Animals news

• Barracuda, grouper, tuna – and seaweed: Madagascar’s fishers forced to find new ways to survive

  24-12-2025 06:00
  Seaweed has become a key cash crop as climate change and industrial trawling test the resilient culture of the semi-nomadic Vezo peopleAlong Madagascar’s south-west coast, the Vezo people, who have fished the Mozambique Channel for countless generations, are defined by a way of life sustained by the sea. Yet climate change and industrial exploitation are pushing this ocean-based culture to its limits.Coastal villages around Toliara, a city in southern Madagascar, host tens of thousands of
  
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• The Guardian view on animal welfare: a timely reminder that cruelty is wrong | Editorial

  23-12-2025 19:25
  New protections for hares, and more humane conditions on farms, should be welcomed by allLooking after wildlife and improving the lives of farm animals and pets are the related but distinct aims of the government’s new animal welfare strategy for England. Its launch is timely: more than 1 billion chickens and around 8 million turkeys are reared each year – with many of the latter slaughtered in the run-up to Christmas. Winter is also peak season for pet abandonments, with animal char
  
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• ‘Rare’ squirrels set free together after bonding at Florida wildlife hospital

  23-12-2025 16:00
  Big Cypress fox squirrels released as a pair to reduce stress and support natural behaviors during return to the wildTwo “rare and elusive” juvenile squirrels have a new home for the holidays after they were injured falling from their nests and spent several weeks in a Florida wildlife “rehab” facility.The pair of Big Cypress fox squirrels, a threatened species so uncommon that the Conservancy of Southwest Florida hasn’t treated one in at least a decade, was release
  
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• ‘Rare’ squirrels set free together after bonding at Florida hospital for injured wildlife

  23-12-2025 16:00
  Big Cypress fox squirrels released as a pair to reduce stress and support natural behaviors during transition back into the wildTwo “rare and elusive” juvenile squirrels have a new home for the holidays after they were injured falling from their nests and spent several weeks in a Florida wildlife “rehab” facility.The pair of Big Cypress fox squirrels, a threatened species so uncommon that the Conservancy of Southwest Florida hasn’t treated one in at least a decade,
  
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• Something gnawed your oak tree? Sink hole in your road? How Zurich’s beaver hotline is reassuring residents

  23-12-2025 10:00
  As the number of the semi-aquatic creatures soars so can tensions. But the Swiss have a tried and tested system to calm the neighbours and restore harmony“I hate beavers,” a woman tells the beaver hotline. Forty years ago she planted an oak tree in a small town in southern Zurich – now at the frontier of beaver expansion – and it has just been felled: gnawed by the large, semi-aquatic rodents as they enter their seasonal home-improvement mode.The caller is one of 10 new p
  
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• 'Unusual' pink platypus spotted in Gippsland, Australia - video

  23-12-2025 01:55
  Cody Stylianou filmed this 'pink' platypus at a Gippsland fishing spot – a location he is keeping secret to protect the rare animal. Stylianou had been on his first trout fishing trip of the season in September when he saw the platypus, which he has nicknamed Pinky, feeding at the top of the tannin-stained river. Biologist Jeff Williams says though Pinky's colouring is 'somewhat unusual', it is not a rare albino platypus, just lighter in colour than most. 'Platypus do vary a lot in colour,
  
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• Pink platypus spotted in Gippsland is cute – but don’t get too excited

  23-12-2025 00:11
  Biologist says monotreme a Victorian fisher has nicknamed Pinky is ‘unusual but not exceptional’Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastCody Stylianou thought he saw a huge trout. But, skimming just below the surface, it was moving differently than a fish would.The creature surfaced and, amazed, the Victorian fisher reached for his phone. Swimming in front of him was a pink platypus. Continue reading...
  
