Category Archives: Animals

‘Extinction crisis’ of sharks and rays to have devastating effect on other species, study finds

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Almost two-thirds of sharks and rays living on world’s coral reefs at risk, with 14 of 134 species reviewed critically endangered

Almost two-thirds of sharks and rays that live around the world’s coral reefs are threatened with extinction with potentially dire knock-on effects for ecosystems and coastal communities, according to new research.

Overfishing was the main cause of the declines over the past half a century, with larger sharks and rays being particularly hard hit.

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Activists call for immediate halt to duck and kangaroo hunting after Murray Darling floods

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Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia have increased kangaroo harvest quotas for 2023 but impact from floods yet to be assessed

Animal welfare advocates are calling for a moratorium on commercial and recreational shooting of wildlife affected by the devastating Murray-Darling floods.

Wildlife Victoria has called for the “immediate cessation” of the Victorian government’s kangaroo harvesting program and a moratorium on the annual duck hunting season, which usually begins in March.

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Kenya declares war on millions of birds after they raid crops

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Toxic pesticides used to eradicate grain-eating quelea may harm the country’s endangered raptors, say conservationists

A drive by the Kenyan government to kill up to 6 million red-billed quelea birds that have invaded farms will have unintended consequences for raptors and other wild species, experts have warned.

The continuing drought in the Horn of Africa has reduced the amount of native grass, whose seeds are queleas’ main food source, causing the birds to increasingly invade grain fields, putting 2,000 acres (800 hectares) of rice under threat. About 300 acres of rice fields have been destroyed by the birds.

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Painful and invasive racing greyhound breeding technique should be banned, vets say

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‘Horrific’ technique which involves removing the uterus is unnecessary and outdated, animal welfare activists say

Vets want an invasive and painful greyhound breeding technique, which involves removing the uterus, banned across Australia.

About 80% of racing greyhounds in NSW are bred using surgical artificial insemination. The Australian Veterinary Association has released a new policy declaring SAI “must not be performed in dogs”.

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Three dead boa constrictors discovered at Carbeth Loch near Glasgow

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SSPCA says circumstances of incident suspicious as its launches appeal for information about the snakes

An animal rights charity is appealing for information after the bodies of three snakes were found at a fly-tipping spot near Glasgow.

The Scottish Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SSPCA) said the boa constrictors were discovered by a member of the public at a site near Carbeth Loch in Blanefield.

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Cat call: Bolivia state airline enlists psychic to find missing feline

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‘Interspecies communicator’ consulted to track down cat lost in transit, prompting criticism of country’s state companies

Bolivia’s state airline has enlisted an “interspecies communicator” – or animal psychic – to track down a lost cat, after a passenger’s pet went missing in transit.

The incident has prompted pointed questions over the performance of Bolivia’s many state companies, a continual source of debate between the leftist government and its opposition.

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Animal ambulances answer growing demand for pet emergency care

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Firms such as Animals at Home offer range of care services and can step in when pets are in trouble

The day did not begin as expected for Verity Hope. She had been due to spend a wet November morning making a trip to a vet with a reactive dog, but the client phoned in sick. Then another job cropped up: taking a dead rabbit to a pet crematorium.

It may seem an eclectic set of requests, but for Verity and her animal ambulance it is the norm. Since the start of the pandemic, 4.7m households have acquired a new pet. Changes in work patterns and everyday pressures mean many need support.

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Revealed: US allowing long-tailed macaque imports despite risk of disease

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Campaigners urge government to stop ‘cruel trade’ as documents show highly pathogenic agents entered the US with monkeys

US authorities are continuing to allow imports of long-tailed macaques from Cambodia, despite revelations that deadly pathogenic agents, including one deemed to be a bioterrorism risk, are entering the country with primates and recent charges of illegal trafficking of wild macaques falsely labeled as captive-bred into the US biomedical industry from Cambodia.

Animal rights campaigners are urging the US government to stop the “cruel trade”, saying it’s impossible to prove provenance and that the risk of disease is significant.

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Cow rescued from Sydney shopping centre one day, pulled from dam after getting bogged the next

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Lost animal was moved to a nearby paddock where it got stuck up to its stomach in mud overnight and had to be lassoed with firefighters’ hose

A cow found wandering a shopping centre has required rescue for a second time.

The lost animal was first discovered in the Caddens Corner shopping precinct in Sydney’s west on Tuesday night.

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Walrus swims north to Northumberland after Yorkshire recuperation

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Thor, seen in Hampshire and Scarborough – where fireworks were cancelled to spare him distress – has now been spotted in Blyth

A wandering walrus who delighted thousands in Scarborough on New Year’s Eve has continued his English tour and turned up 100 miles further up the coast.

A large crowd quickly gathered in the Northumberland town of Blyth on Monday lunchtime after a walrus was spotted resting on a wooden pontoon at the yacht club.

