Mighty stallion that flies without wings: Famous riding school returns to London

By JAMES TOZER



A white lipizzaner Stallion performs during the Spanish Riding School of Vienna Gala Performance at Wembley Arena



Like Pegasus without the wings, the magnificent horse flies effortlessly through the air.

Indeed, it seems as if the long reins held by its handlers are all that is stopping it soaring out of the arena.

This is one of the celebrated white Lipizzaner stallions being put through its paces in a move known as the capriole.



The highly trained riders and horses of the 430 year old 'High School for classical horsemanship' are based in the Hofburg Palace in Vienna



Literally meaning ‘goat’s leap’, it requires the stallion to jump into the air and kick out with its hind legs before landing.

Two horsemen control it with long lines while gently guiding its movements with a ‘lunge whip’.

Another stallion, pictured right rearing with its hind hooves off the ground, shows the extraordinary control of rider over animal.



Visiting London for the first time in five years, the Spanish Riding School of Vienna is once more thrilling crowds with its astonishing combination of grace and athleticism.

The institution has been a favourite of royalty since it was set up more than 460 years ago. Our own Queen is a lifelong fan – and among the few women to have been allowed to ride one of the thoroughbreds.

She was only a year into her reign when she was allowed to take the reins of a horse called Pluto Theodorasta during a visit by the riding school to London.



source: dailymail

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Their son never came back from Iraq, the puppy he saved did: The amazing story of how bereaved parents rescued dog of war

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER



One man and his dog: Justin Rollins befriended a tiny puppy on the night he was killed by an IED in Iraq



Hero is no ordinary New Hampshire dog.

Hers is a tale that began in war-torn Samarra, Iraq, in early 2007.

Justin Rollins, of 82nd Airborne Division, had found the tiny puppy, one of a litter of eight, living underneath an abandoned portable toilet near his base.



Animal contact: Jason Wheeler, left, and Justin took photos of their new friends and sent them home to family. They were the last images Justin sent home



Smiling and enjoying the company of the young litter, he and his team-mates took some photos to send home. Just hours later, Justin was killed by an IED.

The happy pictures he had taken and emailed home that night were the last contact he'd have with his girlfriend and family - but the start of an unlikely tale of determination.





Happier times: Brittney Murray, Justin's girlfriend, helped his mother Rhonda Rollins with lobbying to bring the puppy to the U.S after Justin's death



Just two weeks later, Justin was given a military funeral in the U.S. His grieving mother, Rhonda Rollins, was asked if there was anything the U.S. military could do to help. Well, yes, she answered.

She wanted to bring the brown and white spotted dog that Justin had befriended on the night of his death back to America.

Her request was certainly an unusual one, but, with the help of Brittney Murray, Justin's girlfriend, the ball started to roll.



Puppy lottery: Jason describes the puppy whimpering and crying after they found him. They gave him a bath in a washing machine and prepared him for the long journey to his new home



The high-school sweetheart made six phonecalls and eventually piqued the attention of former New Hampshire Congressman Paul Hodes, who took up the challenge.

Skip Rollins, Justin's father, spoke about the million-to-one chance of finding the dog - and then getting the clearance to bring it back to the U.S.

The request had to go along 'the chain of command all the way to to the top and then all the way back to the bottom,' he told Animal Planet.

Rhonda told ABC News' 20/20 show: 'They said one in a million. And I had already said, because Justin was a hero, the dog, whether it was male or female, it going to be named Hero.'

An old friend ran the story in a local newspaper and soon Operation Hero had gained the momentum it needed. With the help of the Congressman, strings were pulled within the chain of command.



Luckiest dog in Iraq: 'No one ever expected for it to actually work' said Jason of the unusual plan to bring the Iraqi dog to the U.S.



Jason Wheeler, one of Justin's friends from 82nd Airborne, had originally found the puppies with Justin.

'No one ever expected for it to actually work...' he said of the audacious plan. But one day, 'the call came down: "Hey, we have to get this dog,"' he recalls to Animal Planet.

Against the odds, he helped find the stray puppy months after that fateful night.

'It was crying and whimpering but we were like "You won the puppy lottery and you don't even know it."

'This dog had to think "What the heck just happened to me? I was living underneath the porta-potty, now I'm in a washing machine getting the dirtiest stuff washed off me,"' he told Animal Planet's Saved programme.



