Category Archives: Animals

Canada conservation officers seek runaway wolf days after zoo break-in

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The Greater Vancouver Zoo revealed a pack of grey wolves had escaped after ‘suspicious’ damage to the fence of their enclosure

Conservation officers in Canada are searching for a runaway wolf three days after a mysterious break-in freed a pack of the predators from a popular zoo.

The Greater Vancouver Zoo announced on Tuesday morning it would not open to crowds that day, and later acknowledged that a pack of grey wolves had escaped after “suspicious” damage to the fence of their enclosure. The zoo said the incident was probably the result of “malicious intent”.

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Missouri cave divers rescue dog stranded for nearly two months

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Divers discovered Abby about 500ft below while exploring the Berome Moore cave system

Cave divers in Missouri recently rescued a dog stranded hundreds of feet underground almost two months after the animal disappeared from its family’s home.

A small group of divers discovered Abby, a 13-year-old pet, while exploring the passages of the 18-mile Berome Moore cave system in Perry county on 6 August. They alerted the local fire department and members of the Cave Research Foundation at the surface of their discovery about 500ft below.

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Norway was right to put down Freya the walrus, prime minister says

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Jonas Gahr Støre speaks out after criticism from campaigners, while a zoologist says decision was inevitable

Norway’s prime minister has said it was “right” to put down Freya, a 600kg (1,300lb) female walrus euthanised on Sunday in Oslo fjord, as animal rights campaigners attacked the decision but a leading zoologist insisted it was inevitable.

“I support the decision to euthanise Freya,” Jonas Gahr Støre told the public broadcaster NRK on Monday. “It was the right decision. I am not surprised that this has led to many international reactions. Sometimes we have to make unpopular decisions.”

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Freya the walrus euthanised after troubling crowds in Oslo fjord

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Young 600kg female had been basking in waters of Norway’s capital and attracting crowds who disturbed her rest

A walrus nicknamed Freya that attracted crowds while basking in the sun in the Oslo fjord has been euthanised.

“The decision to euthanise was taken on the basis of a global evaluation of the persistent threat to human security,” the head of Norway’s fisheries directorate, Frank Bakke-Jensen, said in a statement.

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Brexit threatening endangered species as red tape hits zoo breeding programmes

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Transferring critically endangered species within Europe to broaden the gene pool is more difficult with Britain outside the EU

Breeding programmes designed to save critically endangered species are being jeopardised by Brexit, with zoos warning they are being prevented from transferring animals such as rhinos and giraffes by red tape created by the UK’s departure from the EU.

The animal health regulation was passed in 2016 before the EU referendum, but came into force in April 2021. There have been no reports that the UK dissented from the regulation.

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Freya the walrus: Norway officials warn of euthanasia risk if crowds don’t stay away

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Onlookers continue to get close to ‘stressed’ 600kg mammal in Oslo despite appeals to keep a distance

Norwegian authorities say they are considering putting down a walrus that won hearts basking in the sun of the Oslo fjord, because of the danger to the public and itself from sightseers.

Despite repeated appeals to the public to keep their distance from the walrus – a young female weighing 600kg (1,300 pounds) that has been nicknamed Freya – the mammal continues to attract big crowds, the fisheries directorate has said.

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Intruder who broke into monkey enclosure in Tasmania at risk of ‘potentially fatal’ herpes

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Launceston council urges person who entered enclosure to seek medical attention urgently as monkeys can carry herpes B virus

Authorities are urging an intruder who broke into a monkey enclosure in Tasmania to seek medical attention as they may have been exposed to a “potentially fatal” herpes virus.

The enclosure, which houses macaque monkeys, was broken into on Tuesday night with the intruder causing damage to the electric fence before stealing coins from a surrounding moat.

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Calls to ban gamebird release to avoid ‘catastrophic’ avian flu outbreak

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RSPB warns of risk to UK wild bird population this winter from 1 October release of captive-bred birds

Conservationists have called for ministers to ban the release of millions of gamebirds to prevent the UK’s wild birds being wiped out by a “catastrophic” avian flu epidemic this winter.

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) said there was a significant risk that pheasants, partridge and ducks released for shooting from 1 October could spread avian influenza into wild bird populations, wreaking havoc in farmland and garden birds.

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WHO stresses monkeypox surge not linked to monkeys amid attack reports

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World Health Organization issues statement after reports of animals being poisoned in Brazil

The World Health Organization has stressed that monkeypox outbreaks are not linked to monkeys, following a number of reported attacks on the primates in Brazil.

“What people need to know is that the transmission we are seeing is happening between humans,” a WHO spokesperson, Margaret Harris, told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday.

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‘Like a scene out of Jaws’: British boy attacked by sharks in Bahamas

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Finley Downer, eight, bitten on both legs by nurse sharks at Compass Cay before being pulled to safety

An eight-year-old British boy has been attacked by sharks while on holiday in the Bahamas.

Finley Downer was surrounded by three nurse sharks while swimming in a lagoon last week, his family said, before he was pulled to safety after suffering bites on both legs.

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British farmers face paying for border checkpoints in EU after Brexit halts exports

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Pedigree livestock breeders in Britain could be forced to spend millions of pounds to build facilities in France for ‘red tape’ checks by vets so their animals are allowed to enter the single market

British farmers are trying to set up red tape and border checks in France costing millions of pounds – and may even pay for it themselves.

Breeders in Britain are unable to export their pedigree cattle, sheep and pigs to the EU because no one has built any border control posts where vets can check the animals before they enter the single market.

