Amazing
A Terrified Creature in a Bad Spot
On a good boating day Robert and Dee Gecy were out for a walk. Living by the coast provided plenty of opportunity to enjoy the outdoors, and today was no exception. That said, this time was a very different walk altogether. And it started with seeing a smaller animal barely hanging on above a lot of water and no idea how to swim.
The McTeer Bridge is a huge span covering the length of distance while being supported by huge cement towers and feet planted firmly in the water. As Robert and Dee were walking on the water edge near the bridge, the spotted an oddity that needed attention and quick.
There was one little problem. While they could see a small animal in trouble, it was out on the water. And there wasn’t a lot of time for the animal to survive. It literally was hanging on the edge of the water. Fortunately, the couple had access to a small boat nearby and could do something about the situation. They kicked into gear and tried to get closer.
Each foot closer the situation became clearer and clearer. It was not good. Somehow an animal that didn’t belong this far out on the water and managed to get in a really bad spot and didn’t have much of a chance of getting out of the situation on its own.
That particular animal they could see from the water line turned out to be a small and very scared kitten. And it was a small one too, maybe only a few weeks old. Now, that very same little spark on four legs was barely hanging on trying to stay out of the water. It literally had its claws stuck in clams and seashell life glued to the side of the bridge support foot pad.
Robert and Dee were shocked. How in the world did this little kitten get itself stuck out in this location, much less out on the bridge in the water at all? It didn’t matter at the moment. They needed to get to the cat before it completely gave up and fell in the water, drowning from exhaustion.
The couple moved the skiff closer and closer, with Dee taking as many photographs as she could. The kitten was soaked and barely gripping to the oyster wall. It knew it was in trouble and there was no possible way out of the situation. The tide wasn’t helping. No matter how much Robert and Dee kept trying to row the boat closer, they couldn’t get within range to help.
Robert didn’t give up though. He just kept slowly, painfully getting closer inch by inch. Dee started speaking out to the kitten, trying to calm and get the animal to not jump or spook, which would have easily put it in the water for good.
Finally, the got close enough that Dee was able to reach out and pull the kitten off the oysters. The tide had been rising, and it would have just been a matter of minutes before the cat was swamped for good. The kitten was so exhausted and cold it just went limp in her hands. Robert and Dee got the boat back to the beach and rushed off, trying to get the kitten to veterinarian as quick as possible before it went into shock.
No surprise, the kitten was wiped out. However, youth has its benefits, and the cat was strong enough that dehydration was the only big problem. After a bit of work and fluids, the kitten was healthy and cleared. After all that trouble, Robert and Dee weren’t going to just walk away; they decided to adopt the cat instead.
As it turned out, the kitten has done well. Not only did the feline continue to recover, it adapted to its new home just fine. In fact, as Dee’s photos and story spread, the couple were interviewed locally and talked about how the kitten seemed to have shaken off the whole ordeal. The cat was settling in and acting just like a normal housecat.
Dee had posted the entire affair online with social media, and the story got its own legs, running virtually through the digital world as it was shared again and again. In that story Dee gave her own hypothesis as well how the little kitten ended up in the bridge predicament in the first place.
Dee’s guess was the kitten was not wanted. It was probably part of a litter that had been cruelly thrown off the bridge with the intention of giving them a quick death and avoiding care for the new animals. However, in this particular kitten’s case, it had managed to get out of the water and survive by hanging onto the oysters on the bridge support. But it wasn’t going to last long without having been rescued.
The rescue wasn’t just a danger to the cat. It was a risk for Robert and Dee as well. They easily could have fallen out of the boat and ended up in the water themselves. Fortunately, everything worked out and things didn’t end up worse.
Since the story was uploaded, it’s garnered quite an audience. Well over 150,000 people have read the details and now know the name of the kitten, Mcteer.
McTeer continues to keep on growing and expanding his understanding of the great big world. Instead of having worry about drowning, he gets to spend his feline days jumping around beds, under couches, across window shelves and generally being spoiled rotten. It’s not a bad outcome in terms of cat lives.
