The lion probably was starving, which caused his desperate behavior. The Boston Herald reported in its August 26 edition that firefighters from several stations took 45 minutes to extinguish a barn blaze. No animals were injured in the fire. About 5,000 to 6,000 bales of hay were destroyed by the fire or efforts to extinguish it. All of the hay was fresh and had been stored in the barn within the past two weeks.
Experts speculate the fire began from spontaneous combustion.
The Washington Post reported in its August 29 edition on a conflict between a herd of Spanish Mustang horses and new residents of a North Carolina barrier island. The herd, which is estimated to be between 50 and 200 horses, has lived on one of the islands for years. When new residents, many from the Washington D.C. area, began building expensive homes on the island, trouble broke out between them and the Mustang herd. This led to part of the herd being trailered to the mainland. Many horses remain.