New family: Hero is united with Justin's father, Skip, left, girlfriend, Brittney Murray, centre, and Rhonda, right



United at last: After three long months of battling red tape, Hero was delivered to Congressman Hodes' office



Relieved: The perfect moment was only marred by Hero 'christening' the Congressman's office carpet







source: dailymail

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Loneliest seal in the world, shunned by her colony for being ginger, is now the centre of attention at Russian zoo... and loving it

By WILL STEWART



Star attraction: Happy in her new home at the Akvatoria 'dolphinarium' in Russia, ginger seal Nafanya is quickly becoming a hit with tourists



Things are looking up for the little ginger-coloured seal pup whose fate touched the world after being rejected by the rest of its sleek black family.

Left as an outcast, the vulnerable creature was found huddling under a pile of logs on Tyuleniy Island in the far east of Russia.

Photographer Anatoly Strakhov, 61, took heartbreaking pictures of the world's loneliest seal, which would have been unable to survive in the wild.



Heartbreaker: Anatoly Strakhov's shot of the shunned seal melted the hearts of animal lovers worldwide



Two months on and Russians have taken the rare albino seal - who turns out to be female - to their hearts.

Named Nafanya - after a lookalike Soviet cartoon character - the seal was given VIP treatment and has now moved into a plush new home at the country's leading aqauarium.

Nafanya was taken on a 7,890-mile odyssey to the Russian mainland and then by special plane to Adler, near Sochi on the Black Sea coast, where she is rapidly becoming a star attraction.



Yulia Frolova, head of the Akvatoria dolphinarium - Nafanya's new home, said: 'She now has a special enclosure with a pool, and two weeks after her arrival, people are already coming to see her.

And, quickly adapting to life among humans, the seal has her own live webcam so her worldwide fans can follow her - http://www.nafanya-sochi.ru/ - which broadcasts between 7am and 1pm UK time.

Miss Frolova said: 'She has a good appetite, and always seems in a happy mood. She is such an unusual seal with very beautiful bright blue eyes. When she arrived, she was tired after the long flight, but soon picked up her appetite.'



What's in a name? The seal bears a striking resemblance to Nafanya, a Soviet-era cartoon character



Experts at the dolphinarium say Nafanya's eyesight is not as poor as at first feared. Originally thought to be almost blind, it turns out she only has trouble seeing in bright sunlight. And, given her celebrity status, some dark sunglasses may not be a bad idea.

Her keepers say she loves being the centre of attention, and Ms Frolova added: 'She has a playful nature. She loves to play with her toy - a small blue ball.

'But what she likes the most its to play with a fish at feeding time. She will follow it, catch it, put it in her mouth, release it and finally eat it.



Still lonely: Nafanya can't shrug off the title as 'loneliest seal in the world' yet, as she has to be kept in quarantine for a month before joining other seals at the aquarium



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That's one gutsy guard dog! Canines chase starving polar bear away from Siberian weather station

By RICHARD HARTLEY-PARKINSON



Get off my land: One of the dogs approaches the polar bear at Bely Island weather station after he came ashore on one of the most remote islands in the world



When you live at one of the most isolated corners of the planet, a dog really is man's best friend.

And when a hungry polar bear lumbered ashore to forage for food among the rubbish bins at a weather station, the dogs of Bely Island off the tip of the Yamal Peninsula in Siberia risked their lives to prove their worth.



Two's company: A second dog joins in the foray making the polar bear edge backwards as they carry on barking at the unwelcome visitor



Without fear of their giant adversary, who could have killed them with a single swipe if it wanted to, they charged forward to protect the few human inhabitants of the remote spot from the powerful beast. First one, then two, and finally a third dog joined the fray, barking and growling at the polar bear.

Although the polar bear did not exactly beat a hasty retreat, it came no further inland after encountering the hostile 'welcoming' committee and shuffled off elsewhere.



Three's a crowd: Amateur photographer Sergey Anisimov captured the exchange as a third dog decided it wanted in on the action



The weather station at Bely Island has been there since 1934. The four workers at the station send weather information to Moscow every three hours and polar bears are fairly frequent visitors.



The man who took these remarkable photographs, Sergey Anisimov, 50, was invited to the weather station by the Government of Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, whose officials were travelling there to examine a newly built trading station for deer-breeders.

On the island is a memorial stone there dedicated to soldiers and sailors killed during World War Two. There is a Northern Sea Route close to the island and during the war bodies of sailors from sunken ships would wash up on the shore and then be buried inland.

Several Russian Orthodox Priests had also travelled to the island to consecrate the memorial stone. Mr Anisimov said: 'We flew to the station by helicopter. And we noticed a bear when we flew closer to the station.

