CASPER, Wyoming- It is becoming so common for locals to find bears in their pools that filters are getting clogged all over the metro. "It's great for me but lousy for the owner's pocketbooks," says Eddie Vitter, of Vitter's Very Nice Pools. Of bear visits to area home pools, Vitter notes, "Bears are big hairy animals and they shed a lot and the average pool filter was not designed to handle grizzlies. Even Italians and Greeks max out some of the cheaper filter systems."

SALEM, Oregon- A 14-inch fish fell from the sky in West Salem, striking utility lines and causing a power outage. Electric workers suspect that an osprey dropped the dead fish that was found beneath power lines. "It was burned, so it had obviously hit our lines," said Terry Kelly, a spokesman for Salem Electric. "Cooked squirrel is pretty common, but not fried fish."

DENVER, Colorado- A pregnant woman who was fleeing a bear when she was struck by a slow-moving car said she would honor the euthanized animal by giving her baby the middle name ìBear.î Ashley Swendsen said she first spotted the bear as it was coming out of a creek. ìI didnít know what to do, so I just kept walking,î she said. ìI wasnít going to start sprinting.î But she started running when the bear moved toward her. Her husband is not as forgiving of the bearís actions and suggested their babyís first name should be Sleepy, to signify where the bear that harassed his wife has gone forever

SIDNEY, Australia- A wind surfer, Darin Coglin, dodged some low flying pelicans and ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time. His parachute got snagged by the tail of a landing jet which took him for a brief but scary ride. "I know we're supposed to stay away from High Point Beach (a restricted flight path zone) but that's where the best surf and wind is. And those pelicans sure seemed to be edging me over that way, so that where I ended up. Thank god I let go when I did."

WASSILLA, Alaska- Cece and Bobby Bonner thought the zoo had a new raccoon exhibit. And if the railing was so close to the masked critters why not dangle their son over the edge to feed them? The only problem was these were wild raccoons who have been hanging out at the zoo's currently unused tortoise exhibit. Bobby Junior is currently being tested for rabies.

SPRINGFIELD, Illinois- State Water Management Director, John Means, thinks he has the solution to the growing big head carp problem in state waters. "Let's breed, buy, steal every eagle and osprey we can and get a natural predator in here to take out these slimy (expletive deleted)."

LIGHTHOUSE POINT, Fla- If you were a fish and you wanted a fishing boat to run aground you'd aim for the captain. That's exactly what a 355-pound swordfish did, using its bill to break John Barfield's collarbone and bruise his forehead. Even though he just survived a swordfish attack, Barfield is ready to get out there again. "I'd go fishing tomorrow if I could, especially since it seems the big ones are gunnin' for me, now. Let the games begin."

NEDERLAND, Colorado- Jamie Morin was voted Worst Uncle of the Year by the Nederland Chamber of Commerce. Photos are sent in by family members and the voting is part of a charity fund raiser for the Boys and Girls Club.

ERIE,Pennsylvania- Animal rights groups are demanding the promoters of dog shows, whose theme is to make poodles look like other animals, stop immediately. "It's insane and immoral and hard to even put into words how weird these people are," sputtered PETA spokesman Neal Kevlon. "Dogs shouldn't be made to look like a camel or a buffalo or any ridiculous whatever else these morons are doing. A dog is a dog and has the right to be just that."

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida- A wild hog charged a woman in her yard Monday and then led nine rescue and animal control officials on a violent chase through a St. Petersburg, Fla., neighborhood. Cassandra Frank, 26, spotted the black sow just as the 200-pound animal made a run at her, catching her calf with a tusk and pushing her against a tree. Fire Rescue Lt. Dan Robinson, who hunted wild hogs as a boy, tracked her down and got charged too, leaping over a fence just before being gored. "I seen what they can do. They'll take a dog and just rip it right open. They can take those tusks and open a car door and drive off if they want to," Robinson told the St. Petersburg Times.