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• Pink platypus spotted in Gippsland far from a monochrome monotreme

  23-12-2025 00:11
  Biologist says specimen filmed by a Victorian fisher is ‘unusual’, but not a rare albino as some had wonderedFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastCody Stylianou thought he saw a huge trout. But, skimming just below the surface, it was moving differently than a fish would.The creature surfaced and, amazed, the Victorian fisher reached for his phone. Swimming in front of him was a pink platypus. Continue readin
  
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• Boiling lobsters alive to be banned in UK animal cruelty crackdown

  22-12-2025 19:31
  Move is part of a long-awaited Labour strategy including outlawing hen cages and ending puppy farmingBoiling lobsters alive will be banned under proposals to improve animal welfare in England.Government ministers say that “live boiling is not an acceptable killing method” for crustaceans and alternative guidance will be published. Continue reading...
  
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• Boiling lobsters alive to be banned in England amid animal cruelty crackdown

  22-12-2025 19:31
  Move is part of a long-awaited Labour strategy including outlawing hen cages and ending puppy farmingBoiling lobsters while they are alive and conscious will be banned as part of a government strategy to improve animal welfare in England.Government ministers say that “live boiling is not an acceptable killing method” for crustaceans and alternative guidance will be published. Continue reading...
  
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• ‘It’s upset us all’: New Forest residents unnerved by man leaving animal carcasses by churches

  22-12-2025 07:00
  Case of man who apparently targeted Christians is latest in series of incidents in Hampshire of animal remains being dumped The people of the New Forest are accustomed to curious goings-on. The woods and heaths of the national park in southern England are the setting for all manner of tales of witches, pixies, cursed souls and rituals, and, even today, are a magnet for those fascinated by the otherworldly.But residents are aghast at the case of a local man who hit the headlines after admitting d
  
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• Hen cages and pig farrowing crates to be outlawed in England

  22-12-2025 07:00
  Humane slaughter requirements for farmed fish and end to puppy farming also in new package of animal welfare lawsCaged hens will be a thing of the past in England, the government has announced, as it launches a package of new animal welfare laws.Pig farrowing crates, which campaigners have said are cruel, will also be banned under the welfare changes. These cramped crates are used to stop pigs from rolling over and crushing their young, but once in them sows cannot turn over or move around at al
  
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• Country diary: A seal so close I can see its nostrils flaring | Tom Allan

  22-12-2025 06:30
  River Dart, Devon: It probably came here for the shoals of grey mullet, but just for a second, it’s more interested in me and my paddleboardThere’s a lull between the storms, and for the first time in days it’s calm enough to take out my stand-up paddleboard. It’s 7.30am, and on this sheltered tidal creek on the River Dart, the water is barely moving: a gentle pulse in the scum line along the beach is the last gasp of the tide’s energy.When I join the main course of
  
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• Forget elf on the shelf – these Aussie birds are perfect for the festive season | Jess Harwood

  22-12-2025 04:13
  Magpie on a mince pie anyone? Continue reading...
  
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• ‘Miracle’ of Zealandia: chick is born to rare takahē pair thought to be infertile

  21-12-2025 19:00
  Unexpected arrival is a boon for birdlife in New Zealand, where there are only 500 takahē leftA pair of rare native New Zealand takahē birds who were believed infertile have stunned staff at the world’s largest urban eco-sanctuary, after hatching a “miracle” chick.The roughly seven-week old chick was discovered inside Zealandia, a fully fenced eco-sanctuary 10 minutes from Wellington’s city centre, in November, but its arrival has been a closely guarded secret t
  
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• Do prawns feel pain? Why scientists are urging a rethink of Australia’s favoured festive food

  21-12-2025 15:00
  Studies show crustaceans can learn, remember, solve problems and form relationshipsMore summer essentialsSign up for climate and environment editor Adam Morton’s free Clear Air newsletter hereCrustaceans are a festive season staple for many families, particularly in Australia where an estimated 18.5m kilograms of prawns and more than 150,000 lobsters are eaten over Christmas and New Year.Globally, trillions are caught and consumed each year. Australia is a major producer, with prawn, lobst
  
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• UK supermarkets turn to European turkeys as avian flu hits supply

  21-12-2025 12:00
  Asda, Lidl and Morrisons understood to be stocking imported branded turkeys to meet Christmas demandSeveral of the UK’s big supermarkets have been forced to source turkeys from elsewhere in Europe to keep shelves stocked this Christmas, after avian flu curtailed UK production.Asda, Lidl and Morrisons are understood to be stocking branded turkey imported from mainland Europe – a move industry sources described as “unprecedented” – to “protect availability&rdquo
  
