Pets awake some during quake

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By Beth Boehne

Story Created: Apr 18, 2008 at 6:24 PM EST

Story Updated: Apr 18, 2008 at 6:24 PM EST

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) — Mayor Mark Kruzan's dogs seemed to know an earthquake was coming.

Moments before Friday's magnitude 5.2 quake shook the Midwest, rousing many residents from their beds, Kruzan said his dogs began barking and awoke him. Then, his home started swaying.

"My dogs figured it out before I did," he said.

Many other Hoosiers also said their pets woke them up before they felt the earthquake, which had an epicenter six miles from West Salem, Ill.

Cats hid under beds, dogs woke their owners, rodents scurried about in their cages, and birds flapped wildly in their cages or sounded a cry of alarm.

Monroe County resident Deborah Stroud said her pet mice, Aiden and Smith, went berserk just before the earth started moving.

"They were running in the wheel like crazy and actually fighting over who was going to be in it. I don't think I have ever seen them run that fast in it before. At one point they were both running in it side by side," Stroud said.

Hannah Murray's 2-year-old chinchilla, Gizmo, started chirping and scurrying around his cage just before it hit.

"I got out of bed to check on him and I felt the first rumble," she said.

Elizabeth Evans said Count Basie, her pet cockatiel, starting "freaking out and screeching, which woke us up, then the bed started shaking ... The bird sensed it before we did."

When a 4.6-magnitude aftershock hit hours later, Evans was walking in the woods with her dog, who also sensed something.

"He was sniffing a stump and then suddenly backed away. I thought something had stung him on the nose," she said.

___

Information from: The Herald Times, http://www.hoosiertimes.com

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