'The bear was digging into boxes of old things, probably rubbish, looking for some food. When we got out of the helicopter we noticed that the bear came closer until it was only about thirty metres from us.



Sorry: The hungry bear looks almost apologetic as it slinks away from the pack of dogs before heading back down to the sea



Sore paw: The bear looks fed up in in front of the bleak scenery after its confrontation with the dogs that were guarding the few inhabitants of Bely Island



'The dogs tried to protect us and we fired a signal pistol to try and scare it away. Eventually it gave up its advance and just lay down. There were also weather station workers near us and ready with the guns to scare the bear away.

'When we flew away the bear was still there and was watching us with sad eyes.' Bely Island is a relatively large island in the Kara Sea off the tip of the Yamal Peninsula, Siberia, Russia.strative division of Russia.



source: dailymail

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Hey, watch where you're going! Brave (or crazy) snorkeller plays chicken with a sperm whale in the Caribbean

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

Up close and personal: A lucky snorkeller takes whale-watching to a new level by nudging heads. The amazing photo was taken of Dominica in the Caribbean

If you're planning to go head-to-head with a sea creature, it's probably best to start small.
Only the very brave, or very stupid, would begin a headbutting competition with a 50-ton sperm whale... after all, its head is one third of its overall size.
Nevertheless, here are pictures of a snorkeller doing just that - swimming with his head down right up to a massive whale.

Swimming with giants: The whales, attracted to the area because of the unique feeding opportunity, put on a breathtaking show when they are in a playful mood

The amazing pictures were taken off the coast of Dominica in the Caribbean.
Of course, you can't make a 60ft animal do anything against its will, so it's up to the whales to decide if they are in the mood to play. But, when they are feeling sociable, the results lead to amazing pictures like these.
Dominica has become known as the whale-watching capital of the Caribbean. Sperm whales can be seen year-round and - because the ocean floors drops to thousands of feet deep just off the coast - the whales are within easy reach of humans.

Size comparison: Despite the clear height and weight advantage, these gentle giants of the see seem to be happy with the social interaction

Whale of a time: The snapping snorkeller keeps his distance from the giant whale to capture more intimate shots

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Room for two more little ones? Four and 20 freezing sparrows huddle up on a single brrrranch

By RICHARD HARTLEY-PARKINSON



Stay close: As they battle the elements of a Canadian snowstorm, these 24 sparrows huddle to keep warm



Like the hilarious Pixar animation 'for the birds', these swallows huddle together to shelter from the cold.

But, instead of pecking the feet of a larger bird until the wire twangs, these little creatures are snuggling up against the harsh winter weather along the Yukon River in Canada.

Struggling to stay warm as temperatures plummet below freezing in a bitter snow storm, they clamour onto a single branch to conserve heat. And because of their ingenuity, every single one of them survived.



They were pictured on a tree on the banks of the Yukon River as they fluffed up their feathers to stay warm



Photographer Keith Williams, 59, spotted the remarkable scenes while out walking his dog, Brandy.

He said: 'I noticed several hundreds of swallows taking cover in the trees during the storm and immediately recognized how rare it was to see so many clinging together.

'I was amazed because I had never seen them in such large numbers and at such close range.



'They coped by crowding together on branches to conserve body heat and forming a pile, something I have never heard any bird do before.

'They also created their own warm jackets by fluffing their feathers and tucked their heads under their wings to conserve heat.

'Perhaps one of the reasons why I was able to get so close may have been because they had lowered their metabolism to conserve precious calories, so were in slowed-state called torpor, similar to hibernation.

'Extreme cold and snowstorms don't allow for flying insects their main food, but they did seem to be trying to pick some sort of aquatic insect off the surface of the river.



Photographer Keith Williams captured the images while he was out taking a walk with his dog, Brandy



'I'm not sure how successful they were but I saw no dead birds.'

Mr Williams added: 'I returned early the following morning to check up on the birds, as I feared many might have died from cold, hunger and exhaustion. All seemed fine.

'They allowed me to take photos from close range, which is unusual for this species.

'I was wearing camouflage gear and had been standing still for a quite a while.

'I was blown-away by some of the photos, especially the colourful close-ups which revealed the blue, metallic plumage.

'Normally when I think of swallows, it's little brown and white birds swooping about in the sky at a distance, because that is all I usually get to see of them.'