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• Police use lasso to help recapture runaway billy goat in Wiltshire

  20-12-2025 21:22
  Escaped animal was seen chasing a woman around Upper Seagry and trying to munch on a festive wreath An escaped goat which went on a rampage in a Wiltshire village was safely lassoed by police carrying riot shields.
  The runaway ruminant mammal was trotting around Upper Seagry, near Chippenham, and was seen chasing a woman around the village and trying to eat oranges from a Christmas wreath, an eyewitness told the BBC.
  Wiltshire police used riot shields and a lasso to catch the animal before it wa
  
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• Police use riot shields to help recapture runaway Wiltshire goat

  20-12-2025 19:38
  Escapee was seen chasing a woman around Upper Seagry and trying to eat fruit on a festive wreathAn escaped goat which went on a rampage in a Wiltshire village was safely lassoed by police carrying riot shields.
  The runaway ruminant mammal was trotting around Upper Seagry, near Chippenham, and was seen chasing a woman around the village and trying to eat oranges from a Christmas wreath, an eyewitness told the BBC.
  Wiltshire police used riot shields and a lasso to round the animal up before it was
  
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• US military to stop shooting live animals to train medics for the battlefield

  20-12-2025 15:12
  Defense department will still allow stabbing and burning, and ‘weapon wounding’ on animals to test weaponsThe US military will stop its practice of shooting pigs and goats to help prepare medics for treating wounded troops in a combat zone, ending an exercise made obsolete by simulators that mimic battlefield injuries.The prohibition on “live fire” training that includes animals is part of this year’s annual defense bill, although other uses of animals for wartime t
  
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• A new pope, a mayoral victory and a drunk raccoon: Guardian US readers on their favorite news moments of 2025

  20-12-2025 15:00
  There were some bright spots in a year of dark news stories – here are the ones that brought readers the most joy2025 has been a trying year. From the devastating Los Angeles wildfires to mass federal layoffs in Washington DC to the assassination of the rightwing political activist Charlie Kirk, individuals of all walks of life have been affected by economic concerns, political division, climate change and beyond.Still, there were bright spots in the darkness. We asked Guardian readers to
  
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• Shooting hares in England to be banned for most of the year

  20-12-2025 08:00
  Exclusive: Ministers also expected to announce trail-hunting ban in sweeping changes to animal welfare lawShooting hares in England will be banned for most of the year as part of sweeping changes to animal welfare law.At the moment, it is legal to shoot the animals during their breeding season, with pregnant hares left to bleed out, and leverets – their young – often orphaned as a result. Continue reading...
  
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• The rise of ‘beaver bombing’ across Europe | Letter

  19-12-2025 17:50
  Prof George Holmes and Gabriel Rowland say illicit releases need to be included in our conversations about which species belong in the UK, and who gets to decide thisThe arrival of beavers in Norfolk (‘No one knows where it came from’: first wild beaver spotted in Norfolk in 500 years, 7 December), and Richard Foster’s sightings of beavers in Berkshire (Letters, 11 December), do not come as a surprise. It is part of so-called “beaver bombing” across Europe over the
  
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• Week in wildlife: honeymooning owls, an otter on the razz and a magical frog

  19-12-2025 09:00
  This week’s best wildlife photographs from around the world Continue reading...
  
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• Country diary: Postcard from a pier, where brent geese are the main attraction | Lev Parikian

  19-12-2025 06:30
  Ryde, Isle of Wight: There’s plenty of commotion here among the hovercraft and herring gulls, not least from these wonderful, tubby geese, which make my winterThere’s a hovercraft on the sand, skirts deflated, dumped like a beached whale. Behind it, the pier stretches into the Solent. The air has the dull taste of off-season resort, with background notes of seaweed and vinegar. Welcome to Ryde.We eat fish and chips, fending off the attention of a hungry herring gull. The clicks and w
  
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• Guggenheim scraps Basque Country expansion plan after local protests

