Walking Horse ‘Trainer’ Sentenced
In May, undercover video from the Humane Society of the U.S.showed horses being tortured and beaten to get them to do the high-stepping dance that’s the…
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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
Museum in Texas Kills Mules for an Exhibit
When the American Museum of Agriculture in Lubbock, TX, wanted a diorama that would illustrate how mules have played a part in agriculture, they could have…
Gorilla Plays with Toddler
When his daughter, Tansy, was just 18 months old, Damian Aspinall put her in one of the gorilla enclosures at his wildlife park in the U.K.…
Are You Smarter than a Chimpanzee?
A treat awaits you at the bottom of a plastic tube – well out of reach of your fingers. No long spoons etc. are available. How…
A Wonderful ‘New’ Monkey
Just gaze at this remarkable face. Although the Lesula is known to the people of Africa’s remote Lomami forest, she’s new to Western scientists. And her…
Cute Water Bears Prefer Life on This Planet
I love Mars missions and going to the Moon, and looking for life on Europa and Enceladus. But let’s leave nonhuman earthlings on Earth, where they…
River Recognized as a Legal Person
It’s a first in modern legal history: A river in New Zealand has been recognized as a legal person having certain rights and interests. Under a…
Feline Fashion Week?
I once talked with Mr. Blackwell, the fashion critic who published the annual “Ten Worst Dressed Women”list (and the book “From Rags to Bitches”.) He supported…
Cookies for Killing
Four years of hard work finding homes for dogs, cats and other homeless pets at the Shelby County animal shelter never won a word of applause from PETA. But the prospect of this no-kill shelter getting out the death potion once again had PETA calling for a celebration. They sent a basket of cookies to congratulate the shelter on deciding they might need to kill some of the animals.
How Now, Ni Hao!
A stowaway kitten who survived three weeks without food or water in a shipping container bound from China to Los Angeles has a new home. Ni…
Is Dog Pee Killing City Trees?
You’ve probably never thought about it as you lead Fido from tree to tree on his neighborhood walk, or as he mingles with other dogs for the latest water-cooler gossip around the trees of the dog park. But there’s mounting evidence that Fido and his pals are killing those trees.
Internet Cat Film Festival
(Update: The winner of the Festival was Henri reflecting on his existential angst in a classic homage to the French New Wave movies of the 1960s.…
Zoos Talk about Their Conundrum
How much should a zoo tell its visitors about what’s happening in the wild to the kinds of animals they have in captivity? Should they risk…
How One Zoo Is ‘Educating’ the Public
By law, marine mammals can only be held in captivity and put on display at zoos and marine circuses if they are doing this for “educational…
Who Is the Smartest of Them All?
At the Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary in Uganda, everyone knows that Natasha is the smartest of them all. Now a series of scientific tests have confirmed her intelligence.
England’s Escaped Lion: Monty Python-Style
The search for the lion stalking the eerie grasslands of Essex County (the scene of one of P.D. James’s best murder mysteries) has been called off.…
Cats and the Conservation of Angular Momentum
How does a cat go from feet up to feet down in a falling reference frame without violating the conservation of angular momentum? (Huh?)
Are Factory Farm Antibiotics Making Us Obese?
If you’re getting fat and you don’t know why, it may be that you’re being dosed with antibiotics in the meat you’re eating. Two new studies…
The Country Vet
For the weekend: A rescued stallion who’s all hormones … a pit bull who literally ate the homework … a pheasant with a broken leg ……
Where Rape Is Truly ‘Legitimate’
You’ve probably heard enough about rape for this week – what with Rep. Paul Ryan’s concept of “forcible rape” and Rep. Todd Akin’s notions about “legitimate…