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Rare hummingbird last seen in 2010 rediscovered in Colombia

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Birdwatcher ‘overcome with emotion’ on spotting the Santa Marta sabrewing, only third time it has been documented

A rare hummingbird has been rediscovered by a birdwatcher in Colombia after going missing for more than a decade.

The Santa Marta sabrewing, a large hummingbird only found in Colombia’s Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountains, was last seen in 2010 and scientists feared the species might be extinct as the tropical forests it inhabited have largely been cleared for agriculture.

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Call for hippos to join list of world’s most endangered animals

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New classification would mean a total ban on international trade in the animal’s body parts, as climate crisis and poaching hit populations

Hippos could be added to the list of the world’s most endangered animals because of dwindling populations caused by the climate crisis, poaching and the ivory trade.

The semi-aquatic mammals are found in lakes and rivers across sub-Saharan Africa, with an estimated population of 115,000-130,000. As well as the trade in ivory – found in its teeth – and animal parts, they are threatened by habitat loss and degradation, and the effects of global heating.

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Nepal’s tiger numbers recover but attacks on people cause alarm

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Nepalese population of Bengal tigers has nearly tripled in 12 years and conflict with humans is increasing

Nepal’s tiger population has nearly tripled in 12 years, the country’s prime minister has announced. But concerns about the human cost of the big cat’s recovery are growing after a rise in fatal attacks.

From a low of 121 in 2010, the Nepalese population of Bengal tigers has risen to 355, according to the latest survey, revealed by the prime minister, Sher Bahadur Deuba, to mark International Tiger Day on Friday.

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Monkey put down but hunt still on after attacks in Japanese city

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Male identified as one of a group of monkeys that have wounded 49 people and counting in Yamaguchi

Hunters on the trail of a group of monkeys that have attacked and wounded nearly 50 people in western Japan have caught and killed one of them.

Officials in Yamaguchi city have been trying for weeks to track down the group, who have made national headlines by assaulting residents, leaving mostly mild scratches and bites.

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Monkey attacks injure 42 people in Japanese city

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Authorities in Yamaguchi to use tranquilliser guns after macaques – or possibly one aggressive individual – uncharacteristically target adults and children

Local authorities in a Japanese city are to use tranquilliser guns to confront marauding monkeys that have injured 42 people in recent weeks.

Japanese macaques are common across large parts of the country and are a pest in some areas, eating crops and sometimes entering homes. But a spate of monkey attacks in Yamaguchi in the west of the country has been unusual, with adults and children suffering wounds including scratches and bites.

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‘Out of a horror movie’: Pennsylvania officer shoots snake around man’s neck

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Officer was able to fire one shot that injured 15ft reptile because its midportion, not head, was around the victim’s neck

A police officer in Pennsylvania fatally shot a 15ft snake in the head on Wednesday as it was coiled around a man’s neck while he was in cardiac arrest.

Just after 2 pm, two officers from the Upper Macungie Township police department responded to a call that a male with a snake wrapped around his neck.

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Wild cheetahs to return to India for first time since 1952

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Officials announce eight cats will be brought from Namibia in effort to reintroduce animal to its former habitat

Cheetahs are to return to India’s forests this August for the first time in more than 70 years, officials have announced.

Eight wild cats from Namibia will roam freely at Kuno-Palpur national park in the state of Madhya Pradesh in efforts to reintroduce the animal to their natural habitat.

Despite being a vital part of India’s ecosystem, the cheetah was declared extinct from the country in 1952 because of habitat loss and poaching. Cheetahs can reach speeds of up to 70mph (113km/h), making them the world’s fastest land animal.

Only about 7,000 cheetahs remain in the wild worldwide and the animals are classified as a vulnerable species under the International Union for Conservation of Nature red list of threatened species. Namibia has the world’s largest population of cheetahs.

Officials have been working to relocate the animals since 2020, after India’s supreme court announced that African cheetahs could be brought back in a “carefully chosen location”.

The move coincides with the nation’s 75th Independence Day, celebrating cheetahs as an important part of India’s cultural heritage.

India’s environment minister, Bhupender Yadav, tweeted: “Completing 75 glorious years of Independence with restoring the fastest terrestrial flagship species, the cheetah, in India, will rekindle the ecological dynamics of the landscape.”

He added: “Cheetah reintroduction in India has a larger goal of re-establishing ecological function in Indian grasslands that was lost due to extinction of Asiatic cheetah. This is in conformity with IUCN guidelines on conservation translocations.”

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A third of Wellington’s kākā parrot chicks found to have lead in their blood

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Toxic metal present in both blood and eggshell samples, but the New Zealand birds appear to have formed a tolerance for it

Lead has been detected in nesting native kākā chicks in Wellington, but unusually, the birds look to have developed a tolerance to the toxin, a study has found.

Kākā are a noisy, smart parrot, with bright green plumage and blood red patches under their wings and chest. They are particularly animated at dawn and dusk, and some Wellingtonians are known to curse their raucous squawking, while others delight in their cheekiness.

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Foot-and-mouth disease: Australian airports to step up precautions as farmers grow anxious

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Agriculture minister says disinfectant mats will be installed to prevent arrival of the disease, which is spreading in Indonesia

The federal government will install acidic disinfectant mats at airports as part of an expanded suite of biosecurity measures to prevent foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) entering Australia from Indonesia.

The new precautions come as viral fragments of the disease were detected in food products arriving from China.

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