  18-12-2025 12:57
  Campaigners celebrate defeat of proposal to extend Bilbao institution into areas including nature reserveEnvironmental groups and local campaigners in the Basque Country have welcomed the scrapping of a project to build an outpost of Bilbao’s Guggenheim Museum on a Unesco biosphere reserve that is a vital habitat for local wildlife and migrating birds.The scheme’s backers, which include the Guggenheim Foundation, the Basque government and local and regional authorities, had claimed t
  
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• Scientists log rare case of female polar bear adopting cub: ‘They’re really good moms’

  17-12-2025 18:20
  Canadian researchers tracking bear known as X33991 noticed she had gained a second cub who likely needed helpScientists in Canada have documented a rare case of female polar bear adopting a new cub, in an episode of “curious behaviour” that highlights the complex relationships among the apex Arctic predators.Polar Bears International, a non-profit conservation group, said on Wednesday that when they first placed a GPS collar on a female polar bear in the spring, she had one young cub
  
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• A moment that changed me: a pigeon fell out of the sky – and she led me to a secret underground rescue network

  17-12-2025 07:55
  I had no idea what to do with the injured bird I named Belinda. But suddenly 3,000 Mancunians were happy to help, giving me a whole new appreciation of my home town
  The plane pushed through wall after wall of sleet on its descent into Manchester. I’d had a sinking feeling during the flight that only deepened as I shuffled through the terminal. I resented having to be back in the city where I had grown up, after living on the other side of the world for what had felt like a lifetime.After a
  
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• Plantwatch: Pitcher plant’s sweet nectar is laced with toxic nerve agent

  17-12-2025 07:00
  Nepenthes khasiana oozes an enticing liquid on the rim of its pitchers that tempts its prey into a deadly trapA carnivorous pitcher plant has recently been found to use a chemical nerve agent to drug its prey and lead them to a deadly end, being consumed in digestive juices at the bottom of the pitcher traps.The pitcher plant Nepenthes khasiana oozes an enticing sweet nectar on the rim of its pitchers for visiting insects, particularly ants, to feed on to lure them into the trap. But the nectar
  
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• ‘Magical’ galaxy frogs disappear after reports of photographers destroying their habitats

  17-12-2025 06:00
  Researcher in Kerala rainforest sounds alarm after being told frogs had died after being handled by humansA group of endangered “galaxy frogs” are missing, presumed dead, after trespassing photographers reportedly destroyed their microhabitats for photos.Melanobatrachus indicus, each the size of a fingertip, is the only species in its family, and lives under logs in the lush rainforest in Kerala, India. Their miraculous spots do not indicate poison, as people sometimes assume, but ar
  
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• Common household rat poisons found to pose unacceptable risk to wildlife as animal advocates push for ban

  17-12-2025 04:50
  Environmentalists say proposed temporary suspension of second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides ‘doesn’t go far enough’Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastCommonly available rat poisons pose unacceptable risks to native wildlife, according to a government review that has stopped short of recommending a blanket ban on the products, to the consternation of animal advocates.The long-awaited review of
  
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• Panya the pygmy hippo: how a tiny baby animal became a sensation

  16-12-2025 14:54
  Just in time for Christmas, a little calf has arrived at a German zoo and gone viral. But is he cuter than Moo Deng?Name: Panya the pygmy hippo.Age: About three weeks. Continue reading...
  
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• Merch commemorating drunk Virginia raccoon raises over $250,000 for animal shelter

  16-12-2025 11:00
  Staff at the Ashland animal shelter sold merch of raccoon they cared for after he was found passed out in a liquor storeMerchandise commemorating the raccoon that gained international fame by barging into a Virginia liquor store, smashing bottled spirits and passing out drunk in a bathroom on Black Friday has raised more than a quarter-million dollars for the local animal shelter where he slept off his bender.The Hanover county animal protection shelter raised the charitable amount after caring
  
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• Tuesday briefing: What polar bear DNA tells us about a warming Arctic

  16-12-2025 07:50
  In today’s newsletter: As species across the world struggle to keep pace with global warming, ​how ​do we report the rare glimmers of hope without downplaying the accelerating ecological ​crisis?Good morning. Amid the constant drumbeat of bleak news about the planet’s environment and the accelerating climate emergency, the occasional bright spot still emerges. One example came last week, when researchers published the first statistical evidence that polar bears are
  