The scene was like something from the Pixar animation 'for the birds' but without a larger bird coming to disturb them







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Back from the brink of death: The recovery of starved Reuben... the thinnest dog the RSPCA staff had ever seen

By NEIL SEARS



Road to recovery: Reuben the lurcher who was stolen and then abandoned is pictured with Adele Collier at the RSPCA West Malling, Kent



When he was found dumped by a roadside, his bones breaking through his skin, he was the thinnest dog appalled RSPCA staff had ever seen.

The starving lurcher, named Reuben by those who nursed him back from the brink of death, had weighed less than 17lbs – under half his natural weight – and lost a number of patches of fur.

A hunt is now on for whoever so cruelly neglected him, but the good news is that it has emerged that he was stolen two months ago, and his original owner has been found.



He is now back in his home and being looked after under the supervision of experts. It is hoped he will make a full recovery.

Reuben was found in the village of Hartley, near Sevenoaks in Kent, just under two weeks ago, and rushed to the RSPCA centre nearby at Leybourne.



In that short time he has already put on 7lbs, though is still poorly.

RSPCA manager Christine Dooley said: ‘This is the thinnest dog I’ve ever seen. After two days in our care he weighed just 17.5lbs.

‘The vet has told us that it will cost around £1,000 to treat him.’

RSPCA inspector Jo Barber said: ‘This poor dog was simply abandoned in this dreadful state.



Cruel: Starving Rueben was found dumped in the Kent village of Hartley, near Sevenoaks



‘We would like to hear from anyone who knows who he belonged to and who dumped him.’

Last night an RSPCA spokeswoman said the original owner of Reuben had been traced, after it emerged he had reported the dog stolen in September.

‘Reuben has been reunited with his owner,’ said the spokeswoman.

‘He has gone back home with him, and though he’s still in a quite a poor condition the owner is going to be getting him veterinary care, and we’re going to be doing a follow-up visit

‘The weight loss occurred during the two months he was missing.’

Lurchers were traditionally used for hunting – often by poachers – but enthusiasts say they can make excellent family pets.



Safe: Reuben is now in the caring hands of RSPCA staff



source: dailymail

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Saving the eye of the tiger: Battle to prevent rare white big cat from going blind

By RICHARD HARTLEY-PARKINSON



Vet Rob Lowe led a team of vets in trying to restore Zena's sight after she developed a cataract



This vet is used to restoring the sight of dogs and horses, but never has he worked on a tiger before.

Roger Lowe was enlisted by the Isle of Wight Zoo, in Sandown, to remove a cataract from the one remaining eye of Zena, a rare white tiger.

The 15-year-old big cat, who is a star attraction at the zoo, lost her right eye to glaucoma six years ago and faced total blindness and a life of finding her way round with just her senses of smell and sound.



Charlotte Corney, who hand-raised Zena, said she is glad to see the recovery the rare tiger is making



On Monday, however, she went under the surgeon's knife and is back to her usual self with 'tomboyish tendencies'.

People visiting the her will be able to see her splashing around in puddles or showing off for the crowds that go to visit her.



Back with her sister, Zia (right), the tiger is one of the star attractions at the Isle of Wight zoo



Zoo owner Charlotte Corney said: 'I'm over the moon, couldn't be happier.'

Zena's profile on the Isle of Wight zoo website says she lives with her sister, Zia, who has a totally different character.

'Unlike her older sister Zia, Zena doesn't seem to understand the meaning of vanity,' it says. 'Zena has a real zest for life, which is evident from watching her humorous antics.

'Among other things, she has perfected the art of bouncing along on her hind legs while trying to 'bite the jet of water from a hosepipe.'



source: dailymail

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Foxy Roxy makes herself top dog as she moves in with family who rescued her

By ROB COOPER



Top dog: Roxy - who once leapt into a pushchair and fell asleep - leaps at a dog as she goes for a walk



This fox has moved in with a family as a tame pet after being rescued by her kind-hearted owner.

Remarkably Roxy goes for walks on a lead, eats from a dog bowl and even plays with toy bones with her canine chums.

She happily walks around the shops with her owner and has been known to lounge around in the house, trying to show the household's pet dogs she is boss.



Her owner, Geoff Grewcock, 61, says she won't eat raw meat, and can even sit placidly in a chicken coop while the hens peck at her.

Roxy, a ten-year-old red fox, was taken in by Geoff who runs an animal rescue centre in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, after she was found tied to metal railings.

He intended to rehabiliate her into the wild, but quickly realised she was tame and didn't know how to hunt for herself.

So he decided to look after her at his home, giving her a pen in the garden and introducing her to his pet dogs.



