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

    The ASPCA’s Dangerous Bill

    Now enter a competing bill, sponsored by state Rep. Amy Paulin and backed by the ASPCA, that would that would, instead, allow New York State shelters to kill animals immediately if staff determine that the animals are in “psychological pain.”

    Westminster Dog Show Nixes Adoption Ads

    If you were planning on tuning in to the Westminster Dog Show tomorrow evening, but were worried that you might have to watch a pesky ad from Pedigree dog foods featuring shelter dogs who would like to be adopted, fear no more. The ads have been axed.

    Does the Universe Want to Play?

    The rapidly growing scientific field of “play studies” is turning up so many surprising examples of what at least appear to be play activities in the most surprising places, that scientists are asking whether there may be something about the very fabric of matter itself that continually spawns and nurtures fun and play.

    Puppies Take Themselves to Hospital

    A pair of very thin, homeless puppies walked into a Corpus Christi, Texas, hospital looking for medical attention. Although the hospital only caters to humans, they made sure the doggies got the treatment they needed.

    World’s Cutest Turtle

    “They’re living fossils,” says Ray Bosmans, president of the Mid-Atlantic Turtle & Tortoise Society (MATTS), a conservation and education group that helps place abandoned turtles and tortoises into new homes.

    PETA v. SeaWorld – The Aftermath

    The judge ruled against PETA in its case accusing SeaWorld of holding orcas as slaves in violation of the 13th Amendment. PETA calls it a victory anyway. But a leading animal rights attorney fears the case may have set back the cause of animal rights.

    Meet Grandma!

    She lived in the ocean about 750 million years ago. Today, the ocean is gone – replaced by the savannah of Namibia. Long ago, this great-great-great-etc.grandma turned to stone, a tiny fossil.

    Time to Outlaw TV Spots with Chimps

    An ad from Career Builder, prepared for the Super Bowl, received huge attention online. Career Builder is a Chicago company, but Dr. Steve Ross, chimp expert at Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo, said he couldn’t believe the company would use chimps in TV commercials.

    Art by Other Animals

    In the late 1950s, the surrealism painter Salvador Dali saw one of the canvases by Congo, a chimpanzee, whose artworks had been shown on the British TV show Zoo Time.

    For Eden, Together

    An old crabapple stands rooted – She is tense intention, enduring – At the cusp of fall turn-to-winter, – Yellow green leaves fall first – One by one then – In waves of resignation
    They all drop, – But the fruit remains – Red glory against the sky – Witness to her heart.

    The Bird and the Guitar

    Watch as a baby bird half-falls, half-flies out of her nest and lands on the guitar of Josh Williams at the Doyle Lawson Bluegrass Festival in Denton, NC on May 5, 2011. Sitting in the front row of the audience was a veterinarian who returned the chick to her nest.