Category Archives: Animals

Duck off: World Cup hero Merlín barred from Mexico game due to Fifa’s animal ban

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  • World’s sixth-most famous duck falls short of dream

  • Two-year-old must watch Czechia game from distance

Merlín the duck’s bid to see his beloved Mexico live has hit a snag after he was barred from El Tri’s match with Czechia on Wednesday.

Merlín has become a folk hero in Mexico after becoming a symbol of El Tri’s World Cup campaign on home soil. His fans had launched a campaign for Merlín to attend Wednesday’s match alongside his human family. But his journey was cut short by Fifa regulations.

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Mystery of Gracie the giraffe deepens as sheriff calls recapture claims a tall story

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Sheriff in rural Texas says ‘it’s still at large’ after claim Gracie had been located after wandering off private ranch

For almost two weeks, residents of a rural Texas county have been looking, mostly up, for a missing giraffe called Gracie that wandered off from a private game ranch.

On Wednesday, the mystery of the free-roaming mammal’s odyssey deepened further, when a local sheriff disputed an account that it was reportedly found safe a “little farther out than expected” from its hill country home, and said the search was most definitely still on.

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Brown skuas and giant petrels rarely make landfall. When they were found in WA, scientists feared ‘bad news’ for wildlife

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Experts thought H5N1 bird flu would more likely reach Australia’s north. But an arrival from Antarctica had always been possible

Brown skuas and giant petrels are a common sight offshore in southern Australian waters in the winter months, but they will rarely risk venturing on to land.

So when two of these birds were discovered sick – on beaches a few kilometres apart on Western Australia’s southern coastline – it was a sign something might be wrong.

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First pelicans in 360 years hatch in St James’s Park London

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Birds have been in the park since the Russian ambassador gave King Charles II two in 1664 – but none ever bred there

They arrived in the royal park shortly before the Great Fire of London, when the Russian ambassador presented a pair to King Charles II as a gift.

But although pelicans have been living in St James’s Park since 1664, none ever learned the art of courtship – until now, when for the first time in more than 360 years, chicks have been born.

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Vietnam police rescue hundreds of cats stolen for meat by crime ring

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Major operation launched after spate of pet thefts in Ho Chi Minh City, according to local media

Police in Vietnam have rescued more than 400 cats in a bust of a cat meat crime ring in Ho Chi Minh City, according to animal welfare groups and local media reports.

More than 40 cats were reunited with their owners after the multiday operation last week, but several dozen of those rescued have died due to the harsh conditions in which they were found, the groups said.

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Protesters seek to stop plan to cull hundreds of geese in Alabama

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Homeowners association in Madison incites protests and calls for humane solutions after voting to kill geese

A homeowners association in Madison, Alabama, has incited protests and calls for humane wildlife management solutions after voting to kill off hundreds of local geese.

Dozens of people gathered in the city’s Edgewater neighborhood to protest against the non-unanimous plan by the homeowners association (HOA) there to euthanize the Canada geese at Lady Ann Lake by fatally gassing them in a chamber. They called for more humane alternatives such as using horns to scare off the geese or relocating the birds.

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Gee, whiz: elephant relieves itself on floor of Texas Republican convention

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Four-ton Paige, brought in as surprise for attenders, made gushing debut after governor finished keynote speech

An African elephant weighing roughly 4 tons that was brought to the Texas Republican party’s annual convention to excite attenders ended up drawing widespread attention for the wrong reasons after she urinated on the convention floor and became the focus of animal welfare concerns.

Inside the George R Brown convention center in Houston on Friday, attenders had been told to prepare for a “larger-than-life surprise” after governor Greg Abbott finished his keynote speech. Organizers also displayed a message asking people to keep the aisles clear.

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Tropical heron spotted in UK for first time as more exotic birds arrive to thrill birdwatchers

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Appearance of a western reef heron in north Wales is unlikely to be the last, as heating temperatures mean species can survive Britain’s winter, say experts

It is a tropical bird typically encountered between west Africa and India, but last week a western reef heron arrived in north Wales in what is believed to be the first ever sighting in the UK.

The heron was first spotted in Foryd Bay at the weekend before flying to nearby Caernarfon harbour where it fed among the boats.

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Woman in critical condition after shark attack at Coogee beach

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A woman in her 30s has been transported to hospital with arm and leg injuries and beaches in Sydney’s east have been closed after the attack

A woman in her 30s is in a critical condition after being bitten by a large shark at Coogee beach on Saturday, with a witness describing the scene at the popular Sydney beach as “shocking”.

A spokesperson for New South Wales Ambulance said the woman suffered arm and leg injuries and had been taken by road to St Vincent’s hospital.

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Antarctica’s west coast missing an area of sea ice the size of France as temperatures peak 20C above average

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Exclusive A vast area of the Bellingshausen Sea should be covered by sea ice by now, with one expert calling the loss of ice ‘depressing’

Antarctica’s west coast is missing an area of winter sea ice the size of France, sparking concerns for threatened penguins other marine life and global sea levels.

One expert said the loss of ice in the Bellingshausen Sea was “depressing” and the failure of ice to form could have intensified a heatwave over the continent’s peninsular last week that saw daytime temperatures peak at 15.4C which is more than 20C above average.