With some followup checkups, McTeer has amazed everyone considering his dip in the ocean. The vet checked him over again over the last few months and noted the cat has done extremely well recovering from his initial situation.
The kitten wasn’t totally unfazed. The vet had been originally concerned about McTeer’s sodium level. If he had swallowed salt water, it could have a negative effect on him for a long time.
As it turned out, the concern wasn’t warranted. McTeer handled his recovery so well, he’s given a new definition to a cat having nine lives’ worth of luck and good fortune.
Google is making strides in the world of artificial intelligence (AI), particularly with a system that could revolutionize how doctors diagnose diseases. Imagine a world where your cough could be the key to an early diagnosis of illnesses like COVID-19 or tuberculosis. Google’s AI, known as Health Acoustic Representations (HeAR), is a step towards this future.
HeAR has been trained on millions of audio clips that capture a wide range of human sounds, including coughs. This massive collection of sounds is what sets HeAR apart. It allows the AI to learn and identify the unique characteristics of different respiratory diseases.
Traditionally, doctors diagnose diseases based on symptoms, tests, and sometimes, the sounds of a patient’s cough or breathing. However, this method can be subjective and limited by the doctor’s experience. Google’s AI system aims to make this process more objective and accurate by using machine learning. This means that the AI can improve its diagnostic abilities over time, learning from the vast array of sounds it has been trained on.
Dr. Yael Bensoussan, a laryngologist at the University of South Florida, points out that while supervised learning in medicine has its benefits, such as clinical validation, it’s often restricted by the availability of annotated data sets. HeAR’s approach overcomes this by learning from a vast and diverse set of sounds, not limited to annotated or labeled data.
In the near future, this AI could assist physicians in diagnosing diseases more quickly and accurately. It might even help in assessing lung function, providing a valuable tool in managing and treating respiratory illnesses.
The development of HeAR by Google represents an exciting advancement in the use of AI in medicine. It showcases the potential of machine learning to enhance diagnostic processes and improve patient outcomes, making it a fascinating development in the field of medical technology.
In Dallas, there’s a man named Ron Post who made a huge difference in the lives of millions of people needing health care. His journey began 45 years ago when he saw something on the news that changed his life.
Post and his wife were watching a report about Cambodian refugees fleeing to Thailand from the Khmer Rouge’s “Killing Fields,” where about 2 million people died due to starvation, overwork, and execution. One image struck him hard: the frail body of a teenage girl, which reminded him of his own daughter. This moment touched his heart deeply, and he felt a strong call to take action.
“I believe God put it in my heart that I was to raise up a medical team, and I was to help them,” Post said. And that’s exactly what he did. Although he was a Dallas-based business owner with no experience in medicine, Post’s determination was unstoppable. Within just two weeks, he managed to raise $250,000 and gathered a group of 28 volunteers. Together, they traveled to Thailand to offer their assistance at a refugee camp.
That act of kindness and determination was the start of something much bigger. The organization he founded, Medical Teams International, has grown significantly over the years. Today, it helps around 3 million refugees across eight different camps, providing them with the medical care they desperately need.
But Medical Teams International didn’t stop there. They expanded their services and now operate 13 mobile dental clinics, reaching about 25,000 people every year. These clinics travel to different locations, offering dental care to those who otherwise might not have access to it.
Ron Post’s story shows how one person’s compassion and drive can lead to extraordinary achievements. From his initial heartfelt response to a crisis far from home, he built an organization that continues to provide vital health services to millions of people. Medical Teams International stands as a testament to what can be achieved when someone decides to make a positive change in the world.
In Paradise, California, a community came together to find a much-loved cat named Dundee, who had survived the devastating 2018 Camp Fire. Dundee’s adventure began when his owner, Suise Heffernan, took him to the vet. After the appointment, she stopped to get pet food, locking her truck with Dundee inside. But when she returned, the truck and Dundee were gone.
Surveillance footage from a nearby store showed someone breaking into the vehicle and driving off with Dundee still inside. Heffernan was especially worried because Dundee has a thyroid condition and needed his medication.
