‘Gay’ Pit Bull Mix Finds New Home
A pit bull-mix was dropped off at a Tennessee animal shelter because, according to his guardian, he’s “gay.” The man said he’d seen his dog mounting…
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Ringling Caves!
The elephants are packing their trunks. By any standard, today’s decision by the Ringling Circus to phase out its elephant acts represents a seismic shift in the use of…
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Mother Carries Shot Pit Bull to Safety
It started out as the same hike that Andi Davis does every day to the top of one of the mountains near where she lives in Phoenix, Arizona. But this time, close to the top,…
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Liberators or Terrorists?
When 100 people, mostly women from various rescue groups, rescued 178 beagles from a research lab in Brazil last week, nobody called them terrorists. The five security officers…
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Do Pets Prevent Sudden Death in Children with Epilepsy?
A group of Brazilian researchers wondered if the presence of a pet in the home of a child with epilepsy might reduce their risk of dying from SUDEP. They found that of the 1,092…
The Right Music for Cats
Greyhound Shock Angers Australians
Holiday Gift for Elephant Music Lovers
The Yeti Bear
Boldly Going Where Monkeys Have Gone Before
The monkey launched by Iran this week, and Laika in 1957 I recall being in the music room at school having a piano lesson when…
On Wildlife Murder, the Cat’s Out of the Bag
A new study makes the powerful case that cats who are left to roam out of doors are doing enormous damage to wildlife. Cat lovers and…
A Day at Yosemite
One day, 30 videographers, nine kinds of cameras, 14 minutes of video. Produced by Steve Bumgardner, a former park ranger who, he says, spends his time…
Manatees in Space?
Manatees – those peaceful herbivores who roam the inlets of Florida – are an endangered species. Maybe that’s why they appear to have taken off into…
The Other Beyoncé Question
I could care less whether Beyonce was singing with a real voice or not at the Presidential Inauguration. I care a lot more about whether or not she was wearing real fur. Apparently, yes, she was wearing not only a real fur coat, but real mink eyelashes.
Playing the Stock Market: the Winner
When the British newspaper The Observer set up its 2012 investment challenge, the editors invited a team of three experts from a wealth management company, a…
David Attenborough’s Swan Song?
The indefatigable David Attenborough is back on PBS’s Nature Tonight with the three-part series “Attenborough’s Life Stories“, which looks back over his 60 years of film…
Crustacean Rights: The Case of the "Lucky" Crabs
Is it moral to rip the “arms” off a living creature? Psychologist Dr. Hal Herzog takes a boat trip in the Florida Everglades and comes away with moral and ethical questions about our relationship to crabs.
Second Best Photobomb Ever
The husky aces it. (But the #1 photobomb is still this one from last year.)
Yes, Lobsters Do Feel Pain
For those who like to tell themselves that it’s OK to boil lobsters alive, life just got a bit more complicated. A new study offers the…
‘There’s a Horse in My Burger!’
The Brits have their knickers in a knot (“knickers” in the U.K. = panties) over the fact that bits of horses have been showing up in…
The Cat Burglar
Photo by Brazil’s General Superintendency of Prisons of Alagoas (SGAP) in Arapiraca, Brazil. Authorities in Sao Paulo, Brazil, have announced that they are trying to get…
American Humane’s Chairman Resigns
Eric Bruner, chairman of the board of the American Humane Association, has resigned in the wake of questionable financial practices as well as general policies regarding the direction of an organization that seems to have lost its way.
All the Government’s Chimpanzees to Be Retired to Chimp Haven
In a change of plan from what was announced four months ago, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has decided to release all 110 of its “research-ineligible” chimpanzees to sanctuary care – most likely at Chimp Haven in Louisiana.
Packing Their Trunks?
In the old and delightfully subversive children’s song, Nellie the elephant “packed her trunk and said goodbye to the circus.” Could this be coming true in…
True Facts about Sloths
From Buzzfeed’s Ze Frank. (Fair warning: includes humor some may find tasteless!) [readon] And for more about sloths, visit the Sloth Sanctuary in Costa Rica –…
Fortunate Is Luckiest Cat
A homeless kitty who fell 80 feet from the top of a tree is “unbelievably” well at the animal hospital where she’s hanging out and getting ready for a good new home.
More Bad ‘Luck’
A senior ex-staffer at American Humane Association is suing AHA for having fired her after she reported abuse of horses on the set of the HBO racehorse drama series Luck.
Barbara Casey, who worked as the director of production in the AHA’s film and television unit, says that abuse was endemic on the set, and that AHA thwarted her efforts to enforce the organization’s own animal safety standards.
The Two Dogs in the Rose Bowl Parade
Two dogs are featured in the Rose Parade today. One of them, Chuck, will be with conservationist Dr. Jane Goodall, who’s serving as the Grand Marshall this year.
The other is Lucca, also a shepherd mix, who will be riding with Cpl. Juan Rodriguez. Lucca is a veteran of three deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Rodriguez says he owes his life to her.