"We thought she was sick, turns out she's just a jerk." That's how the Mitchell County Animal Rescue began the brutally honest adoption announcement for an unsavory cat in their care named Perdita.

The Spruce Pine, North Carolina organization continues:

Meet Perdita, not for the faint of heart. LIKES: staring into your soul until you feel as if you may never be cheerful again; the song Cat Scratch Fever, the movie Pet Cemetery (Church is her hero), jump scares (her specialty), lurking in dark corners, being queen of her domicile, fooling shelter staff into thinking she's sick (vet agrees...she's just a jerk) DISLIKES: the color pink, kittens (yuk they are so chipper), dogs, children, the Dixie Chicks, Disney movies, Christmas and last but NOT least...HUGS. She's single and ready to be socially awkward with a socially awkward human who understands personal space. FREE ADOPTION ;) If interested please go to www.mitchellcountyanimalrescue.org to fill out an application

The News & Observer:

Shelter Director Amber Lowery says 4-year-old Perdita came to the shelter on Christmas Eve like the Grinch and quickly asserted dominance...

“I’m looking at her right now, and she’s rolling around in her little bed, looking all sweet and cute, but the minute you try to rub her, she slaps you. We thought she was in pain and took her to the vet and he said: ‘No, this cat is just a jerk’.”

Since then, the shelter has had to warn visitors that Perdita’s shy, kitten-like attempts to draw passersby to her cage are, in fact, a ruse that will end badly.

The Transportation Safety Agency makes use of dogs to track down contraband, bombs and other stuff that we're better off never seeing onboard an airplane. It takes a pooch with a particular temperament to be trained for this sort of work. Not all dogs are well-suited for the job. Unfortunately, while you can make broad guesses, based on breed, on which dogs may be a good fit for identification or tracking work, there's no way to tell if an individual doggo will be any good at it until you put them to the task. In instances where dogs are found to be less than desirable for the sort of work the TSA has in mind for them, they're pushed to the side -- almost like any other animal you'd find at a local shelter. The only difference is that the TSA's castoffs aren't nearly as visible, making finding them a good home a difficult task.

If you're thinking about adopting a pooch from a shelter, maybe take a look at the TSA Canine Training Center Adoption Program. Where the agency usually makes our lives a lot more difficult than they need to be, looking to them to find your family's new best buddy could make the process of discovering the perfect pooch dead easy.

In order for potential dog owners to qualify for a pooch from the TSA Canine Training Center Adoption Program, they'll have to be able to fulfill a few reasonable criteria:

From the TSA:

-- You must have a fenced in yard at the time of applying.

This video is 100% accurate. My brother has two pit bulls. They're awesome—but he's an ass.

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It doesn't get cuter than Benjamin the baby goat. This BBC video has been making the rounds on social media, and you can practically hear the collective "SQUUUUUUEEEEEEE!" Read the rest

A stray dog joined a Swedish adventure race team competing in Ecuador. That's amazing in and of itself, but what happened after the race finished is just awesome. Stories like this one remind me that there are still good people in the world. Read the rest