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• ‘I consider him my first son’: how living with a baby monkey taught me I’m ready to be a dad

  15-12-2025 11:00
  I went from selling flats in Paris to being alone in a cabin in Guinea looking after primates. It changed my life, but one relationship marked me like no otherIn 2022, I had a job at an estate agents in Paris selling ridiculously expensive flats, and decided I needed to do something more meaningful with my life. I resigned, and six months later arrived in Guinea.In hindsight I was a young kid, full of anger, not happy with his life. That 26-year-old is definitely not me now – and it was li
  
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• Country diary: I love these soggy winter bogs – and so do the snipe | Charlie Elder

  15-12-2025 06:30
  Dartmoor, Devon: In these treacherous conditions for the moorland walker, one false move and a wary wader will burst into the airDays of torrential rain have yet to drain from this broad ridge at the westernmost edge of Dartmoor. The wide path to the top of Gibbet Hill, with views of Wheal Betsy, the nearby abandoned mine, is glazed with puddles, and I am forced to hop between tussocks of sedge to avoid treading ankle-deep in the liquid earth.This is my favourite season on Dartmoor – a tim
  
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• The snail farm don: is this the most brazen tax avoidance scheme of all time? – podcast

  15-12-2025 06:00
  Terry Ball – renowned shoe salesman, friend to former mafiosi – has vowed to spend his remaining years finding ways to cheat authorities he feels have cheated him. His greatest ruse? A tax-dodging snail empireBy Jim Waterson. Read by Nicholas Camm Continue reading...
  
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• Dog play afternoon: dachshunds overrun Hyde Park for Christmas walk

  14-12-2025 15:03
  Hundreds of sausage dogs gather for annual festive parade that organiser started to help her puppy socialiseThe pitter-patter of tiny paws has brought joy – and more than a little chaos – to Hyde Park in London as hundreds of dachshunds and their owners gathered for the annual sausage dog Christmas walk.Now in its eighth year, the event was started by organiser Ana as a way to help her dachshund, Winston, socialise as a puppy. Meeting at noon by the Physical Energy statue in the cent
  
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• Cruise-ship stowaway owls set for US return after living it up at Spanish resort

  13-12-2025 13:00
  Burrowing owls, who boarded cruise ship in Miami, to be returned to US next month after long spell in quarantineTwo burrowing owls stowed away on a cruise ship out of Miami, and are now living the high life at a Spanish resort before returning to the US next month.Biologists from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) said the mating pair boarded Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas before the vessel’s transatlantic crossing to Cartagena in southern Spain in Febr
  
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• ‘He’s living his best life’: drunk raccoon hit DMV for snacks before liquor store

  13-12-2025 12:00
  Officials say raccoon that broke into Virginia liquor store on 29 November had previously hit DMV and karate studioThe raccoon that barged into a Virginia liquor store, smashed bottles of booze and passed out drunk in a bathroom this past Black Friday has at least two other break-ins under his belt, a local government official has revealed.Before burgling the Ashland ABC store on 29 November, the raccoon had separately broken into a karate studio and a department of motor vehicles office, all on
  
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• Country diary: Clinging to a crag in a place of constant change | Eben Muse

  13-12-2025 06:30
  Neath, south Wales: Rock from this quarry built the abbey and the terraced towns. A huge cliff collapse made it even more worthy of investigationThe way to Neath Abbey Quarry is a perfect stranger to me this morning. It’s been three years since my last visit, and the maze of the path has shifted; old tree trunks have turned to mulch and the brook carves a different channel. My companion and I shoulder big bouldering pads, poorly proportioned for tight manoeuvres, yet we bump, turn and pivo
  
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• Almost dead? The GP will see you now | Brief letters

  12-12-2025 18:53
  Booking appointments online | Ambridge beavers | San Serriffe invasion | Nun benefits | Stages of ageingI sympathise with Simon Hattenstone (Tried using the new online GP booking system? I have – and it was almost as miserable as my chest infection, 10 December). Filled in the online form, requesting a face-to-face GP appointment, received an email offering a phone call with a pharmacist. Rang reception to explain that I needed to see a GP and she said she couldn’t make appointments
  
