US-style mega-farms in Herefordshire face tough new regulations after high court ruling
Industrial poultry farms face tough new regulations around the disposal of chicken manure after a judge ruled it can be classified as waste and requires a detailed and transparent plan to dispose of it without damaging the environment.
The high court ruling means new US-style mega-farms in Herefordshire will have to deal with poultry manure as if it was industrial waste.
Continue reading...Laura Leaf had a sick possum for company when she spent three nights in a spare room at Mallory Wilson’s Nerang home
Laura Leaf, a rescued koala, was the last surgery of the day at Currumbin wildlife hospital, just hours before its doors were due to close to ride out Tropical Cyclone Alfred.
But after undergoing emergency abdominal surgery on Wednesday, Laura Leaf needed round-the-clock care – and the Gold Coast hospital’s intensive care unit was about to be shut.
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Continue reading...Drop in line with rate of overall insect loss as scientists point to habitat loss, pesticide use and the climate crisis
Butterflies may be among the most beloved of all creatures, routinely deified in art and verse, but they are in alarming decline in the United States with populations plummeting by a fifth in just the past two decades, according to the most comprehensive study yet of their fortunes.
The abundance of butterflies in the US slumped 22% between 2000 and 2020, the new analysis of more than 76,000 mostly regional surveys, published in Science, found. For every five butterflies fluttering daintily around at the start of the century, just four remain today.
Continue reading...Exclusive: More than 3,000 critically endangered Baw Baw frogs set free in a high-altitude forest to bolster dwindling population
More than 3,000 critically endangered Baw Baw frogs have been released in Victoria’s east as part of a record-breaking conservation breeding program.
Zoos Victoria’s reintroduction of 3,000 tiny froglets and 40 adult frogs into the high-altitude forests of the Baw Baw plateau, about 120km east of Melbourne, was the largest in its breeding program for the species.
Continue reading...Photographer captures 20-minute clash between birds emblematic of Canada and US amid high trade tensions
For the second time in weeks, a Canadian icon has emerged as the unlikely victor in an existential battle on the ice.
Mervyn Sequeira, an Ontario photographer, was out with his family on a recent morning when they spotted a bald eagle descending towards a frozen lake.
Continue reading...Curator of Design Museum show says ‘human-centric’ approach to design needs overhaul amid climate crisis
Designers need to “fundamentally rethink our relationship with the natural world”, according to the curator of a new exhibition which argues the needs of nature and animals should be considered when creating homes, buildings and products.
Justin McGuirk, the curator of the upcoming More Than Human exhibition at the Design Museum in London, said our current “human-centric” approach to design needs to be radically overhauled as the world adapts to the climate crisis.
Continue reading...Distinctive, slender deep-sea creature, also known as ‘doomsday’ fish, seen wriggling on Baja California beach
A shimmery, slinky oarfish – a deep-sea creature that is rarely seen near the surface – was spotted in Baja California Sur, along Mexico’s Pacific Coast, this month. A group of people visiting the area noticed the shiny, wriggling fish along the beach, and tried to guide it back into the water.
The slender creatures live at depths between 660 and 3,280ft underwater, and on the rare occasions that they have been seen by humans, they have usually been dead – washed ashore after storms. In Baja California Sur, Robert Hayes of Idaho, who was visiting the beach with his wife, saw a live fish and quickly began filming it.
Continue reading...Despite conflicting laws, a wave of amateur homesteaders have started keeping fowl in the spirit of self-sufficiency
Katie Whalen’s backyard in the Florida city of Port St Lucie is testament to her journey towards a life of self-sufficiency. She grows mangoes, avocados, starfruit, jackfruit and coconuts. She is cultivating a tropical tree spinach known as chaya.
What she really wants, however, is a chicken coop and hens to provide eggs that are becoming increasingly unaffordable in stores. As bird flu worsens across the US and commercial suppliers struggle to keep up with demand, the keeping of fowl and production of eggs in home environments, has surged in popularity, and Whalen is keen to join the revolution.
Continue reading...Scrim the tramp terrier, known for his many getaways, now has a home and an extended family to look over him
Calling King Solomon.
The wiry terrier named Scrim who had virtually all of New Orleans looking for him while he spent most of the previous year on the run – enduring a hurricane, a historic snowfall and other perils – landed in the middle of an adoption controversy among those who recently brought him to heel again and then wanted to keep him.
