Hanging On for Dear Life
This orangutan was rescued as she clung to the last remaining tree in her forest. Bulldozers were clearing another huge swath of Indonesian rain forest for…
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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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Collapse of Antarctic Ice Sheet Irreversible
One of the six major glaciers being eroded from below by warm water What does it mean when two major studies this week tell us that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is…
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2013 Game Changers
Two events share top prize as game changers for the year just ending: The Nonhuman Rights Project's lawsuits have started a whole new conversation about how we relate to other…
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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…
The Right Music for Cats
Greyhound Shock Angers Australians
Holiday Gift for Elephant Music Lovers
The Yeti Bear
Could Ag-Gag Laws Backfire?
Rather than cleaning up their act in the wake of undercover videos, factory farms are fighting to keep people from seeing what goes on at their operations.
But a new campaign is now emerging: Make webcams mandatory in all factory farms so we can all see what’s going on at all times.
Swan’s Song
“It’s a wonderful moment when an animal totally trusts you,” Born to Explore TV show host Richard Wiese said. “When I put [the swan] next to…
The Word Made Flesh
If the new pope is looking for a chief theologian, I’d like to recommend Elizabeth Johnson. She’s not only one of those American Catholic women the…
Is This the Real ‘Contagion’?
Children playing along a river bank spot hundreds of bloated pig carcasses bobbing downstream. Hundreds of miles away, people are grossed out by the rising stench…
Mysteries of Life
What is this cat telling the accordion player? [readon] And why do these kinds of videos mostly come from Russia?
Justin Bieber’s Monkey Business
Pop star says he “loves” animals … buys exotic wildlife … starts “sanctuary” (a private zoo) … takes animals with him when he travels … soon…
Chimpanzee Conducts 3-Year Study on Primates
Reprinted with courtesy SEATTLE—In what the scientific community has hailed as a breakthrough achievement, zoologists have succeeded for the first time ever in training a chimpanzee…
Coming Soon: No More Honeybees
In the last few months, the largest commercial bee operation in the country, Adee Honey Farms, has lost 55 percent of its bees. Another company, Big…
New Dangers from Factory Farm Bacteria and Antibiotics
Factory farms like to tell us that the increasingly antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the animals there can’t be transmitted to humans. A new study shows this to…
Beavers Save Wildlife Refuge from Oil Spill
After a Chevron diesel pipe broke last week north of Salt Lake City, it could have been a disaster for the nearby Willard Creek Wildlife Reserve.…
Prepare for Take-Off!
The three elephants at the Toronto Zoo have been cleared for take-off, and will soon be on their way to a new life at the PAWS…
Slaughter Horses in U.S.? Or Export them?
We race them, ride them, take them to war, treat them as horsepower. What to do with horses when they grow old or are no longer…
What’s Driving the Cloning of Extinct Animals
Why would scientists be so intent on bringing mammoths back to life? Does it make sense to try to bring back the passenger pigeon? Will we…
Cutest Baby Sloth Ever
From (where else?) the Sloth Sanctuary in Costa Rica. (Thanks to Lisa.)
Israel, Palestine, Peace and Water
This morning, President Obama spoke clearly to the Israeli people about why they should seek peace with their neighbors, the Palestinians. He talked about the need…
Ringling Circus Plans NYC Elephant Dance
The “Elephant Walk” through the Queens Midtown Tunnel in 2010 When the Ringling/Barnum circus comes to New York City tomorrow, it will open with an “Elephant…
Life on Europa?
The ice that covers Europa is 60 miles thick. But the ocean that it covers is a rich, salty mix that appears not to be very different in makeup from our own ocean. And, according to a new study, there are breaks in the ice that allow the water to come up to the surface, So there’s a constant exchange of ice and water. And that means if you want to know what’s going on in the ocean, 60 miles down, you only have to scrape a little ice off the surface.
Sounds like a mission for a Mars-type rover. And that’s exactly what NASA is thinking, too.
Benedict and Cats
Speaking of the Pope and nonhuman animals, we came across some cute photos of Pope Benedict and cats. Benedict is known as a serious cat person.
Pope Francis – Day 6
By last weekend, we hadn’t heard much, if anything about the new pope’s relationship to anything except humans. But today, at his official installation, Pope Francis spoke out for protection of the environment, urging his people to shun “the omens of destruction and death.” Perhaps that phrase was a little unclear, but he added this during his homily at the inaugural Mass: