Schools close down after dogs chase deer through their hallways (with video) - via Terry Colvin

It’s a tale as old as time: dogs chasing deer through school hallways. I think. I think that’s a thing. Either way, as WBFF FOX Baltimore reports, that’s exactly what happened at Southern Middle School in Lothian, Maryland in the wee hours of Monday morning. And, it was all caught on video.

Police were alerted to a burglar alarm that had been tripped at 3:50 A.M. As The Capital Gazette reports, when law enforcement arrived, they found broken glass and both injured and dead deer. They also noticed two dogs - one a German shepherd and the other a German shepherd mix.

Continued

Great crested newts discovery halts Corby school build

Work on a new primary school for a Northamptonshire town has stopped following the discovery of great crested newts.

The first pupils at Corby Primary Academy in Oakley Vale, Corby, will have to temporarily move to a refurbished former junior school.

The school will open as scheduled in September 2013, but with fewer pupils than planned.

The rare amphibians are protected by EU and UK law.

'Setback' for school

Councillor Andrew Grant, county council cabinet member for children, learning and skills, said: "There's no denying that this is a setback but we appreciate the ecological significance of the situation.

"The presence of the newts means that we are not permitted to start work on site until spring after the newts have been relocated."

Corby Primary Academy is being built on the site of Exeter Primary School.

The council has decided to refurbish the former school's junior block so the school can open on time.

This means it will only have 60 reception places and 30 places in years one and two when it opens next September.

If the build had not been halted, the school would also have had places for Key Stage 2 children.

Wildlife experts are now deciding what should happen to the newts.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-northamptonshire-19916158

N. Zealand school criticised for dead possum show

A New Zealand school that staged a morbid fashion show in which children were encouraged to dress possum corpses in colourful costumes has come under fire from animal lovers.

The contest, part of an annual fundraiser for the Uruti School in the North Island, was unacceptable and thoughtless, the New Zealand Royal Society for the Protection of Animals (RSPCA) said.

Children at the school fitted dead possums in a variety of costumes including wedding dresses and bikinis, then arranged them in comedy poses, such as riding a tricycle and painting at an easel.

"It's not something that can be justified, animals deserve respect whether they're wild, domestic or pets," RSPCA spokeswoman Jackie Poles-Smith told AFP Wednesday.

"We encourage empathy to all animals, even when they're dead, and it's a shame that a school is encouraging its children to do this."

The local Taranaki Daily News ran an online gallery of the dead marsupials under the headline "pimped-up possums" reporting an overwhelmingly negative reaction in its comments section, including "sick", "disgusting" and "psycho".

Continued:  http://uk.news.yahoo.com/n-zealand-school-criticised-dead-possum-show-054910506.html

Police called to expel bear from vandalizing high school

POLICE were called to deal with unruly behavior at an Anchorage high school yesterday (13th June), but it wasn't a troublesome student - instead they had to chase a bear out of the classroom building.

Bartlett High School - home of the Golden Bears sporting teams - was evacuated yesterday afternoon while police went inside to scare the small brown bear out, the Anchorage Daily News reported.

Police banged on some doors and the bear ran outside and off into a nearby wooded area, officer Chris Mueller said.

"She was shopping. Any trash can that had any food in it was knocked over," Mueller said. "She peed in the hall at one point. Another teenage ne'er-do-well, just a different species."

The bear had entered through a door left open for builders doing construction work on the east Anchorage school, Mueller said.

Eugene Dixon, who was cutting weeds on the school grounds, told the Daily News that the bear "stood about waist high."

Authorities have already shot and killed three brown bears this summer in and around Anchorage.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/the-other-side/police-called-to-expel-bear-from-vandalizing-high-school/story-e6frfhk6-1226395647226