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Hunters go home empty-handed on first day of Sweden’s biggest wolf cull

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Hunters allowed to kill 75 wolves from an already endangered population of 460 amid ‘political pressure’ from hunting lobby

The biggest wolf cull in modern times has begun in Sweden as nature organisations warn it could drastically harm the population.

On Monday, the Guardian accompanied 200 hunters as they went to kill wolves in the frost-covered forests between Gävleborg and Dalarna, hunting from midnight until the sun set at 3pm. Groups will be going out across Sweden all month as they attempt to take down the large predators.

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Thirteen bison killed after road crash near Yellowstone national park

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Herd struck by semi-truck on Montana highway, with some of the bison needing to be euthanized ‘due to severe injuries’

Thirteen bison have died as a result of a road crash in the dark on a Montana highway near Yellowstone national park, authorities have announced.

In a statement released on Facebook, the West Yellowstone police department announced that around 6.30pm on Wednesday “multiple bison were struck by a semi-truck near mile marker 4 on Highway 191”, referring to a highway north of the town of West Yellowstone.

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Release of 10 quolls boosts ‘insurance’ population of endangered marsupial

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The animals were released into Aussie Ark’s 400-hectare Barrington Wildlife Sanctuary

In a “globally significant moment” which gives a near-extinct species a second lease at survival, 10 eastern quolls have been released into a New South Wales nature reserve.

The animals were released into Aussie Ark’s 400-hectare Barrington Wildlife Sanctuary in the state’s Upper Hunter region, bolstering a flourishing insurance population of quolls.

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New Zealand bans battery cages for hens – but replacement ‘just as bad’

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Colony cages are larger but animal welfare campaigners say the birds are still not able to behave naturally

Battery cages for layer hens will become illegal in New Zealand from 2023 but animal welfare campaigners are urging the government to scrap the replacement colony cages, which they say are just as bad.

The plan to ban battery cages has been 10 years in the making – in 2012, the previous National party government committed to phasing them out by 1 January 2023.

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Svalbard reindeer thrive as they shift diet towards ‘popsicle-like’ grasses

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Increased plant growth due to warmer climate appears to be prompting change in eating habits

As the Arctic warms, concern for the plight of Santa’s favourite sleigh pullers is mounting. But in one small corner of the far flung north – Svalbard – Rudolph and his friends are thriving.

Warmer temperatures are boosting plant growth and giving Svalbard reindeer more time to build up fat reserves; they also appear to be shifting their diets towards “popsicle-like” grasses that poke up through the ice and snow, data suggests.

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Animal welfare advocates hail New York law banning sale of pets at retail stores

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The legislation aims to end the ‘puppy mill-to-pet store pipeline’ for abusive breeders of dogs, cats and rabbits

Animal welfare advocates in New York are heralding the recent approval of a statewide law that prohibits the sale of dogs, cats and rabbits at retail pet stores to “end the puppy mill-to-pet store pipeline and stop abusive breeders” and help more stray and abandoned pets find homes.

The law, which goes into effect in 2024, will not outright bar pet shops from having four-legged friends on display as retailers may charge rescue organizations rent to present ready-to-adopt companion animals. But it has been hailed as a major achievement for animal welfare by its backers.

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Men admit break-in at Hampshire zoo in which giraffes and tigers suffered

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Nathan Daniels, 21, and Bradley Green, 24, damaged enclosures and allegedly threw bottle at giraffe’s head

Two men have admitted breaking into a zoo and damaging the penguin and giraffe enclosures during an incident in which a bottle was allegedly thrown at a giraffe’s head.

Nathan Daniels, 21, admitted damaging the penguin enclosure at Marwell zoo, near Southampton, while Bradley Green, 24, admitted damaging an enclosure containing giraffes.

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Italy to let hunters loose against ‘invasion’ of wild boars

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Farmers’ lobby welcomes move by Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing coalition, claiming animals are getting ‘ever closer’ to homes

Italy’s ruling right-wing coalition is set to loosen hunting rules to deal with what the country’s farming lobby has called an “invasion” of wild boars.

The boars are common in the countryside, but have recently also been spotted in central parts of Rome, attracted by the Eternal City’s chronically overflowing rubbish skips.

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US public not warned that monkeys imported from Cambodia carried deadly pathogens

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Documents reveal that pathogenic agents, zoonotic bacteria and viruses, including one deemed bioterrorism risk, entered US but ‘no indication CDC has been transparent’

Animal activists are calling for the US government to stop the importation of non-human primates for laboratory use after documents from the American Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reveal that deadly pathogenic agents, zoonotic bacteria and viruses – including one deemed to be a bioterrorism risk – entered the country with monkeys imported from Asia between 2018 and 2021.

Documents obtained by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) and seen exclusively by the Guardian, along with a case report by the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science, reveal that there have been six cases of Burkholderia pseudomallei identified in primates imported from Cambodia to the US.

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