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…

    The Right Music for Cats
    Greyhound Shock Angers Australians
    Holiday Gift for Elephant Music Lovers
    The Yeti Bear

    Happy Cows!

    Here are a couple of totally delightful videos of cows in Europe being let out of their winter barns and onto their spring pastures. People who…

    Great Apes in the Mist

    KCET interviews great ape researcher Craig Stanford about the demise of our closest cousins in the wild. Stanford explains why all the great apes will be…

    Crows Rolling in the Snow

    If you thought the crow who goes snowboarding was just a one-off, this video, also from Russia, would seem to say otherwise. Or maybe it’s just…

    Will Pentagon Abandon ‘Training’ on Animals?

    Congress has ordered the Pentagon to draw up a plan to phase out the use of animals in combat medical training – or, as the military calls it, “live tissue training.” (Sounds like how parents teach their children to blow their nose.) Sounds good. But will the Pentagon actually comply?

    The Horsemeat Taboo

    The horsemeat scandal that’s eating away at Europe isn’t about bad food or labeling or criminal black markets. It’s about the violation of cultural taboos.

    Every culture has its food taboos, and for some people, eating horses is one of those. But what we really need is a new set of taboos that aren’t rooted in outdated religions and will engender a new relationship with our fellow animals.

    Health Concerns about Spay/Neuter

    Spay/neuter is one of the bedrocks of the no-kill movement. Every year it saves millions of unwanted dogs and cats from being born. But veterinarians are always looking for better ways of preventing unwanted pregnancies. And in this guest post, Prof. Hal Herzog looks at new research that challenges conventional wisdom that desexing dogs is also good for their health.

    He says that while “no one wants to go back to the days when 24 million unwanted cats and dogs got the blue needle each year … it’s a classic conflict between what is best for the individual versus what is best for society.” He also offers a possible solution.