Continue reading...Victim is in a stable condition at a Brisbane hospital with abdominal and leg injuries, authorities say
A man is recovering in a Brisbane hospital after being bitten by a shark and airlifted for treatment from a Moreton Bay island.
The man, who is reported to be 29, was mauled in the waters off the bay side of Moreton Island near the Wrecks Walking Track shortly after 3pm on Saturday.
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Continue reading...Black bear weighing 500lb found in crawlspace in Pasadena, two weeks after Altadena man discovered unfamiliar tenant
Two 500-plus pound black bears have laid claim to homes evacuated during the destructive Eaton fire in southern California.
Last month, when Samy Arbid returned to his Altadena home, he found “Barry” – a 525lb black bear – living under the house. This week, another Californian reported a different unexpected visitor living in his house’s crawlspace in neighboring Pasadena: another 500 to 600lb bear.
Continue reading...Vets are undertaking a necropsy to determine why beloved 20-year-old animal suddenly died on Saturday morning
Vets at Melbourne zoo are investigating the sudden death of 20-year-old western lowland gorilla, Kimya.
In a statement, Zoos Victoria said the gorilla’s death was “unexpected” and that staff were “devastated” at the news.
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Continue reading...Allan government announces extended 2025 duck hunting season with hunters allowed to bag nine ducks a day
Wetland bird hunters in Victoria will have a longer duck shooting season and can take home more birds under new rules.
The Victorian duck hunting season will begin on 19 March and run for 83 days until 9 June, up from 56 days in 2024.
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Continue reading...Program is meant to help the endangered northern spotted owl – and it’s only C$5! – but rat lovers are not amused
Revenge, they say, is a dish best served cold. And for an endangered owl breeding program in Canada, it’s also a dish best served dead.
For the price of a coffee, spurned and disgruntled lovers can revel in the satisfaction of having a dead rat named after an ex, before it is fed to a northern spotted owl.
Continue reading...Researchers found that most birds-of-paradise are biofluorescent – meaning they absorb light through their bodies
Birds-of-paradise are known for their bright and colourful plumage, but it turns out they are even more dazzling than previously thought.
Researchers have found 37 of the 45 species show biofluorescence – in other words, patches of their plumage or other body parts absorb UV or blue light, and emit light at lower frequencies.
Continue reading...Animals suspected of being illegally left in ‘extremely harsh’ environment near where lynx were found last month
Rangers in the Cairngorms are searching for a herd of feral pigs believed to have been illegally released in the national park.
The animals were spotted near the Uath Lochans area, close to the village of Inch and only 5 miles from where four lynx were illegally released last month.
Continue reading...Birds observed going to lengths to flavour food, with particular penchant for blueberry-flavoured soy yoghurt dip
Whether you savour Ottolenghi’s recipes or prefer a feast from Nigella’s cookery books, humans enjoy mixing flavours and textures when preparing food. Now research suggests some cockatoos do too.
Researchers have previously discovered that some of the birds dunk dry rusks in water before eating them, just as some people enjoy dunking a biscuit in tea, apparently reflecting a penchant for a soggy texture.
Continue reading...Italian radiologist, who says injured pet was ‘between life and death’, also operated on animal at Aosta facility
An Italian doctor has been placed under investigation after giving his cat a Cat scan at a hospital in Aosta before performing a life-saving operation on the feline.
Gianluca Fanelli took the animal, called Athena, to Umberto Parini hospital in the northern Italian region, where he is a manager of the radiology unit, after she fell from a roof.
Continue reading...Team has produced more than 20 embryos using method used in humans, though there are no plans for live joeys
Scientists have produced kangaroo embryos through in vitro fertilisation for the first time, in a development they say could help conservation of endangered animals.
Australian researchers at the University of Queensland made the eastern grey kangaroo embryos using intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), a technique widely used in human IVF, in which a sperm is injected into a mature egg.
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Continue reading...Discovery of H5N9 came alongside detection of the more common H5N1 on the farm, leading to 119,000 birds’ deaths
The first outbreak of a rare bird flu in poultry has been detected on a duck farm in California, the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) said on Monday.
Authorities said the discovery of H5N9 bird flu in poultry came alongside the detection of the more common H5N1 strain on the same farm in Merced county, California, and that almost 119,000 birds on the farm had been killed since early December.
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