Britain's tamest fox? Roxy goes for a walk on a lead along with a dog. She was rescued by Geoff Grewcock, 61, after being found tied to some railings



Fox thinks its a dog: Rosie Clinton, 19, takes Roxy for a walk at the sanctuary where she has been looked after in Nuneaton, Warwickshire



Before he knew it, she was playing with the pooches and enjoying dog toys, as well as wanting to go out for walks with her new friends.

Geoff, a grandfather-of-one, said: 'She seems to get tamer and tamer.

'She has no hunting instinct at all - you can put her in with the chickens and she would just sit there while they peck her.

'She has cooked chicken for dinner because she doesn't like any raw meat.

'You can stroke her and people in Nuneaton love to make a fuss of her when they see her out walking.



'Most spoilt fox in Britain': Roxy eats from a dog bowl. Her owner says he has put her in with chickens - and they just peck at her



'Once, she even jumped in a pushchair with a little two-year-old and curled up asleep - the little girls' mum knew her and didn't mind at all.

'I let her in the house sometimes but she causes havoc playing with the dogs so she has her own pen in the garden.

'She has dog toys in there and sometimes she teases the dogs by sticking her big rubber bone through the wire and snatching it back when they try to eat it.

'She's a great favourite around here - she must be the most spoilt fox in Britain.'



source: dailymail

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I'm just here tinkling the ivories: Eccentric British pianist plays piano to blind elephants at the top of Thai mountain

By MAIL FOREIGN SERVICE



Listen up big ears: Paul Barton played Beethoven to the elephants, which live in a sanctuary on the mountains of Kanchanaburi, north of Bangkok



A 50-year-old British man has dragged a piano up a mountain in Thailand - so he could play Beethoven for blind elephants.

Paul Barton achieved a long-held ambition as he sat behind his piano, just a few metres away for the graceful giants, calmly playing his instrument.

He decided to do the challenge to help fund raising for the blind elephants, which live in a sanctuary on the mountains of Kanchanaburi, north-east of Bangkok.



Paul said: 'It was a 50th birthday present to myself, my wife and I have been working with blind elephants for many years, and I thought it might be something they would enjoy to listen to.

'I sat down and thought, what do you play to an elephant? 'You only get a short time, so I started trawling through my books and then Slow movement 2 from Beethoven's Pathitique Sonata just stuck.

'I had to drag the piano up a mountain, I have a really bad back, but I wanted to make the effort so I could feel like I had undergone a personal challenge.



Dinner accompaniment: Paul Barton calmly plays his instrument as the elephants munch away



Yorkshire-born Paul moved to Thailand 16 years ago with his wife to be closer to the elephants.

It is estimated that there are around 60,000 Asian elephants in existence, about a tenth of the number of African elephants.

Slow movement 2 was described as the closest Beethoven got to heaven by his publisher in the 1800's.

Paul hopes to put on a concert with him and the elephants before the end of the year to raise money for an electric fence.







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Flipping 'eck, that's what you call sealing love with a kiss: Touching interaction of mothers and pups at wildlife nursery for 1,000 births

By DAVID DERBYSHIRE



A mother's love: A happy seal reaches out to pull her newborn cub closer. She was pregnant for a year before giving birth



A mother’s loving hug is all a young pup needs. These gloriously endearing images are from one of the greatest spectacles of British wildlife — the seaside nursery on the Lincolnshire coast where 1,000 seal pups are born and weaned each autumn.

At first the seals look like sunbathers, scattered in their thousands across the wide beach, framed by the North Sea and banks of rolling dunes.

Get up close though, and you will see an almost human interaction between mother and pup at Donna Nook, a nature reserve north of Skegness, where hundreds of grey seals descend every year.



Stay close: A safe snuggle under mum's flipper. But soon she will be off to sea and the pup will have to fend for itself



While the beach is remote — it is reached via a single-track lane —– thousands of nature lovers come to watch the pups at close range, separated from them only by a fragile wooden fence.

Rachael Shaw, of Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust, said: ‘It’s like everything you can see on the best wildlife TV programmes but it’s right in front of you. Some people see pups being born. You see the males fighting. There are very few opportunities to see large wild animals like this.’

The grey seal colony is the largest and most accessible on mainland England. Numbers have increased in the past few decades, from around 200 seals in the 1960s. Last week wildlife experts recorded 880 pups, 975 females and 331 males on the beach.



