Captive Orcas Killed by Mosquitoes
According to the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS), at least two orcas held captive at SeaWorld facilities died from West Nile and St. Louis encephalitis viruses carried by mosquitoes.
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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
The Geese at JFK Airport
“No one was hurt,” according to an AP report after a second collision in one week between a plane and a goose near Kennedy Airport. Well,…
Whale Wars Takes On the Not-So-Great Danes
If you think the dolphin massacre at Taiji is a uniquely Japanese horror, welcome to the Faroe Islands of northern Europe. These picturesque Danish islands, inhabited…
Dogs Play Fetch Underwater
Photographer Seth Casteel specializes in lifestyle pet photography. So he got in the pool with a series of pets diving for balls, and the results are…
How to Brush a Crocodile’s Teeth
Best not to try this at home! But these baby crocs get their teeth brushed every morning at Nepal’s Chitwan National Park. It’s all part…
Barbie Doll Is SeaWorld Trainer
How grotesque is this? Mattel’s latest Barbie doll is a SeaWorld trainer: With this Barbie I Can Be SeaWorld Trainer Nikki Doll and Playset Nikki doll…
Elephants Practice for Move to Sanctuary
At the Toronto Zoo, Toka, Thika and Iringa are, so to speak, packing their trunks. In their case, that means trying out the crates they’ll be…
Welcome Home from War!
In Homer’s Odyssey, Argos the dog waits for 20 years for Odysseus, to come home from the Trojan War. Unable even to stand up any longer, he refuses to take his last breath until he’s been reunited. Here’s a more joyful compendium of Welcome Home videos.
Where’s Oscar?
Adorable Oscar, the star of the Disneynature movie Chimpanzee, has gone AWOL. In fact, according to the movie’s director, Mark Linfield, Oscar hasn’t been seen since…
Highway Robbery – Baboon Style
It used to be that the humans were bothering the baboons. Now it’s the other way round. People visiting Yankari Game Reserve in Nigeria are having…
Woman Vivisected in London Store Window
They dragged her along with a rope around her neck and pushed her down on a bench. It was feeding time for Jacqueline Traide and you…
California Dairy Cow Had Mad Cow Disease
The first case in six years of a cow with mad cow disease (properly called bovine spongiform encephalopathy or BSE) has been found in California. The…
And You Thought the Frappuccino Was All Veggie
The “Vegan Frappuccino” at Starbucks sounded just fine. No dairy … all animal-free … right? Not quite. To get it to come out with that nice…
App-ing Your Way around Yellowstone
I thought one of the joys of visiting the great national parks was to leave our technobabble behind – at least for a few hours. Silly…
The 10-Million-Ton Scoop on Poop
There are 78 million dogs living in the United States and they’re dropping 10 million tons of doggy-doo every year. That’s roughly 274 pounds per dog. What happens to all this? Much of it ends up creating a huge pollution problem.
Zoo Association Tries to Punish Toronto for Humane Decision
The Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) is miffed about the Toronto Zoo and the Toronto City Council making the wise and humane decision to send…
Mickey Rourke to Set Up Sanctuary in Romania
Actor Mickey Rourke is well known for his love of dogs. He was reportedly heartbroken over the loss of Loki, his Chihuahua, three years ago. Three…
How Orangutans Make (Comfy) Beds
An orangutan peeks out of her nest in the Sumatran forest. (All photos by Adam van Casteren) You climb high up into the trees, where the…
Hamster “Resurrected” after Burial
When Dave Eyley, of Oxfordshire, England, found his hamster, Rhino, lying lifeless in his box, he dug a two-foot hole in the backyard to give his…
The One Way to Celebrate Earth Day
This Sunday, you can celebrate Earth Day by recycling something, joining a group that’s picking up old cans and bottles, taking a reusable shopping bag to the supermarket …Or you can do the one thing that will really make a difference.