Dog rescued from shipping container in Texas port after being trapped for at least eight days
A dog trapped in a shipping container at a Texas port for at least eight days has been rescued.
A group of coast guard inspectors were randomly inspecting shipping containers at the port in the Houston region last Wednesday when they heard barking and scratching coming from a container high up in a stack, according to the US Coast Guard (USCG).
The container was about 25 feet in the air and had to be lowered by crane before the dog, which rescuers have called Connie the Container Dog, could be freed.
Sharing an update on social media, the USCG said: “When they lowered the container and opened the door, a dog popped out!
Connie the Container Dog, after her rescue. Pic: USCG
Connie with her rescuers at the port. Pic: AP
“This sweet girl was trapped in the container for at least a week and was tired, hungry, and very happy to see her rescuers.
“The Coast Guard members gave her water and brought her to a local animal shelter for further care.”
US Coast Guard officials determined Connie, who was dirty and skinny when she was freed, had been trapped for at least eight days with no food or water.
Connie with one of the coast guards who rescued her. Pic: USCG
The organisation’s Facebook account said the container was from the Houston-Galveston area but it’s not known precisely where. It was filled with scrapped vehicles, thought to be most likely on their way to be sold for parts overseas.
Officials believe Connie was therefore most likely in a car in a scrapyard before it was picked up.
If she hadn’t been found by the inspectors, they added, it would have most likely been another week before the container Connie was in would have arrived at its destination by cargo ship, meaning she would have been without food or water for two weeks.
Connie and the four marine inspectors from the US Coast Guard who found her. Pic: AP
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The marine inspectors took Connie to the Pasadena Animal Shelter before she was transferred to the care of a Forever Changed Animal Rescue (FCAR) representative on Friday.
FCAR says Connie weighs 30 pounds, which is slightly underweight, and has tested positive for heartworm, a serious disease among pets caused by a parasitic worm, and will need treatment.
The rescue group, which is based in Virginia, said Connie would be flown to Manassas airport on Tuesday, from where she will head straight to the vet for a full examination. The group will then start work on finding her “the amazing home that she is so deserving of”.
It added that she is “incredibly sweet but very shy and scared of her new surroundings as to be expected.”
A judge has blocked the auction of Elvis Presley’s former home, by a company that claimed his estate failed to repay a loan which used the property as collateral.
Shelby County Chancellor JoeDae Jenkins issued a temporary injunction against the proposed auction of Graceland that had been scheduled for Thursday.
Mr Jenkins’ injunction essentially keeps in place a previous restraining order he had issued after the singer’s granddaughter Riley Keough filed a lawsuit to fight what she claimed was a fraudulent scheme.
A public notice for a foreclosure sale of the 13-acre estate in Memphis, Tennessee, posted earlier in May said Promenade Trust, which controls the Graceland museum, owes $3.8m (£3m) after failing to repay a loan taken out in 2018.
Elvis Presley
Keough, an actor, inherited the trust and ownership of the home following the death of her mother, Lisa Marie Presley, last year.
Naussany Investments and Private Lending said Lisa Marie Presley had used Graceland as collateral for the loan, according to the foreclosure sale notice.
Keough alleged that Naussany presented fraudulent documents regarding the loan in September 2023.
Neither Keough nor lawyers for Nassauny Investments were in court.
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Riley Keough Pic: AP
“Lisa Maria Presley never borrowed money from Naussany Investments and never gave a deed of trust to Naussany Investments,” Keough’s lawyer submitted in the lawsuit.
Kimberly Philbrick, the notary is listed on Nassauny’s documents, indicated that she never met Lisa Marie Presley nor notarised any documents for her, the court filing said.
Graceland opened as a museum and tourist attraction in 1982 as a tribute to Elvis, five years after the King of Rock n Roll died in aged 42 in 1977.
He purchased Graceland Mansion in 1957 and lived there until his death.
It now draws hundreds of thousands of visitors each year, and a large Elvis-themed entertainment complex across the road from the museum is owned by Elvis Presley Enterprises.
US
Oregon: Woman crushed by grand piano shows ‘amazing spirit’ after being told she will never walk again
A woman has been left unable to walk after a piano slipped and dropped on her while she was helping a friend move the instrument.
Danielle Drummond, 28, who had recently relocated from Cleveland, Ohio, to Oregon for a fresh start, is now hoping for a scientific breakthrough after the ordeal left her needing both a wheelchair and a carer.
She told Cleveland-based broadcaster 19 News she had tried to stabilise the piano when offering to help last month, but her friend lost her grip.
“She dropped like a whole upright grand piano on me, and it severed my spinal cord,” Ms Drummond said.
“Now, I’m paralysed from the waist down.”
Ms Drummond has no family in Eugene, the city in Oregon where she lives, and also needs to find a permanent home, having been living in a van with her dog, Lotus.
Danielle Drummond. Pic: GoFundMe
Compounding her problems, she does not know how she would begin to move back to her family in Cleveland and transfer all her belongings and medical equipment.
Her sister has set up a fundraising page to “support future medical needs”, with the aim of raising $10,000 (£7,850).
“Our family thanks you for all your support, consideration, thoughts, love and prayers,” her sister Rosie Hayne wrote, describing Ms Drummond as “strong”, “wise”, and “down to earth”.
In an update on the GoFundMe page, Ms Hayne added: “She wants to make it clear that she is not expecting to ever walk again.
“She has accepted the reality of her situation. But she has an amazing spirit and an overall positive outlook, focusing on what she can do.”
Ms Drummond told 19 News she hopes people going through similar circumstances “don’t give up”.
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Meanwhile, her wish remains for a new development in treatment.
“It definitely is a game change for me,” she said. “I try to stay hopeful.”
An unknown number of people have died after a powerful tornado ripped through a small town in Iowa.
Dramatic pictures showed the destruction left behind in Greenfield, with police confirming there had been fatalities and at least a dozen injuries, without being able to provide specific figures.
The devastation came as multiple tornadoes rolled through the US Midwest.
At least three 250-foot-high wind turbines were toppled by an apparent tornado in southwest Iowa.
One turbine was in flames, with black smoke pouring from the bent structure.
Officials said most of Greenfield, with a population of about 2,000 people, had been destroyed, with rescue efforts continuing in an attempt to find survivors.
A trail of destruction was left behind in Greenfield. Pic: AP
Pic: AP
Pic: AP
Pic: AP
Buildings, including homes and businesses, were flattened, trees shredded, and vehicles thrown down the streets which were left strewn with piles of debris.
Sgt Alex Dinkla, a spokesperson for the Iowa State Patrol, said: “This tornado has devastated a good portion of this town.
“Sadly, we can confirm that there have been fatalities. We’re still counting at this time.”
The extreme conditions in Iowa brought down wind turbines. Pic: AP
Pic: AP
Pic: AP
He said Greenfield’s hospital was among the buildings that were damaged, which meant at least a dozen people who were hurt had to be taken to facilities elsewhere.
Residents helped each other salvage their belongings as they tried to come to terms with what had happened.
Pic: AP
Pic: AP
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Rogue Paxton said he sheltered in the basement of his home when the storm moved through.
He told WOI-TV he thought his family was lucky not to lose their house.
“But everyone else is not so much, like my brother Cody, his house just got wiped,” he said.
“Then you see all these people out here helping each other.
“Everything’s going to be fine because we have each other, but it’s just going to be really, really rough. It is a mess.”
The storms followed days of extreme weather which has ravaged much of the middle section of the US.
Strong winds, large hail and tornadoes swept across parts of Oklahoma and Kansas late Sunday, damaging homes and injuring two people.
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