Animals news

• Police seize 22 XL bullies in raid on suspected Sheffield breeding farm

  04-05-2024 20:05 via theguardian.com
  
  Banned dogs found on allotment where officers described conditions as ‘appalling’More than 20 dogs have been seized after police raided a suspected illegal XL bully breeding farm in Sheffield.Twenty-two animals were seized from an allotment on Thursday, including mothers and puppies, which were being kept in what officers described as “appalling conditions”. Continue reading...
  
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• A cat: ‘They smoked pipes, played dice’ | Helen Sullivan

  17-06-2024 17:00 via theguardian.com
  
  In more than one image from 1900s Japan, they look hungoverGet our weekend culture and lifestyle emailWe had gone to Japan, we told our daughter, to get her a maneki-neko: the good luck or beckoning cat. She is almost three. She would stay home with my mother, her grandmother. There is a maneki-neko that lives at the till of a manicure shop near our house, and she likes to stop and greet it. Japanese folklore has cats for many things, and we were grateful for this one. Before we left, we wrote l
  
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• ‘It can feel like a detective story’: birders asked to help find 126 ‘lost’ bird species

  17-06-2024 13:30 via theguardian.com
  
  The birds have not been seen for at least a decade – some for more than 100 years – but the authors of a new list of missing species have not given up hopeThe coppery thorntail and New Caledonian lorikeet are among the 126 birds “lost” to science, having not been seen for a decade or more, according to the most comprehensive list of missing species composed to date.The new tally is based on millions of records collected by enthusiastic birders and amateur scientists docum
  
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• Australia Post releases video of dogs attacking posties - video

  17-06-2024 09:46 via theguardian.com
  
  Australia Post warns it will stop delivering to homes where dogs make it ‘unsafe’ to do so, releasing footage of posties being attacked, chased and harassed by dogs. The postal service found there have been 11 dog-related incidents a day over the last six months. Australia Post general manager of safety and wellbeing, Rod Maule, says dog owners must take responsibility for their pets Continue reading...
  
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• I am so obsessed with seahorses, I had 26 tanks full of them in my home

  17-06-2024 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The founder of the Seahorse Trust explains how his life-long fascination with the enigmatic creatures helped us to understand and protect them I saw a seahorse for the first time when I was 14. There is something very unfishlike about the way seahorses swim upright, and their constantly moving eyes – it made me feel completely in awe of them. Fifty-one years later, and that feeling has never gone away. Even now, if I’m on a dive and I see one, I find it amazing.Seahorses are fish tha
  
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• Small dogs leading the pack on postie attacks, Australia Post says

  17-06-2024 07:49 via theguardian.com
  
  Australia Post has warned it would stop delivering to homes where dogs made it “unsafe” to do soThere have been calls for dog owners to call their hounds to heel, as Australia Post says there have been an alarming 11 dog-related incidents a day over the last six months.Queensland continues to record the highest number of incidents, with 466 incidents in the past six months, followed by NSW with 408 and Western Australia with 215. Continue reading...
  
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• Beavers create habitat suitable for water voles in Scottish rainforest

  17-06-2024 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Beavers’ dams have created more places for water voles to hide from predators and hopefully flourish, say expertsBeavers reintroduced to a Scottish rainforest 15 years ago may have created the right habitat for the area’s endangered water voles to flourish.The voles, once abundant in Scotland but now one of the country’s most threatened native animals, could thrive in the “complex boundary between water and land” that beavers have created in Knapdale in Argyll and B
  
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• Country diary: A solitary bee thrives amid the wet | Kate Blincoe

  17-06-2024 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Caistor St Edmund, Norfolk: They like crevices in old brickwork, which is harder to come by these days, so my father has drilled holes and inserted canes to helpThe swallows flit in and out of the stable, greeted by a chorus from their open-mouthed chicks. The farrier is here applying a hot shoe to a hoof, and the air fills with a cloud of smoke.Then, beside me, a bee emerges from the brickwork. The weather has been distinctly bee-unfriendly of late, as the rain continues to fall, but this
  
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• Wilding review – a biodiversity success story in West Sussex

  16-06-2024 13:00 via theguardian.com
  
  David Allen’s documentary about a couple trying to run a profitable eco-business is an inspirational puff piece Half puff job, half genuinely inspirational record of a rare eco-success story, David Allen’s documentary revolves around aristocratic farmer Charlie Burrell and his wife, Isabella Tree. The pair own 1,400 hectares (3,500 acres) of land in West Sussex and since 2001 have been engaged in an “experiment” to make the estate both biodiverse and profitable. Basically
  
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• The world’s tallest dog is an adorable scaredy cat, his owners say

  16-06-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Kevin, a great dane from Iowa, is the same height as a three-year-old – but can’t stand up to his family’s vacuum cleanerThe Iowa great dane that was recently crowned the world’s tallest dog is the same height as the average three-year-old child – and is often mistaken for being a horse. But Kevin cannot stand up to his household’s vacuum cleaner, which “he is terrified of”, his owners Tracy and Roger Wolfe told Guinness World Records in a recently
  
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• Surrey police face criticism after using car to ram escaped cow

  15-06-2024 19:04 via theguardian.com
  
  Home Secretary says officers’ actions in trying to capture animal were unnecessarily heavy handedThe home secretary has asked Surrey Police to provide a “full, urgent explanation” after footage showed officers using a car to ram an escaped cow.James Cleverly made the comments after footage posted online showed officers ramming the cow twice with their police car, while an onlooker is heard shouting: “What are you doing that for?” Continue reading...
  