The tender touch: A cub keeps its soft white fur for just a few weeks while it is being weaned on the Lincolnshire beach



Females are pregnant for a year — and are able to mate soon after giving birth — which makes for a busy few weeks. The first adults arrive on the beach at the end of October. The females have just one pup and suckle them for three weeks.

Once the pup — they lose their soft white fur within a couple of weeks — is weaned it is abandoned by the mother who mates again and then heads off to sea. The pup stays on the beach, but is driven by hunger to find fish. Most of the seals have gone by Christmas.



Motherly love: The grey seal colony is the largest and most accessible on mainland England



The biggest threat comes from spectators. At weekends the narrow strip of sand where visitors can stand is packed. Last year 60,000 people came.

Miss Shaw says: ‘We would prefer people to come on weekdays if they can, or to wait until mid December when it is quieter. And people should never get too close or touch a pup. A mother may abandon a cub if it smells of humans or dogs.’



Life's a beach: Visitors enjoy the amazing spectacle of seals basking at Donna Nook



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What's wrong with me? The playful beluga whale who fell behind her identical friend in photographer's pecking order

By DANNY WHEELER



Right on the smacker: Photographer Dafna Ben Nussing captured the whales at their most playful



What we have here is a clear case of favouritism.

Pity the poor beluga having to wait for his peck on the nozzle from wildlife photographer Dafna Ben Nun, who braved temperatures of minus 2 degrees to capture the beautiful creatures in the White Sea, north-west Russia.

Despite the fact these ladies look almost identical, he found himself falling behind in the pecking order.



Breaking the ice: The whales seemed to enjoy playing up to the camera in temperatures of minus 2C in north west Russia



Dafna, from Israel, travelled for seven hours by truck to reach the whales and it was worth every minute of her journey as she captured them at their most playful.

In this series of images the white whales - which weigh around 3,000 lbs and measure up to 12 foot long - can be seen amazingly blowing water jets from their mouths.

The 31-year-old spent almost an hour in the water with the two female whales.

She said: 'If they don't want to do something they won't, but they are so friendly, I was playing with them and then they just starting spouting the water from their mouths, it was very funny.



Impish: The belugas blew cheeky jets of water at the photographer, who spent almost an hour in the water with the two female whales



'These whales are something of an attraction for people but because they are so remote you have to really want to see them to go there so luckily not too many people do.

'When you get in the water with them they are very curious and kept coming up to my camera.

'If I held onto their nose they would even lift me out of the water.'



Remote: The whales are something of an attraction, but many people are put off by their isolated location



Dafna said she had travelled all round the world photographing wildlife including the Amazon and Antarctica.

She said: 'The water was obviously a lot colder than the Amazon, about minus 2C because it's salt water, but it was definitely worth it.

'The whales here are two young females but their are also two males as well so people are hopeful that they will breed.'



source: dailymail

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Give us a peck: Woman trains robin to feed from her mouth

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER



Teresa Karasavvas has trained 'Rob' the robin to pluck his breakfast from her own mouth



A bird-lover has trained this remarkably tame garden robin to feed - from her MOUTH.

Teresa Karasavvas, 49, spent three weeks coaxing the red-breasted bird to take food from the palm of her hand.

The legal secretary is so fascinated by robins it has been her 'childhood dream', from the age of four, to feed one of the creatures up-close.



The robin has become so used to the routine he now patiently sits each morning waiting outside the backdoor for his food to arrive



Now the tiny bird, which she has christened 'Rob', has become so tame it even grabs his breakfast straight from her lips.

Teresa waits outside her back garden every morning and taps the robin's feeding bowl.

When he hears the familiar noise he swoops down and prises a sultana from his feeder's mouth.

Rob has become so used to the routine he now patiently sits each morning waiting outside the backdoor for his food to arrive.

The bird has even been known to fly into the house, in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, and enjoy dinner alongside Mrs Karasavvas and her husband Chris, 59, a business development manager.



The unusual relationship has been going on for 19 months now and Rob has even been known to fly into the house



The unusual friendship has been going strong for 19 months now, and is particularly rewarding in the run up to Christmas.

Mrs Karasavvas said: 'I've been feeding him for about 19 months now. When I first saw him the ground was covered with frost and snow and he must have been hungry.

'He got so close to me I could almost touch him. I stood freezing in the garden every morning for about three weeks to get him to eat out of my hand.

'He's been taking food from me ever since and more or less lets my touch him now. He comes to see me every day, it's like having a robin for a pet.

'It's always been a childhood dream for me. I've always wanted a tame robin.



source: dailymail

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