Trapped deer frees snout from bucket
A deer whose head was stuck in a plastic Halloween jack-o’-lantern for nearly a week has freed itself and will be fine, animal rescuers said Saturday.
Two children found a dented, hair-lined plastic pumpkin in their yard Friday night, and other neighbors saw a thin deer running free, the Grand Rapids Press reported. It was rainy Friday, which rescuers think helped the young deer wriggle free.
Rescuers had planned to use a dart gun to tranquilize the yearling, then remove the bucket, meant for collecting candy.
The bucket was stuck on the animal’s snout, hanging like a feed bag, preventing it from eating or drinking. It had appeared to be snagged on the buck’s ears or horn buds.
Dr. Wendy Swift, a veterinarian, said there was some water residue in the bucket, which probably provided the deer with some water to drink.
“I think this deer will be just fine,” Swift said.
Washington
Gallery plans to buy ‘Gross Clinic’
The National Gallery plans to buy one of the 19th century’s best-known American paintings, “The Gross Clinic” by Thomas Eakins, for a record $68 million.
The sale price sets a record for a pre-World War II work of art created in the United States, according to a statement released Saturday by the painting’s owner, Philadelphia’s Thomas Jefferson University.
The National Gallery of Art will share the work with Alice Walton, daughter of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton, the statement said. Alice Walton founded the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, which is scheduled to open in 2009 in Bentonville, Ark.
Philadelphia has long considered the painting one of its cultural treasures, and it has until Dec. 26 to come up with a matching offer. If it can’t, the National Gallery will probably display the painting in January.
The 8-by-7-foot painting shows a doctor and his students performing surgery on a boy’s leg, while his mother covers her face with her hands.
“The Gross Clinic” was bought for $200 in 1878 – three years after it was painted in Philadelphia – by Thomas Jefferson University, a medical and health sciences school.
Portsmouth, Ohio
New bishop backs same-sex unions
A priest who supports same-sex unions was elected Saturday as bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Ohio.
“I have a fairly settled conviction that any two persons who struggle to live and grow together in fidelity on a lifetime basis have the opportunity to experience God’s grace and to use that relationship for holiness,” the Rev. Thomas Edward Breidenthal said.
However, Breidenthal, a dean of religious life at Princeton University, said he would not perform a same-sex union without the consent of the church. “I have every hope that eventually the church will work this matter out,” he said.