful cat paws playfully at a llama, a goat or another critter in the menagerie of animals the Burks invite in to wander the house. At other times Sasha grows bored with the barnyard hoi polloi and retires to his bedroom, furnished with a double bed and a television. (more…)