Pets

What a stunner.

The Russian Ice Circus has gone against the laws of nature and put skates on a bear and trained him to play hockey.

There's gonna be a face-off ... and it ain't gonna involve a puck.

He almost made it too -- dude was arrested on Wednesday right before he boarded his flight back to Europe at Rio de Janeiro's international airport ... when an x-ray of his suitcases revealed he was traveling with an army of illegal 8-legged cargo ... including tarantulas.

While filming a TV project in September, paddleboarding champ Jamie Mitchell got up close and very personal with a humpback whale off the coast of Australia -- and the footage is pretty incredible.

At one point, the giant mammal was literally inches from

-- who never loses his footing.

As TMZ previously reported, Lava and son Rumpus were featured in Gaga's videos for "Paparazzi," "Love Game" and "Poker Face," but Rumpus died unexpectedly in October after a hike in Los Angeles.

Like a true professional, Lava carried on without her pup ... and managed to pull it together for the 8 second appearance above.

As we told you last month, Prince and Paris Jackson saw Scooby on the news and decided to help out. Well it worked -- Scooby was outfitted with a custom cart this weekend.

Fuzzy Rescue, the organization that rescued Scooby, tells us it will take about 1-2 weeks for him to get used to the car -- and he'll be running around in no time.

Rumpus, who was featured in the videos for Poker Face, Love Game and Paparazzi, was found dead earlier this month after a hike in Los Angeles. But Rumpus' owner, Suzzane Kelleher-Duckett, tells TMZ the champion show dog had no signs of injury and appeared to be in perfect health.

An autopsy was performed a few days ago -- results are expected soon.

Rumpus was supposed to appear in Gaga's upcoming video for "Bad Romance" -- but we're told only Rumpus' mother Lava (pictured left) will now do the gig.

R.I.P. Rumpus.
2004-2009

Freddie Hancock of the Banjoko Wildlife Preserve in Page, Arizona, tells TMZ she acquired giraffes Rambo, Jabbar Jr. (JJ), Princess, and Annie Sue from Neverland in 2006 and has been caring for them since -- but now the Page city council is demanding the preserve hand over a $100,000 bond to cover the giraffes in case of emergency ... or else they're out.

But here's the problem: in order to get a $100,000 bond from an insurance company, the keeper claims she needs a special form issued by the city itself ... which Freddie says the city refuses to hand over -- leaving Freddie's hands tied and the giraffes' futures up in the air.

Freddie claims the city wants the bond ASAP -- calls to Page City Hall weren't returned.

The A-list pup got the Hollywood royal treatment at the groomers in France on Monday.

When was the last time you brought Fido in for a little mani/pedi/botox?!

PETA says of Paris: "The Chihuahuas, ferrets, and kinkajous she's paraded through her home in the past were not accessories, and pot-bellied pigs aren't either."

The good news: Paris told us she doesn't think she'll get swine flu because she doesn't eat pork.

According to New York City Health Code, it's illegal to bring a dog into a restaurant -- including the patio, if food is being served -- but Famke was snapped sharing an intimate meal with her canine at Il Sole on Sunday anyway.

We spoke to the owner of Il Sole, who told us she wasn't aware Famke was there with her pooch -- or she wouldn't have let it happen.

The only exception to the law is if the dog is specially trained -- such as a seeing eye dog -- but we're pretty sure Famke doesn't need one of those ... despite the giant black sunglasses.

We caught up with The Hoff and his daughter Hayley in Malibu yesterday -- and while we wanted to talk about David's recent troubles in London, he just wanted to talk ... through his dog.

Brooke's dog went missing last week, but was returned on Friday after it was found by Brooke's groomer's client's neighbor.

Some stories do have a happy ending.

According to sources close to the family, Jackson's oldest son Prince and daughter Paris saw the dog -- a puppy named Scooby-Roo -- on the news recently -- and were so moved they decided to help raise the $2,000 necessary to buy it a custom-made cart to help it walk.

We don't know how close they are to their goal -- but seeing as they're the most famous kids on the planet, we're guessing it won't take them too long to reach it.

Click here to help out.

Here's the crazy part -- the dog was found by Brooke's groomer's client's neighbor ... did you follow that? We'll explain ...

The key part of the story is the grooming shop, where Brooke usually took little Max. We're told the groomer was working with another client this week when the conversation turned to Brooke's missing dog. The client said she had a neighbor who had just FOUND a dog matching Max's description -- small, black Malti-poo with no tags.

When they all put two and two together -- they realized it WAS Max ... and the heroic neighbor quickly reunited the little guy with his famous owner!!!!