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• How do you put pigeons on the pill? Scientists test contraceptives to curb pest numbers

  14-06-2024 13:26 via theguardian.com
  
  Birth control is being trialled as a humane way to limit growing numbers of grey squirrels, pigeons and wild boarThe invention of the contraceptive pill heralded the sexual revolution of the 1960s, and now scientists are looking to revolutionise wildlife control by getting animals in on the action. Trials are under way in the UK and elsewhere in Europe of how to get contraceptives into pigeons, wild boar and grey squirrels, with scientists also proposingother rodents, invasive parakeets and deer
  
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• Wildlife experts urge action on pesticides as UK insect populations plummet

  14-06-2024 13:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Campaigners say next government must reduce use and toxicity of pesticides before it is too lateThe UK’s insect populations are declining at alarming rates and the next government must put in place plans to monitor and reduce the use and toxicity of pesticides before it is too late, wildlife experts say.In recent years, concerns have been raised over earthworm populations, which have fallen by a third in the past 25 years. A citizen science project that monitors flying insects in the UK, m
  
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• Top CDC officials warns US needs ‘more tests’ in face of bird flu fears

  14-06-2024 13:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Agency principal deputy director wants more testing of farm workers who work in proximity to affected animalsThere is not enough testing for bird flu among people and animals in the US, says Dr Nirav Shah, principal deputy director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) – but he is wary of pushing the issue and damaging fragile trust among farm workers and owners.“We would like to be doing more tests,” Shah said. “We’d like to be testing particul
  
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• Pigeons on the pill: scientists look to contraceptives to curb pest numbers

  14-06-2024 11:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Birth control is being trialled as a humane way to limit growing numbers of grey squirrels, pigeons and wild boarThe invention of the contraceptive pill heralded the sexual revolution of the 1960s, and now scientists are looking to revolutionise wildlife control by getting animals in on the action.Trials are under way in the UK and elsewhere in Europe of how to get contraceptives into pigeons, wild boar and grey squirrels, with scientists also proposingother rodents, invasive parakeets and deer
  
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• Week in wildlife – in pictures: a comedy seal, a cricket-loving owl and hairy pigs on Exmoor

  14-06-2024 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The best of this week’s wildlife photographs from around the world Continue reading...
  
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• Rare antelope chokes to death on plastic cap at Tennessee zoo

  13-06-2024 16:24 via theguardian.com
  
  Leif, a seven-year-old sitatunga antelope, choked on cap from squeeze fruit pouch that is not allowed at zooA rare antelope has choked to death on the plastic cap of a squeezable snack pouch at a zoo in Tennessee, according to zoo staff.Leif, a seven-year-old sitatunga antelope, was seen acting strangely in his enclosure at the Bright zoo on Saturday, with fluid leaking from his mouth. Continue reading...
  
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• ‘They’re not like puppy dogs. They should be respected’: how to swim with sharks in British waters

  13-06-2024 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Diving with marine life such as blue sharks is growing in popularity in the UK, spurred by footage of encounters on social mediaWe have only been waiting in the grey Atlantic swell a few moments when the first flash of metallic blue appears in the water. A blue shark, a few miles from the coast of Penzance in Cornwall, emerges from the depths. It is time to get in the water – but part of my brain rebels.“It’s not what you think it will be like … not that ingrained fear t
  
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• ‘I need your help saving koalas’: how Australians banded together to build wildlife corridors

  13-06-2024 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Bangalow Koalas and private landholders have planted more than 377,000 trees across the regionIn 2016 a friend phoned Linda Sparrow about a 400-metre stretch of koala trees on the western edge of Bangalow, a small regional town in northern New South Wales.The landscape in the region had long since been cut back by loggers and farmers, and there were precious few eucalyptus trees left to provide refuge for koalas looking for food or shelter. Continue reading...
  
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• Eagle attacks, red invaders and a genetic bottleneck: inside the fight to save arctic foxes

  13-06-2024 06:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Captive breeding in Norway has built up numbers endangered by the climate crisis and golden eagles but only a more diverse population will survive in the long termDeep in the Norwegian mountains, amid a vast expanse of bright snow and howling winds, Toralf Mjøen throws a piece of meat into a fenced enclosure and waits for a pair of dark eyes to appear from the snowy den.These curious and playful arctic foxes know Mjøen well. He has been the caretaker at this breeding facility for 1
  
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• Bear caught on camera snoozing inside car after breaking in – video

  12-06-2024 20:07 via theguardian.com
  
  A sleepy bear was was filmed by a woman in Ontario, Canada, after it broke into her car.Kayla Seward filmed the bear sitting in the front passenger seat through condensation-misted windows before her partner opened the door to release the animal off camera Continue reading...
  
