Last summer a 3-year-old cow named Betsy (not the one in the photo; that's a stock image I used because our content management system doesn't allow us to post something without an image) somehow escaped from a rodeo in Alaska and went to a 4,000-acre park on the outskirts of Anchorage. She's been spotted many times in the park by hikers and bicyclists, but so far no one has been able to capture her.

“I’m just totally exhausted from looking day in and day out,” Frank Koloski, Betsy’s owner, told The Washington Post on Tuesday night. “She’s a go-getter, that’s for sure.”

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Koloski has a plan in place: If he can just figure out where Betsy is hiding, he’ll bring several other cows to that location. Betsy will immediately rush toward the other cattle, he predicts, and a number of his rodeo acquaintances have already volunteered to help him rope her. Until he knows exactly where she’s located, though, he’s not eager to let the other cows loose in the dense, dark woods.

In the meantime, Betsy appears to be doing just fine. Alaska cattle are tough and accustomed to the area’s harsh winters, Koloski said. Since the park is within city limits, he doesn’t think there’s too much of a risk of her running into a bear or a wolf. There are still plenty of natural sources of water that haven’t frozen over, and he’s left out hay bales and mineral salt blocks nearby. During the summer, Betsy would have found plenty of fresh grass on the slopes of the ski area to feast on, he said.

Austrian train workers were clearing tracks that go through the Gesaeuse national park when they noticed a mountain goat that wouldn't move from the sidelines of their path, even after honking the train. They then saw a snowdrift completely bury the creature. So the workers stopped all operations, grabbed some shovels, and got to work. Yay for good deeds.

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This black bear in Florida thought he'd pay a social visit to a family over the holidays. After lumbering onto the porch and knocking over some decorations for fun, he rang the doorbell. But the family was not amused. They got on the intercom and firmly repeated, "Bear, go away!" The unwanted guest finally got the message and went on his merry way. Read the rest

This guy likes to make ants bite him and wasps sting him so he can post his reactions on YouTube. In his latest video, he makes a Costa Rican Executioner Wasp sting him on his forearm. It's hard to know for sure how much he is hamming it up for the camera, but he makes quite a show of the pain. He says it hurt as much as the Tarantula Hawk's sting and the Bullet Ant's bite.

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Not a one of these pooches can deal with a disembodied kitty head appearing on their turf. Maybe it's the size of the cat that it must have come from that spooks them. Maybe it's the way that the pillow's eyes follow them around the living room. It's a clear and present danger to everything the mutts believe in.

It must be stopped. Read the rest

No one bothered to tell this honey badger that the garbage can it's digging was designed to be baboon-proof. Not that it would matter: A honey badger isn't a baboon. In just a few minutes, it manages to yoink out a brag-worthy late night feast. Read the rest

Jary, a police dog in South Dakota, puts on quite a performance as he tries out a brand new set of snow boots. Just a little practice and he'll be running with the best of them.

Via AP, who found this from a post by The Rapid City Police Department Read the rest

This snake has a mission. It slithers quickly into an open door police station in northern Thailand and makes it way to a visitor who is at the station to report an incident.

Without provocation, the snake leaps at the man. The man panics for a bit, but handles the situation like a champ. After a few moments of trying to fight it off with his legs and feet, he manages to grab the snake at both ends and carry it off. He even seems a bit amused, offering it to an officer before taking it outside.

Seems like this isn't the first time this dude has had to deal with a snake.

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It's highly unusual for a squirrel to purposely jump on a human. And it's even more unusual for said human to roll with it, without any shock or flinch, laughing while the squirrel does its thing. As the old lady said in When Harry Met Sally, "I'll have what [s]he's having!"

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Hawaiian monk seals are endangered and closely monitored by NOAA scientists who are alarmed that the seals keep getting eels stuck really deep in their nostrils. Read the rest

Don't let this kitten's cute and fluffy appearance fool you. Every time the wildlife official from the Center for Biological Diversity tries to cut the cage open to set the young bobcat free, he lunges, tries to bite the rescuer's hand off, and makes demonic sounds reminiscent of the possessed Regan from The Exorcist.

The wild kitten, named Murderbritches by the Center, had been killing chickens before being relocated back into the wild. Read the rest

Hokkaido is the northernmost of Japan's major islands. It's here that the practice of racing giant draft horses is being kept alive. The horses race against each other by dragging heavy sleds (weighing between 900 pounds and 2000 pounds). The horses are fed four times a day and race once every two weeks.

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A guy set up a camera to figure out how his small dog was escaping its enclosure in the kitchen, and this is what he found. Who knew French Bulldogs were so nimble? Read the rest

Last week I posted a clip of the BBC nature program, Dynasties, which showed a young male lion defending itself against 20 or so hungry hyenas. The clip ended with the lion getting worn out, and the hyenas closing in. BBC just uploaded the full clip, so you can find out what happened. Read the rest

Size doesn't really matter, at least not for this feisty rat. Watch how it doesn't take any guff from the cat who thought it could bully a much tinier creature. Turns out the rat is the bully, and doesn't let up as it chases the cat out of town. Read the rest

A photographer embarked on a multi-year project to photograph a kitten as it matured.

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Although I am a cat person, this trailer makes me want to rush out and get myself a dog. This docuseries by Netflix tells six stories of people and their dogs from around the world. It launches on Netflix November 16th. Read the rest