The Real Sea World
Orca experts visit Puget Sound, off the coast of Seattle, and compare the life of a killer whale in the wild (the real sea world) with…
Which Is Worse: Sex or Death?
A farmhand in Florida’s horse country is on trial for having sex with a donkey. At around the same time this man was arrested, a museum in Texas bought two mules, killed them, had them stuffed, and put them on display in an exhibition from which the museum will make money. Which is worse?
U.K. Zoos Get Failing Grade – Inspectors, Too
Most British zoos don’t even meet minimal standards of care. One in four zoos don’t even provide basic sufficient food and water to the animals supposedly…
Is Obama a Depressive Realist?
What are we to make of a president who appears to be on the verge of winning reelection, who only has to look bemused at each…
Olivia Munn Pans Groupon Circus Coupons
Actress Olivia Munn is asking her fans to stop using the coupon site Groupon as long as the company makes deals with circuses. Currently, Groupon is…
Protesters Shut Down Dolphin Show
Here’s a video from Sunday’s massive demonstration at Marineland, Niagara Falls. Some of the 500 people at this peaceful but vociferous event gained access to the…
How Your Wishes May Come True
We are not humans as something separate from other species, says India’s former Environment Minister Maneka Gandhi. You can only love yourself if you love all the other kinds of animals. “I love them because all of them are me and it is the ultimate self-love to see myself in every blade of grass and therefore to be respectful of it.”
Existentialist Cat Admits to Depressive Realism
Henri is back with a new video. The French-Canadian feline describes himself as a depressive realist – a condition described by psychologists as being when a…
Marineland Feeling the Heat
As a crowd of 500 protesters gathered outside of Marineland at Niagara Falls on Sunday afternoon, 100 of them broke from the main demonstration and charged into the zoo itself shouting “Shut it down, Shut it down!” This followed the release, earlier in the week, of two official reports about conditions at Marineland.
Rescued Crow Now Family Friend
When a family in Ottawa found a baby injured crow, they took him home. When he was back in good health, they released him. But by then he’d made friends with the Renauds – mom, dad, the kids and the cats. and while he’s free as a bird, he keeps coming “home” to visit. Check out this delightful video.
World Animal Day and a Cathedral Cat
Carmina was a stray, struggling to care for her newborn kittens in a deserted parking lot in Washington, D.C. But on Sunday, October 3, 2010, she began her new life as the official Cathedral cat of the National Cathedral.
How the Faith-Based Community Can Help the Animals
Thoughts for St. Francis Day. On Capitol Hill in 2007, Christopher Shays – who was then co-Chair of the Congressional Friends of Animals Caucus – spoke of the need for the faith-based community to play its part in the work of animal protection. These are his remarks.
Blessings Galore at St. John the Divine
Inside Manhattan’s Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, the pews fill quickly, and the air thickens with anticipation. As people await the Blessing of the Animals service, the hush is broken by music, whispered conversations and the occasional bark. Here and there, someone leans over to murmur a few words to the dog by his side, or to the cat or rabbit in a carrier at her feet. Soon, the clergy begin to offer communion to the faithful. Songs and prayers follow. Finally, the cathedral’s massive front doors swing open.
Nonhumans Are Conscious – the Video
Here’s the video from the Francis Crick Memorial Conference at Cambridge University, England. In July, we reported that science leaders from around the world had reached…
Dolphin Stampede, South Africa
More of the story and how you can help wild dolphins here.
Bye-Bye, Great Barrier Reef
Before and after on the Horseshoe Reef area of the Great Barrier Reef The Great Barrier Reef – the largest and most iconic coral reef…
Till Death Do Us (Coyotes) Part
No cheating, no wife swapping, no ménages-a-trois, no polygamy. Coyote couples are partners for life. That’s the finding of a new study of urban coyotes in and around Chicago. Over six years, the research team didn’t find a single case of a coyote having more than one mate – nor of one mate ever leaving another while the other was still alive.
Animal Intervention
I’m sometimes a bit suspicious of people who call themselves animal lovers. “Loving” animals can mean all kinds of things. And while most of the people…
Orca at SeaWorld Missing Half His Chin
Why is Nakai, one of the orcas at SeaWorld San Diego, swimming around the tank with half his chin missing? Whatever the exact cause of his wound, one thing is for sure: things like this don’t happen to orcas in the wild. It’s just the latest in an endless series of injuries at deaths at marine circuses.
Toward the End of Research on Chimps
The National Institutes of Health has taken another step toward ending medical and scientific research on chimpanzees. All of the government’s 110 chimpanzees at the infamous New Iberia Research Center in Louisiana are being made “permanently ineligible” for research. But it’s only a small step. Just 10 of the chimps are being moved to a sanctuary – Chimp Haven. The other 100 are going to a research center in Texas. Why is that?