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‘Osprey cam’ streams life of nesting seabirds perched at tip of 55 metre-long Queensland rainforest canopy crane

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Researchers believe the same pair of birds have been mating and nesting in the unusual spot in the Daintree Rainforest for 15 consecutive years

It started by chance – but it should have come as no surprise that two ospreys would pick a hi-tech research facility to make their home.

James Cook University’s 47-metre tall crane towers over the far-north Queensland rainforest canopy, making it the perfect nesting place for the seabird.

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Call to phase out ‘inhumane’ guga hunt by working with Hebridean islanders

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Annual killing of infant gannets has been carried out on a remote Scottish island for at least 400 years

Animal welfare campaigners have called for talks on phasing out the “inhumane” hunt for infant gannets known as guga, which are killed by hunters on a remote Scottish island once a year.

OneKind and the League Against Cruel Sports said it should be slowly phased out in dialogue with the Hebridean islanders who see the hunt, which has been carried out for at least 400 years, as a cultural pursuit and as sustainable food harvesting.

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Arizona lake closes indefinitely to visitors after all of its fish die

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Wildlife department says drought conditions and water released from dam led to ‘major fish kill’ at San Carlos Lake

Arizona officials have indefinitely closed a popular lake to visitors after its entire population of fish died recently.

The recreation and wildlife department that maintains San Carlos Lake said in a Facebook statement on Friday that drought conditions as well as water released from a dam there “resulted in a major fish kill affecting approximately 100% of the fish population”.

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Man dies after shark attack off Western Australia coast near Albany

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Government department says man was in the water around Michaelmas Island, near Albany, when he was bitten by a suspected 4.5-metre shark

A male diver aged in his 30s has died after being bitten by a shark in Western Australia.

The state’s police force confirmed on Saturday afternoon that the 35-year-old man had died, after being treated by paramedics at the scene for more than two hours.

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Animal welfare violations swarm Miami zoo owned by ex-drug kingpin in Tiger King

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Endangered snow leopard had leg amputated and capybara died at Mario Tabraue’s controversial roadside facility

An endangered clouded leopard had a leg amputated and a capybara died following botched breeding attempts at a controversial Miami roadside zoo owned by a convicted drug trafficker featured in the Netflix documentary Tiger King.

Federal wildlife inspectors found multiple other violations during a March inspection at Zoological Wildlife Foundation (ZWF), including dilapidated, insecure or unsafe housing conditions for wild animals, filthy cages, and water and food contaminated with algae and dead insects.

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Dartford warbler stages a comeback 60 years after almost vanishing

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Survey shows 44% increase on RSPB reserves of bird that almost became extinct in England in the 60s

More than half a century after the Dartford warbler almost vanished from the English countryside, the charismatic heathland bird appears to be staging a comeback.

A survey has revealed the highest number of Dartford warblers ever recorded on reserves run by the bird conservation charity RSPB, with 264 pairs counted in 2025, a 44% increase in five years.

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‘True patriot’: White House pays bizarre tribute to Harambe 10 years after gorilla’s death

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White House made lengthy post about gorilla shot dead at Cincinnati zoo after a toddler entered his enclosure in 2016

The White House has posted on social media a tribute to mark Thursday’s 10th anniversary of the death of a figure it called “a true patriot”.

The hero was not a human, however; it concerned the infamous case of the 400lb western lowland gorilla that had been named Harambe, which was shot dead at the Cincinnati zoo after a toddler entered his enclosure and interacted with the animal.

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Blond Bangladeshi buffalo nicknamed ‘Donald Trump’ saved from Eid sacrifice

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Rare albino buffalo spared due to security concerns over unusual level of public interest in 700kg animal

A rare albino buffalo in Bangladesh nicknamed “Donald Trump” for its distinctive blond tuft has been spared from Eid al-Adha sacrifice after a last-minute government intervention, according to a home ministry official.

The nearly 700kg (1,543lb) animal had already been sold for ritual slaughter when authorities stepped in, citing security concerns after a surge of public interest before Thursday’s festival.

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Tourist accused of hurling rock at endangered Hawaiian seal was trying to protect sea turtles, lawyer says

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Igor Lytvynchuk is scheduled to appear in court on charges of harassing and attempting to harass a protected animal

The lawyer for a tourist accused of hurling a rock at an endangered Hawaiian monk seal says his client was trying to protect sea turtles and has since been assaulted, threatened and doxed.

Igor Lytvynchuk, 38, of Covington, Washington, is scheduled to appear in court in Honolulu on Wednesday on charges of harassing and attempting to harass a protected animal.

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Lord Howe Island got rid of its rats and mice – now its ‘wonderful’ insect life is back

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Invasive vermin decimated the island’s native flora and fauna – but its unique cockroaches and beetles are thriving once again

In the summer months, Lord Howe Island’s unique stag beetle, with wing cases that appear forged from iridescent green metal, fly around the ancient tree tops looking for a mate.

“That’s really something wonderful,” said Ian Hutton, a naturalist and nature guide on the World Heritage-listed island.

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