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• Black bear breaks into Canadian woman’s car for second time and falls asleep

  12-06-2024 19:31 via theguardian.com
  
  Bear apparently opened the vehicle by lifting a door handle with its mouth, after breaking into same car last yearAfter a string of vehicle break-ins in a north Canadian town, local residents have identified the culprit: a black bear with a taste for upholstery foam.Awoken by a noise near midnight on 11 June, Kayla Seward, who lives in the Ontario township of Larder Lake, went outside to investigate – and found the sleepy black bear locked inside her car. Continue reading...
  
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• Bear shreds seats then dozes off after breaking into Canadian woman’s car

  12-06-2024 19:31 via theguardian.com
  
  Black bear apparently opened the vehicle by lifting door handle with its mouth, after breaking into same car last yearAfter a string of vehicle break-ins in a north Canadian town, local residents have identified the culprit: a black bear with a taste for upholstery foam.Awoken by a noise near midnight on 11 June, Kayla Seward, who lives in the Ontario township of Larder Lake, went outside to investigate – and found the sleepy black bear locked inside her car. Continue reading...
  
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• Rare white buffalo born at Yellowstone prompts Lakota Sioux celebration

  12-06-2024 15:52 via theguardian.com
  
  The birth, not yet confirmed by park officials, holds special significance to tribe as ‘both a blessing and warning’A rare white buffalo has been born in Yellowstone national park, with the arrival prompting local Lakota Sioux leaders to plan a special celebration, with the calf representing a sign of hope and the need to look after the planet.The white calf was reportedly spotted shortly after its birth, on Tuesday last week, by park visitor Erin Braaten, a photographer. She took se
  
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• Rare birds at risk as narco-gangs move into forests to evade capture – report

  12-06-2024 11:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Cocaine traffickers have put two-thirds of Central America’s key habitats for threatened birds under threat, study findsCocaine consumption is threatening rare tropical birds as narco-traffickers move into some of the planet’s most remote forests to evade drug crackdowns, a study has warned.Two-thirds of key forest habitats for birds in Central America are at risk of being destroyed by “narco-driven” deforestation, according to the paper, published on Wednesday in the jou
  
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• Birdwatch: pochards are one of Britain’s rarest breeders

  12-06-2024 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The ducks are common in winter, but during the nesting season only 700 pairs breed each yearAmong the egrets, bitterns and cranes on Somerset’s Avalon Marshes, it would be easy to ignore a rather stocky diving duck, with a pale grey body, black breast and tail, and rich chestnut head. As I scan the reedbeds, I often see pochards flying fast and low, before vanishing into thick vegetation below.Yet from a British point of view, of all the birds breeding here, the pochard is one of the rares
  
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• ‘Magical’: 17m insects fly each year through narrow pass in Pyrenees, say scientists

  12-06-2024 01:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Exeter University study has origins in 1950 discovery by ornithologists who ‘chanced upon a spectacle’It is a weird and wonderful sight: millions of migratory insects funnelling through a single narrow pass high in the Pyrenees, looking like a dark flying carpet and emitting a low, deep hum.A team of scientists from a British university that has been studying the phenomenon for the last four years has now concluded that more than 17 million insects fly each year through the 30 metre-
  
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• Rare white grizzly bear and two cubs killed in Canada in separate car strikes

  11-06-2024 20:55 via theguardian.com
  
  Cubs killed by cars earlier in the day before Nakoda spooked and ran on to highway, where another vehicle struck herNational park staff in Canada are mourning the “devastating” loss of a rare white grizzly bear and her cubs after all three were killed in separate vehicle collisions on the same day.The bear formally referred to as GBF178 but named Nakoda by locals had in recent months been spotted with her two cubs foraging on spring dandelions along a stretch of highway between Lake
  
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• Wallace and Gromit image pasted over king’s portrait by animal rights activists

  11-06-2024 18:18 via theguardian.com
  
  Two Animal Rising supporters cover monarch’s face with Wallace character in protest against RSPCA-assured farmsAnimal rights activists have pasted a picture of the stop-motion cartoon character Wallace, from Wallace and Gromit, over the new portrait of King Charles, in a protest highlighting alleged cruelty at RSPCA-accredited farms.Two supporters of the group Animal Rising entered the Philip Mould gallery in central London after midday on Tuesday and carried out what they described as a &
  
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• Iceland grants country’s last whaling company licence to hunt 128 fin whales

  11-06-2024 17:47 via theguardian.com
  
  Conservationists criticise ‘disappointing’ and ‘dangerous’ move to allow harpooning of fin whales after curbs last year Iceland has granted a licence to Europe’s last whaling company to kill more than 100 animals this year, despite hopes the practice might have been halted after concerns about cruelty led to a temporary suspension last year.Animal rights groups described the news as “deeply disappointing” and “dangerous”. Continue reading...
  
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