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PHILADELPHIA, PA—The Philadelphia Police Department today confirmed Santa Claus was sleighjacked while trying to deliver toys to all the good little boys and girls in the city. "I parked to check Google Maps and suddenly there was this guy with a gun forcing me out of the sleigh," a tearful Claus told police. "I didn't have time to dig through my sacks of toys to get out a Red Ryder BB Gun and defend myself. It all happened so fast." "Ugh, I had over seven PS5s on that thing!" Claus says the sleighjacker pushed him out of the sleigh and...

Snake and eggs? Floridians could soon eat invasive pythons Python Bowl kicks off Friday in Florida Everglades Python Bowl kicks off Friday in Florida Everglades FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Donna Kalil estimates she’s eaten a dozen pythons in the last three years or so. That’s not including the python jerky, says Kalil, a python hunter for the South Florida Water Management District. “I eat that several times a week because I take it out with me on python hunts and I eat it out there.” State officials would like to see more people like Kalil putting pythons on the menu...

NEW YORK (AP) — Petco said Tuesday that it will stop selling dog and cat treats made in China by the end of this year due to ongoing fears that the imported treats are making pets sick. Investigators at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration haven't been able to figure out why pets are getting ill from the treats since the agency began receiving reports of illnesses in 2007.

**SNIP** But in spite of running more than 1,000 tests and visiting multiple manufacturers, the FDA still isn’t sure what it is in the chicken, duck, and sweet potato jerky that is making the animals sick. “To date, testing for contaminants in jerky treats has not revealed a cause for the illnesses,” said deputy director for the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine Martine Hartogensis.

Federal health officials are warning pet owners to be cautious about feeding their dogs jerky treats as they continue to investigate a treat-related illnesses that has left nearly 600 dogs dead and sickened more than 3,000 others. The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday issued an alert to consumers about the illnesses and deaths tied to jerky treats from China. Officials say the exact cause of the illnesses remains unknown. "This is one of the most elusive and mysterious outbreaks we've encountered," Bernadette Dunham, director of the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine, said in a statement. "Our beloved four-legged companions...

Federal health officials are warning pet owners to be cautious about feeding their dogs jerky treats as they continue to investigate a treat-related illnesses that has left nearly 600 dogs dead and sickened more than 3,000 others. The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday issued an alert to consumers about the illnesses and deaths tied to jerky treats from China. Officials say the exact cause of the illnesses remains unknown. "This is one of the most elusive and mysterious outbreaks we've encountered," Bernadette Dunham, director of the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine, said in a statement. "Our beloved four-legged companions...

President Obama, I oppose your appointment of Michael Taylor, a former VP and Lobbyist for Monsanto, the widely criticized Genetically Modified (GM) food multinational, as Senior Advisor to the Commissioner at the FDA. Taylor is the same person who was Food Safety Czar at the FDA when Genetically Modified Organisms were allowed into the US food supply without undergoing a single test to determine their safety or risks. This is a travesty. Taylor was in charge of policy for Monsanto's now-discredited GM Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH) which is directly linked to cancer and opposed by many medical and hospital organizations.

SOMERSET, Pa. -- Two West Virginia cousins are in the Somerset County Prison awaiting a hearing after they were pulled over and caught with a car full of stolen beef jerky, police said Friday. Somerset Police Chief Randy Cox told Channel 4 Action News reporter Jennifer Miele that the men were pulled over Wednesday on Plank Road because their license plate appeared to be falling off. That is when an officer noticed the jerky. Police say in an affidavit they saw "a large amount of boxed and packaged beef jerky" and socket sets on the car's rear seat. Police said...

The Food and Drug Administration continues to caution consumers about a potential connection between dogs becoming ill and the consumption of chicken jerky products (also described as chicken tenders, strips or treats) imported from China. The FDA issued a warning in September 2007 but does not have the authority to demand a recall. At least one firm in Australia has recalled its chicken jerky product, and the recall notification said the chicken jerky product was made in China. Symptoms include decreased activity, vomiting, diarrhea (sometimes with blood) and increased water consumption and urination. Although most dogs seem to recover, some...

Recent recalls of meat contaminated with nasty microbes could turn a dedicated beef eater toward the produce aisle. But at least one meaty snack is about to get safer: beef jerky. A modified method for small-scale jerky producers could keep tiny bugs out of the food chain, particularly E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella involved in meat recalls, a new study finds. Jerky has been around since ancient times, when humans made it from animal meat that would've been too much to eat all at once. A pound (450 grams) of animal meat weighs about four ounces (113 grams) after being...

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. (Aug. 25, 2005) -- Cpl. Mike Anderson, G-5 Marine Air Ground Task Force plans non-commissioned officer-in-charge, II Marine Expeditionary Force has helped coordinate the deployment of more than 30,000 Marines and sailors in support of operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom. However, once the service members leave for deployment, Anderson and his family don’t leave them out to dry. Rich Lane, Anderson’s uncle and founder of Treats and Letters From America Incorporated not for profit, sends homemade beef jerky and letters to II MEF Marines, sailors, and any other service member who asks for...