A new relationship with animals, nature and each other.

Posts from the ‘Old News’ 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

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

    Foie Gras Ban Upheld

    California legislators will not repeal the ban on foie gras that takes effect July 1st. About 100 chefs had signed a petition Monday to keep the…

    Watch Cheetah Cub Live Cam

    Last week, Salome the Cheetah gave birth to two cubs at the Hoedspruit Endangered Species Centre in South Africa. The center focuses on the conservation of…

    Candid GorillaCam

    The camera had been placed along the path by members of the Wildlife Conservation Society, which is looking to save this highly endangered species (250 of them remaining) from extinction.

    Shanthi and the Harmonica

    Many people have been enchanted by this video of Shanthi, a 36-year-old elephant at the National Zoo, playing the harmonica. "Fantastic" and "Awesome" are some of…

    Parakeet Tells Police His Address

    First he told the police the names of the city and the district where he lived. And then, when that information was not good enough to get him home, he gave them the precise street and house number.

    Bob Barker to Chimps: “Come On Down!”

    Last year, he donated $380,000 for a new habitat at Chimp Haven. And last week, the irrepressible Bob Barker flew down to the sanctuary in Louisiana to cut the ribbon — or rather to pick up the microphone and call out to five newly arrived chimpanzees: “Come on down!”

    Cole Circus Pays to Settle Abuse Lawsuit

    Cole Brothers Circus has agreed to pay the U.S. Department of Agriculture $15,000 to settle a lawsuit alleging abuse of the animals. Allegations against the circus included that elephant handlers has repeatedly struck an elephant with an ankus — a hook or goad used in elephant training — during performances, according to a USDA report.

    The Killing Agency

    They call it Wildlife Services. But the last thing on Earth that this branch of the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture is serving is wildlife.

    “Mom, There’s a Fox in My Bed!”

    Alexander West was stunned to see the baby fox snuggled in his duvet in his bedroom on the second floor of his home in Hemel Hempstead, Herts. The youngster had left the back door of the townhouse open when he ran outside to play and the female fox had crept inside and made herself at home.

    Octopus with His Mobile Home!

    Octopuses are well known for their smarts. They’re the most intelligent of the cephalopods, and are renowned for their Houdini-like ability to escape from humans. (One story is told of the octopus who escaped from a tank in the hull of a boat where he was being held captive … made his way up the stairs … and over the edge of the boat back into the ocean.)