A new relationship with animals, nature and each other.

Posts from the ‘A-animals’ category

  • 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…

  • 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,…

  • 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…

  • 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…

    Latest Reports on Bird Flu

    happened upon a website called The Poultry Site, which describes itself as a “portal for the global poultry industry.” Its news section includes a Guide to Avian Flu, where you can “catch up with the latest bird flu news from across the globe.”

    The Rights of a Nonhuman Person

    What rights might a chimpanzee or a dolphin have when we consider these nonhumans as persons with the capacity for legal rights. Eric Michael Johnson writes about this in his “Primate Blogs” at Scientific American:

    ‘I Went Undercover at Factory Farms’

    As an investigator for the Humane Society of the U.S., Cody Carlson got a job last year at four Iowa egg farms. Today, in the wake of the new law in Iowa that bans undercover investigations, Carlson writes about his experience in The Atlantic.

    Bonobos Help a Friend in Need

    As soon as other members of the group realized that one of their own was trapped, they gathered around him. One of them untangled the snare from vines, enabling him to move. But they still couldn’t free him from the wire.

    U.K. Activist Takes on the Big Vivisectionists

    Steele makes the vivisection industry very nervous. He has almost single-handedly brought to a halt the trafficking of animals from abroad who are bound for laboratories in the U.K. His strategy has involved little more than encouraging people to flood the directors of the transportation companies’ with e-mails and letters.

    More Grim Horseracing Stats

    In California alone, 261 thoroughbreds died in track-related injuries in 2007. And between 2003 and 2008, more than 5,000 horses died at American racetracks — nearly three animals per day. In short, the deaths of horses on the HBO set were not just predictable, they were inevitable.

    Artist’s 15 Minutes of Shame

    This past month the media reported that Ms. Amber Hansen’s art project, The Story of Chickens: A Revolution, was in violation of Lawrence, Kansas ordinances that protect animals from being harmed or killed within city limits.

    Cat Reunion after Tornado

    Marilyn Walden was stepping through the remains of her home in Henryville, Kentucky, calling out to her cat, Bear. She’d been at work when the tornado ripped through her house, tearing up the living room and collapsing the bedroom.

    Utah Bans Undercover Farm Photos

    Hard on the heels of Iowa’s ban on undercover investigations of factory farms, Utah passed a bill on Wednesday that ban photographing farm animals or operations under “false pretenses.” Both houses of the Legislature overwhelmingly voted for passage, and the bill now goes to Gov. Gary Herbert for his signature.

    Elephants Mourn Elephant Whisperer

    His human friends are not the only people mourning the loss of Lawrence Anthony, the man known as the elephant whisperer. At Thula Thula, the private wildlife park in South Africa where he was the director of conservation, the entire herd of elephants who knew him and loved him, came to his home to say farewell.

    Velociraptor’s Last Dinner

    A new study suggests that a velociraptor whose fossil was found in China’s Gobi Desert, was in the middle of eating a flying pterosaur, when she died. That’s because a small pterosaur bone was found in the gut of the relatively intact velociraptor.

    Bears Go Sledding at Wildlife Park

    When two bears discovered the art of sledding at a wildlife park in Germany, they just went crazy with delight. After hitting the slopes several times, they dove into a play-fight, somersaulting through the snow together.

    T-Rex Bite Definitely Worse than Bark

    How hard could a Tyrannosaurus Rex bite? Harder than anyone ever imagined! A new study by scientists concludes that T-Rex could deliver 12,800 pounds of bite – almost 20 times as much as they previously thought.