The image and caption above is from the store's website. Here's a translation:
Coming with the dog to IKEA Köln-Am Butzweilerhof ?
There are many adults
and children who are afraid of dogs. For this as well as for hygienic
reasons we have decided not to allow dogs in IKEA stores, with the
exception of guide dogs. If you do not want to leaveyourdog at home,we've set up a dog parking area in front of ourentrance.
And here is a photo of a couple of dogs parked at the store:
Studies have shown that since the 1950s or 1960s numerous dogs have have been jumping off a bridge near Overtoun House in south-west Scotland at the rate of about one dog per year -- and no one knows why.
Overtoun House is a 19th-century country house and estate in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland. It is located on a hill overlooking the River Clyde, in between the village of Milton and the town of Dumbarton. Built between 1860 and 1863 for James Black & White, a retired lawyer and a co-owner of the J&J White Chemical Works, the house and the estate were given by a descendant of his to the people of Dumbarton in 1938. It was then converted into a maternity hospital, and now houses a 'center for hope and healing.'
In a recent article, Ned Donovan wrote, "The area has long been thought to be haunted, and in 1994 a father threw his child off the bridge, claiming the infant to be the Anti-Christ before himself attempting to jump off the bridge. In fact, the sinister background of Overtoun can be traced directly back to Celtic mythology: it is said to inhabit an area of Scotland which is 'thin', i.e. where our world crosses with that of heaven, allowing spirits to cross over into our Earthly domain.
Dogs that leap over the bridge parapet fall 50 feet (15 m) onto the waterfalls below. Some dogs that survived the drop have jumped again. The only linking factors for this unexplained event are that dogs mostly jump from the same side of the bridge, in clear weather, and they are breeds with long snouts.
As to why, Donovan observed, "Over the years it has been argued that dogs are sensitive to supposed paranormal activity and could be naturally drawn towards the spiritual barrier that may exist on the bridge, a barrier we cannot detect.
"The locals in the area believe that the cause lay nearby at Her Majesty’s Naval Base Faslane, where the United Kingdom’s nuclear deterrent resides. Residents believed that secret naval communications emitted a sound only heard by dogs and caused them to jump off the bridge. Others placed the blame in the sound of the waterfall next to the bridge where the dogs land after their jump.
"The most emotionally charged explanation is that the dogs are simply depressed, and that Overtoun Bridge is for them what the Golden Gate Bridge is to humans."
In 2005 the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals sent an animal habitat expert to investigate the causes as to why dogs kill themselves at Overtoun Bridge. Initially Dr David Sands examined sight, smell and sound factors. After eliminating what a dog could potentially see and hear on the bridge, he eventually focused on scent following the discovery of mice and mink in undergrowth on the side of the bridge from which dogs often leaped. In a test, the odors from these animals were spread around an open field. Ten dogs were unleashed - representing the most common breeds that jumped off the bridge. Of the dogs tested, only two showed no interest in any of the scents while nearly all the others made straight for the mink scent. Sands concluded that, although it was not a definitive answer, the potent odor from male mink urine was possibly luring the dogs to their deaths. His theory is that curiosity killed the dogs.
At the time Dr. Sands appeared in a TV documentary about his study of thee phenomenon and he has since updated that report for National Geographic in 2010 and then again for William Shatners 'Weird or What' in 2012. Watch video clips from these below:
A pensioner tipped a bag of dog excrement over a Cambridge University lecturer as he cycled past her. Retired civil servant Susan Currall, 75, was fed up with cyclists "hurtling" towards her as she walked her four-year-old lurcher called Rosie near her home, Cambridge Magistrates' Court heard. She swung the bag of faeces at Michael Ramage, the director of studies for architecture at Sidney Sussex College, as she believed he was cycling too close to her. She then held up the bag to allow the contents to spill over the American-born lecturer as he tried to pass her on a path on September 12, said prosecutor Paul Brown. Mr Ramage, 40, later made a complaint to police and Currall was quizzed by officers at her home in Trumpington, Cambridge. She admitted a charge of assault by beating and was given a one year conditional discharge and ordered to pay £100 costs and £25 compensation to Mr Ramage to cover his dry cleaning bill. The court heard how the confrontation happened on a dual-use path shared by cyclists and pedestrians alongside the allotments and the guided busway in Trumpington. She claimed that she was "provoked" by Mr Ramage, who also lives in Trumpington, because he got too close to her. The court heard how Currall had no previous convictions, but had received two cautions for common assault and criminal damage in 2007 following a dispute with a neighbour. Currall said after the hearing: "It is ridiculous that this case ended up in court. A lot of people will be applauding me for what I did because cyclists can be such a pain in the neck.
This video clip of baby Jade was released by the West Midlands Police. Here's the story from the BBC:
Jade, who has been named by hospital staff, was found in a bag
wrapped in a towel at a community park in Stechford, Birmingham, on
Thursday afternoon. The girl, who weighs about 6lbs (2.7kg), remains in
hospital and should make a full recovery over the next two days, West
Midlands Police said.
Roger Wilday, whose German shepherd dog found Jade, said he was proud
of her. The baby was thought to be about 24 hours old when she was
found at about 14:00 GMT on Thursday and believed to have been there for
about 30 minutes before being discovered...
Mr Wilday said he had been walking Jade the dog when the animal was attracted to some bushes in the park off Stuarts Road..
"I
was just coming back [out of the park] and Jade went to some bushes and
she wouldn't come back to me... I went to look and saw a carrier bag in
the bushes and it moved," he said.
"I thought, 'what's that?' and heard a cry and so I looked in the bag and it was a baby in there."...
After making the discovery, he contacted a friend who called the
police. Mr Wilday was told by them to pick the baby up and he was then
met by officers in the park.
Roger Wilday said it very "lucky" his dog found the baby when she did
"If she had been there overnight, I think she might have died... I think my dog saved the baby's life. I'm very proud of her."
He appealed to the mother to come forward and contact police and said he hoped to visit Jade in the coming days.
"The most emotionally charged explanation is that the dogs are simply depressed, and that Overtoun Bridge is for them what the Golden Gate Bridge is to humans."
