Footage shows a man windsurfing being forcefully thrown from his board as a whale breaches off the California coast
An unsuspecting windsurfer collided with a gray whale on the San Francisco Bay in a startling and rare encounter captured on video.
The footage shows the moment the surfer is forcefully thrown from his board as a gray whale breaches off the California coast, plunging him into the water.
Continue reading...Marsupial escaped from enclosure at Wisconsin’s Sunshine Farm on Wednesday after he was spooked by stray dogs
How does a kangaroo escape a petting zoo?
It’s not the opening line to a dad joke. If you’re Chesney the kangaroo, you scale an 8ft (2.5-meter) fence and go on the lam for three days, giving your keeper sleepless nights and sending residents of a small Wisconsin town on a search that would end happily on Saturday.
Continue reading...Weak and sick mammal has become stuck in shallow bays and experts say prognosis ‘doesn’t look good’
The fate of a humpback whale stuck in shallow bays off Germany’s Baltic coast hangs in the balance after it became stranded for a third time.
The roughly 10-metre-long (33ft) mammal appeared weakened and sick on Sunday and was struggling to find a route back to the Atlantic when it ran into fresh difficulty.
Continue reading...National Trust says one year after reintroduction they are enriching habitats and may be having kits this summer
They were released this time last year with fanfare, much hope and also, perhaps, a little trepidation.
Twelve months on, there have been ups and downs for the first beavers to be (officially) reintroduced into the wild in England since the semiaquatic mammals were hunted to extinction 400 years ago.
Continue reading...Police and animal rights activists say the practice is frequently used as a ‘smokescreen’ for illegal foxhunting
The UK government has said it will ban trail hunting, the rural sport that police and animal rights activists have long accused of being a “smokescreen” for illegal foxhunting.
“We pledged to ban trail hunting in our manifesto and that is exactly what we intend to do,” said Sue Hayman, the animal welfare minister. “The nature of trail hunting makes it difficult to ensure wild and domestic animals are not put at risk of being killed or injured – that is clearly unacceptable.”
Continue reading...Exclusive: Labor bill recognising all animals as sentient and raising care requirements won’t be introduced before state election
Warning: This article contains graphic content
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A bulldog trapped on a balcony, forced to live among its own faeces. A corgi kept in similarly squalid conditions, surrendered by its owner after community outrage. A Maltese shih tzu beaten with a metal pole – its attacker spared jail.
These are the kinds of animal cruelty cases the Victorian government promised to target with new laws almost a decade ago. But Guardian Australia can reveal those reforms have been shelved indefinitely.
Continue reading...German rescue teams have been trying to ease the humpback’s path back into deeper waters without success
A 10-metre-long humpback whale stranded on a sandbar in the Baltic Sea is in danger of dying if rescue workers do not manage to help it move into deeper waters soon, experts have said.
Believed to be a young male, the mammal was spotted by guests of a hotel in Niendorf in Lübeck Bay, northern Germany, on Monday after they heard its deep moans and alerted police.
Continue reading...German rescue teams have been trying to ease the humpback’s path back into deeper waters without success
A 10-metre-long humpback whale stranded on a sandbar in the Baltic Sea is in danger of dying if rescue workers do not manage to help it move into deeper waters soon, experts have said.
Believed to be a young male, the mammal was spotted by guests of a hotel in Niendorf in Lübeck Bay, northern Germany, on Monday after they heard its deep moans and alerted police.
Continue reading...Conservationists celebrate second twin birth just two months after another found in Virunga national park
A second set of mountain gorilla twins has been born in Virunga national park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), in what conservationists are celebrating as an “extraordinary” event for the endangered primates.
Just two months after tiny twin mountain gorillas were discovered by rangers in the Virunga massif, in eastern DRC, another rare twin birth has been found by park wardens. This time, an infant male and female have been spotted in the Baraka family, a troop of 19 mountain gorillas that roam the region’s high-altitude rainforests.
Continue reading...In incident filmed by security cameras in Rio de Janeiro, group of attackers beat animal with sticks and iron bars
Police in Rio de Janeiro have arrested eight people for brutally beating a capybara – the world’s largest rodent.
Resembling a giant guinea pig, the light brown capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris) is often seen roaming the Brazilian city, particularly near streams and lagoons.
Continue reading...Bypassing animal health certificate system by using cheaper pet passport issued abroad could backfire, experts say
British pet owners who want to take their furry friends elsewhere in Europe have been warned not to try to dodge expensive health certificates by using a pet passport issued abroad.