The whole community of Paradise stepped up to help find Dundee. After four long days, their efforts paid off, and Dundee was found. Heffernan had adopted Dundee in 2018, just before the Camp Fire. She lost her home, a barn, and hundreds of acres of timber in the fire. Despite being displaced, Dundee transformed from a feral cat into a warm and cuddly companion.
One community member pleaded, “Just return the cat! Trucks can be replaced, and anyone living on the ridge has lost so much already.” Heffernan shared her agony over not knowing Dundee’s whereabouts, a feeling she knew all too well from losing another cat in the Camp Fire.
Heffernan and her friends, along with independent volunteers, continued their search. Finally, on Saturday, they received a call from someone who had Dundee. A group drove to Chico that evening, where Heffernan was reunited with Dundee, who started purring immediately.
Heffernan expressed her gratitude for the community’s support: “There’s something about the people – they just come together and they are there for you. I just can’t even imagine the hours that people that I’ll never meet put in on his behalf. It is so appreciated.”
This heartwarming story showcases the power of community and the unbreakable bond between humans and their pets.
In a remarkable display of veterinary ingenuity, a grasshopper at a Texas zoo was fitted with a miniature “neck brace” after experiencing a unique health issue. The grasshopper, a stick-like breed known as a Peruvian jumping stick, recently underwent a common process for insects: molting. At around six months old, these grasshoppers shed their exoskeleton, allowing for growth. However, this particular grasshopper faced a challenge after molting.
According to a recent zoo blog post, the grasshopper had a weakened area around part of its body resembling a “neck” due to a crease in its thoracic region. This crease caused its head to flop backward when climbing upwards, as these grasshoppers spend most of their time in tree branches.
To address this issue, zookeepers developed a miniature neck brace to temporarily support the insect’s neck in a neutral position while its exoskeleton hardened. The brace was created using a sterile Q-tip shaft and microspore tape to secure it. This innovative solution allowed the grasshopper to continue its normal activities without further injury.
The zoo emphasized the importance of providing exceptional care to all its animals, regardless of their size. “Whether it’s a mammal, reptile, bird, or even insect, all of our animals receive extraordinary care from our veterinary team, no matter how big or small it may be,” the zoo stated.
This story highlights the dedication of zookeepers and veterinarians to the well-being of all creatures in their care and showcases the creative approaches they take to ensure the health and safety of even the smallest residents.
In a story that sounds like it’s straight out of a movie, a dog named Ullr, who had been missing for almost a year, was finally spotted alive and well. Ullr, a mix of Border Collie and Rottweiler, had been living in the wild all by himself after surviving an avalanche. For Jacob Dalbey, Ullr’s owner, this news was the light at the end of a very long and dark tunnel.
Jacob Dalbey’s world turned upside down on March 17, when he was caught in an avalanche near Chair Mountain while skiing with friends. The terrifying incident left Jacob seriously injured and hospitalized, and tragically, one of his friends did not survive. Amidst the chaos, Ullr, who was with them, ran away from the avalanche site. Rescue teams later found dog tracks leading away from the debris, sparking hope that Ullr had survived.
For 341 days, Jacob never gave up hope of finding his beloved pet. He set up trail cameras and left food in various locations, hoping to lure Ullr into view. And then, on a day that seemed like any other, the unimaginable happened. Ullr was captured on a trail camera not once, but two days in a row. “After 341 days, 11 months to the day…it has happened,” Jacob shared on his GoFundMe page, a platform where he had been updating supporters and raising funds to aid in the search for Ullr.
The joy and relief in Jacob’s message were palpable as he thanked his friends and supporters for their unwavering belief and support. “Knowing you believe in us really means a lot,” he wrote, acknowledging the tough journey and the difference their support made.
Jacob’s next steps are focused on bringing Ullr safely back home. In the meantime, he has asked for the community’s help in keeping an eye out for any signs of Ullr, including pawprints, barking, or sightings.
Jacob’s harrowing experience during the avalanche, where he was buried under the snow for over three hours with a broken hand and frostbitten fingers, adds a layer of awe to Ullr’s survival story. Jacob’s determination to dig himself out and survive mirrored Ullr’s own fight for survival in the wild.