Orangutan Mother and Baby Rescued from Hunters
As a gang of local youths surrounded a 30-year-old, pregnant orangutan and her 5-year-old child, all the mother could do was try to shield the baby from the knives that were coming at them.
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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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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…
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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
Many Dolphins Safe after Stranding
It’s been grueling work both for the dolphins and the volunteers who have been rescuing them day and night, but it’s been worth it. Those who survived the recent mass strandings on Cape Cod shores and have been rescued are now swimming about 18 miles off the coast of Maine
Whale and Dolphin Games
The thing that took my attention the most was that if these scientists saw this twice, and around different islands, how many other times is it likely to be going on? Quite probably hundreds of times. And what does that tell us?
Bubble Bath Bear
This bear doesn’t seem to mind that his bubble bath is ice cold. He just likes the bubbles. Photographer Sergey Gorshkov took the photo in Kamchatka, eastern Russia, as part of a project he’s been working on for seven years following a group of bears.
Air Force Now Investigating Sheep Beating
Army investigators say they now believe that the men seen in a video cheering as they watch a sheep being beaten to death with a baseball in Afghanistan are airmen, and they have handed the case over to Air Force authorities.
Killer Whales in Ocean Show
It’s the real thing – and much better than anything you can see at a marine circus like SeaWorld. These orcas were among dozens seen along the Southern California coast over the last week as they migrate south to Mexico.
Elephants Mourn Loss of Baby
Elephants gathered around 3-month-old Lola after she had died from a pulmonary embolism at Germany’s Hellabrunn Zoo.
Lola had been taken to the hospital, but she died during a cat scan prior to going into surgery.
The Cat Burglar
Who stole Camera 11? The scientists had left 11 cameras in a remote area of Tajikistan, hoping to take photos and video of rare, elusive snow leopards. When they went to retrieve them three months later … only 10 cameras.
Farewell to World’s Oldest Pooch
Uncle Chichi, the toy poodle who lived in the West Village and was at least 24 (maybe even 26 years old) has gone to doggie heaven.
The 33,000-Year-Old Bark
The remains of a dog, discovered in Siberia, show that humans and dogs were living and working together at least 33,000 years ago.
Zoo Break!
When eight capuchin monkeys decided to make a break for it at the zoo in Parana, Brazil, they used the tools they had at hand to open the door of the cage. (Another example of how the old conventional wisdom that “using tools is a uniquely human ability” is completely wrong.)
Killing Whales and Giraffes to Save Them
Last week, the British Daily Mail reported that people are paying tens of thousands of dollars for the privilege of taking a family expedition to Africa to kill giraffes.
Elephants Won’t Be Split Up
Shaba was 2 years old when she was placed with Connie. Elephants have very close family bonds, and, far from their original families and homes, the two have basically known only each other.
Snowy Owl Magic
Snowy owls (like Hedwig in the Harry Potter stories) are having a busy winter all across the country. Denver Holt, director of the Owl Research Institute in Charlo, Montana, tells the New York Times their numbers are unusually high this year.
Cape Cod Dolphins Rescued!
Three hundred dolphins in Wellfleet harbor on Cape Cod were successfully guided out to safety in the ocean by volunteers with the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW).
State Watchdog in Pocket of Factory Farm
A few days before police raided the Butterball turkey factory farm in North Carolina, an official at the N.C. Department of Agriculture called the factory farm to give them advance warning that trouble was on the way.
Little Bat, Big Problem
It’s five years since white-nose fungus, the disease afflicting little brown bats, was first identified. Last May, reacting to the fact that these bats are a critical link in the ecosystem, pollinating crops and controlling insect populations, especially those that threaten to wipe out entire forests, a national rescue plan was launched.
Army Investigating Sheep Beating Video
Military commanders in Afghanistan are now condemning the beating of a sheep to death by a U.S. Army soldier in front of a group of other laughing soldiers and children.
Researchers Revolt at Larger Rat Cages
The National Institutes of Health is recommending (just recommending, mind you, not insisting) that the size of their cages be increased a little. The average rat family, for example, would get 210 square inches of floor space rather than the current 140. Mice would get a little more space, too.
Expect the Year of the Dragon to be Turbulent
Expect the unexpected. That’s the message from Chinese astrologers. This weekend launches the Year of the Dragon, one of 12 years in the Chinese zodiac calendar (we’re just ending a rabbit year).