Duck gets shoe support from cobbler

LUCKY by name, lucky by nature for this young duckling.
When the month-old bird fractured her leg, owner Allison Morgan was told by vets her only option was to have Lucky put to sleep.
But Mrs Morgan, 44, refused to give up on the muscovy duck and set about finding a way to get Lucky back on her feet - with the help of a specially made shoe.
Although the break in Lucky’s leg healed, her foot was pointing in the wrong direction, making it very difficult for her to walk.
So Mrs Morgan, an orthopaedic nurse from Lliswerry, enlisted local cobbler Kelvin Reddicliffe at the Newport branch of Timpsons Ltd to fit Lucky with a "roman sandal" to keep her on the straight and narrow.
The sandal, which has been made in three sizes to support Lucky as she grows, protects her foot and takes the pressure off her webbed feet as she walks around the garden with fellow feathered friends Daisy and Kizzy.
Mrs Morgan took measurements of the duck's foot for the cobbler, who made the sandals out of rubber resin.
Mr Reddicliffe said he was only too happy to help despite never making shoes for an animal in 39 years as a cobbler.
He said: "I have total admiration for Mrs Morgan for not listening to the vet and sticking by what she believed in."
Mrs Morgan, who has also been giving Lucky regular "physio" sessions, said: "When she’s out and about in the garden she’s not walking like a normal duck, but with the shoe that Kelvin has made she able to move much better."
The only time Lucky has to go barefoot is when she goes for a swim because the light rubber sandal causes her leg to float.
A new vet has now been found who is willing to operate on Lucky’s leg, with pins set to be inserted into her thigh as soon as she is feeling well enough.

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Desperate Dog Owners Take Over Billboard

Rare Lowchen has been missing for four months

Janis and Bob McCormick are not giving up a four month effort to find their beloved dog named Zak.
Zak hasn't been seen since April 15. That's when the McCormick's say someone took the small white dog out of the front yard of their Saratoga home.
They've offered rewards, posted fliers, hired pet detectives and a psychic, but still no sign of Zak.
Now they have taken over a large billboard on Alum Rock Avenue begging for the dogs return and offering a $3,000 reward. The billboard will be up until the end of the week.
They are also plastering Zak's picture on the back of Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority buses. The fliers will there for a month at a cost of $300 per bus.
Zak is an 11-year-old rare Lowchen and has a brother back home in Saratoga.
The McCormicks say the only requirement to get the reward is to have the dog scanned at a shelter or vet's office to verify it really is Zak.
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In the News....

Teacher Gets a $22G Fine for Personal Call in Class
The attorney for a New Jersey teacher says she won't appeal a $22,000 fine for making a four-minute personal call during class.
The attorney says Asbury Park High School teacher Desley Getty admits she made a mistake.
The 120-day salary forfeiture is based on calendar days and will be deducted from a base salary of about $70,000. That's less than a previous estimate of nearly $50,000.
Court records show the veteran performing arts teacher was covering for another teacher in 2008 when she made the cell-phone call to suspended superintendent Antonio Lewis.
A student recorded two other students dancing while the teacher was on the phone and posted it on YouTube.
The district bans teachers from making personal calls while performing assigned duties.
Asbury Park High School is a four-year public high school headquartered in Asbury Park, N.J.
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Best Buys 52-inch TV for $9.99 Was Too Good to Be True
Few if any of the deals retailers have offered online during the recession have been as good as Best Buy Inc.'s sale price of $9.99 on a 52-inch TV Wednesday. But it quickly turned out the offer was too good to be true.
The electronics retailer said it will not honor the $9.99 price posted Wednesday morning on its Web site for a 52-inch Samsung flat-screen TV. By early afternoon, the TV was listed at $1,799.99, almost half off the original $3,399.99 price.
Bloggers and Twitterers lit up the Internet with posts about the offer, some insisting Best Buy must honor it, others making jokes.
Best Buy, based in Richfield, Minn., said it has corrected an online pricing error and will not honor the incorrect price. Orders made Wednesday morning at the incorrect price will be canceled and customers will receive refunds, the company said.
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