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• Indonesia floods were ‘extinction level’ disturbance for world’s rarest ape

  12-12-2025 14:42
  Conservationists fear up to 11% of Tapanuli orangutan population perished in disaster that also killed 1,000 peopleThe skull of a Tapanuli orangutan, caked in debris, stares out from a tomb of mud in North Sumatra, killed in catastrophic flooding that swept through Indonesia.The late November floods have been an “extinction-level disturbance” for the world’s rarest great ape, scientists have said, causing catastrophic damage to its habitat and survival prospects. Continue readi
  
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• Indonesia floods were ‘extinction level’ disturbance for rare orangutan species

  12-12-2025 14:42
  Conservationists fear up to 11% of Tapanuli population perished in disaster that also killed 1,000 peopleIndonesia’s deadly flooding was an “extinction-level disturbance” for the world’s rarest great ape, the Tapanuli orangutan, causing catastrophic damage to its habitat and survival prospects, scientists warned on Friday.Only scientifically classified as a species in 2017, Tapanulis are incredibly rare, with fewer than 800 left in the wild, confined to a small range in p
  
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• Week in wildlife: a baby echidna, a 600lb gator and an ‘unbearable’ bear

  12-12-2025 09:00
  This week’s best wildlife photographs from around the world Continue reading...
  
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• Country diary: Twenty years ago this thriving woodland didn’t even exist | Phil Gates

  12-12-2025 06:30
  Low Burnhall wood, Durham: The smell of decay, the screech of jays – nearly 100,000 trees planted in 2008 have really come of age“I remember when these were all open fields,” said with a sigh, is a lament usually associated with open countryside disappearing under creeping urban sprawl. Not here at Low Burnhall Wood, two miles south of Durham city centre, where former farmland in the valley of the River Wear is now filled with thriving young native trees.For 30 years I saw arab
  
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• Changes to polar bear DNA could help them adapt to global heating, study finds

  12-12-2025 02:00
  Scientists say bears in southern Greenland differ genetically to those in the north, suggesting they could adjustChanges in polar bear DNA that could help the animals adapt to warmer climates have been detected by researchers, in a study thought to be the first time a statistically significant link has been found between rising temperatures and changing DNA in a wild mammal species.Climate breakdown is threatening the survival of polar bears. Two-thirds of them are expected to have disappeared b
  
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• Wild beavers may have spread further than we realise | Letter

  11-12-2025 18:54
  In response to an article about a beaver spotted in Norfolk, Richard Foster reports sightings in BerkshireIn your article (‘No one knows where it came from’: first wild beaver spotted in Norfolk in 500 years, 7 December), you quote the Beaver Trust as saying that, as well as Norfolk, wild beavers have been spotted in Kent, Hampshire, Somerset, Wiltshire and Herefordshire.I can tell you that we also have beavers in Berkshire. I live by the River Kennet and I caught one on my garden tr
  
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• Snakes, spiders and rare birds seized by Border Force in month-long operation

  11-12-2025 07:00
  Wildlife smuggling is serious organised crime that ‘fuels corruption and drives species to extinction’, Home Office saysMore than 250 endangered species and illegal wildlife products were seized at the UK border in a single month, new figures have revealed, including spiders, snakes and birds.The illicit cargo was uncovered as part of an annual crackdown on wildlife smuggling known as Operation Thunder, which is led by Interpol and the World Customs Organisation. Continue reading...
  
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• A dead whale shows up on your beach. What do you do with the 40-ton carcass?

  10-12-2025 17:00
  A fin whale washed ashore in Anchorage and was left there for months. Then a self-described ‘wacko’ museum director made a planWhen a whale dies, its body descends to the bottom of the deep sea in a transformative phenomenon called a whale fall. A whale’s death jump-starts an explosion of life, enough to feed and sustain a deep-ocean ecosystem for decades.There are a lot of ways whales can die. Migrating whales lose their way and, unable to find their way back from unfamiliar w
  
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