Before Brexit, taking a cat, dog or ferret to the EU was relatively simple: the Pet Travel Scheme meant an animal needed a microchip, vaccination against rabies, a pet passport and, for dogs, there were also requirements concerning tapeworm treatment.
Continue reading...Animal Aid says reclassification of research facilities as key infrastructure could catch even most peaceful action
A charity has filed a legal challenge over a “chilling” change in the law that restricts protest outside animal testing facilities in England and Wales by reclassifying them as “key national infrastructure”.
Animal Aid says last month’s amendment to the Public Order Act could capture even the most peaceful, non‑disruptive advocacy. It claims the change is unlawful because it goes beyond parliament’s intention at the time the act was passed.
Continue reading...Research finds cockapoo, cavapoo and labradoodle dogs display more undesirable behaviours than breeds they derive from
The UK has oodles of doodles but a study might offer paws for thought: researchers have found some of these designer crossbreed dogs show more behavioural problems than the pure breeds from which they derive.
Crosses between poodles and other dog breeds have become increasingly popular in the UK, with research suggesting the trend is – at least in part – driven by the expectation such dogs will be hypoallergenic, healthy and good with children.
Continue reading...RSPCA say animals could become ‘hidden victims’ of conflict as charities in Gulf city report being overwhelmed
Thousands of pets are being abandoned in Dubai as their owners flee the Middle East because of the Iran war, animal charities have said.
The RSPCA said pets of fleeing UK nationals could become “hidden victims” of the conflict as people who had relocated to the Gulf city scramble for an exit and struggle to bring their animals.
Continue reading...Study shows animals hear very high frequencies, making it possible to design a deterrent to cut deaths
Hedgehogs have been discovered to hear high-frequency ultrasound, raising hopes that they could be deterred from dangerous roads with ultrasound repellers.
Vehicles are estimated to kill up to one in three hedgehogs, a big factor in the much-loved mammal’s drastic decline across Europe over recent decades.
Continue reading...More than 100,000 people have tuned in to watch ‘kākāpō cam’, which captures a rare flightless bird sleeping, tidying her nest and fighting off intruders
On an island in New Zealand’s remote southern fjords, one of the world’s strangest and rarest parrots – the kākāpō – is caring for her tiny chick as fans from across the globe watch on.
Through the black and white lens of a hidden camera, a fluffy orb with a kazoo-like squeak jostles for food from its mother’s beak. The mother, Rakiura, is attentive – scooping her chick under her large green wings, fending off an intruding bird, and periodically tidying her nest.
Continue reading...Lower house votes in favour of polarising law after rapid increase in population and attack on grazing farm animals
Wolf hunting will be allowed in Germany under legislation passed by the lower house of parliament in response to a rapidly growing population and a sharp rise in attacks on livestock.
The return and growth of the wolf population in the last three decades has emerged as a wedge issue in Germany, the land of the Brothers Grimm who popularised the spectre of the Big Bad Wolf.
Continue reading...Researchers hope restoring the original song will improve breeding prospects for birds released into the wild
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Scientists have rescued the lost song of the critically endangered regent honeyeater – one of Australia’s rarest birds.
Regent honeyeaters were once seen in vast flocks across south-eastern Australia, with a distribution that ranged from Queensland to Kangaroo Island in South Australia.
Continue reading...Authorities say capture of bull and tiger sharks necessary to protect lives as environmentalists launch urgent legal challenge
Some beaches in areas of New Caledonia are closed to swimming and the authorities have begun shark culling off the capital, Nouméa, after a fatal attack in the popular tourist spot – prompting a legal challenge to stop the operation and reigniting debate over public safety and marine conservation.
The culling operation began on 23 February, after a man from New Caledonia riding a wing foil in a recreational area was attacked and killed. Preliminary investigations indicate the victim was attacked by a tiger shark that measured at least three metres.
Continue reading...Footage of Punch, a seven-month-old Japanese macaque, has gone viral around the world after he was rejected by his mother and formed a bond with a soft toy
A baby monkey in Japan has captured hearts around the world after videos of him being bullied by other monkeys and rejected by his mother went viral last week.
Punch, a Japanese macaque, was born last July at Ichikawa zoo. He has drawn international attention after zookeepers gave him a stuffed orangutan toy after he was abandoned by his mother.
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