Activist Group Has A Beef With Chuck-Wagon Dinners
	Killer whale rescued at Kalk Bay
	Ban on cockfighting
	USA Rodeo case: 2 charged with animal cruelty
	New light shed on chimp genome
	June Move Eyed for Lost Whale Off Canada's Coast
	Bird Beak Deformities Concern Scientists
	Dig discovery is oldest 'pet cat'
	Save Our Squirrel, EU Tells Finland
	Barcelona Challenges a Spanish Tradition - The future is unclear for bullfighting
	Canada embarks on mass seal hunt
	Hollywood Asked to Help Save Tassie Devil
	Germans go wild for "Pig Brother" Web site
	Animals think in their own way, but unlike humans
	Female chimps learn quickest
	Vivid picture of slaughterhouse cruelty
	Britain's secret profits from the seal cull
	4 Gorillas Adjust to New S. Africa Zoo
	Rampant Rhino Gets Amorous with Car at UK Park
	Therapy Dogs' Help Calm Human Patients
	Man With Tigers Leaves Texas Rest Stop
	Cameroon Gorillas Back in Africa But Far from Home
	Biggest birds' hatch UK comeback
	BBC tests your pets intelligence
	Empathy not a unique human trait
	Call to Shoot 20,000 Australian Koalas

(01/04/2004) Activist Group Has A Beef With Chuck-Wagon Dinners

An animal "rights" group says the American Cancer Society should stop its "beef-themed" Cattle Barons' Ball fundraisers.

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine - which advocates a vegetarian diet as part of its pro-animal agenda - says the American Cancer Society is promoting the very disease it aims to cure by sponsoring dozens of "cattle baron" events around country.

Those Cancer Society fundraisers feature Western and cowboy themes, including "chuck wagon" dinners, loaded with beef and other meats. The PCRM points to research linking beef consumption with cancer.

PCRM says its nutrition director has written to local organizers of Cattle Barons events, urging them to either cancel the fundraisers or find new themes... [Link]

(02/04/2004) Killer whale rescued at Kalk Bay

A killer whale was pulled back into the sea by rescuers at St James beach late on Tuesday after it was stranded on rocks near the shore for about three hours.

Kalk Bay chief fisheries inspector Pat Stacey said a rope was tied around the four-metre female's tail before rescuers gently dragged her out with the tide. She was finally set free following two failed attempts, he said.

Stacey said: "She was not yet fully grown and was very disoriented. Even after we had managed to get her into the sea, she swam back into the rocks. But we pushed her back again and she swam away."

"When we found her, she had a few cuts on her side, but we hope she's not going to be stranded elsewhere again."... [Link]

(03/04/2004) Ban on cockfighting

USA - The Oklahoma Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a ban on cockfighting despite the efforts of enthusiasts of the blood sport, who had tried to block the measure for over a year.

Opponents of the ban had worked on a regional basis to prevent the law from being enforced in various localities, saying the ban was arbitrary, allowed for the unfair seizure of property and imposed penalties that were too harsh.

The court rejected these claims in a unanimous decision, saying the law was constitutional... [Link]

(05/04/2004) USA Rodeo case: 2 charged with animal cruelty

MORRIS - For the first time in the state, charges of animal cruelty related to the use of an electric prod in a rodeo have been brought against rodeo participants.

Two men involved in a Morris rodeo last fall have been charged with animal cruelty. They are accused of using high-voltage electric cattle prods on penned bulls during the event.

The Grundy County state's attorney's office filed the charges against St. Anne resident Michael Latting, of Latting Rodeo Productions, and Juaquin Santos, of Indiana. Grundy County Assistant State's Attorney Jack Schaller said the evidence against both men stems from witness testimony and from a private videotape made at the event.

Schaller said both men are owners of bulls ridden at The Big Bucks Rodeo held in rural Morris on Sept. 27, and that both are accused of using the prods on their own bulls while the animals were still in their chutes... [Link]

(06/04/2004) New light shed on chimp genome

A comparison of the chimp and human genomes casts new light on why the two species are so different despite having very similar genetic code.

Scientists have long speculated over what makes humans so different from their closest relatives, the apes.

One of the leading scientists on the project says the answer lies in the process that orchestrates the genes as the chimpanzee is developing.

The human and chimpanzee genomes differ by just 1.2% between the coding genes... [Link]

(07/04/2004) June Move Eyed for Lost Whale Off Canada's Coast

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - A June family reunion is being eyed for a lonely killer whale that has become a public nuisance on Canada's Pacific coast, Canadian and U.S. officials said yesterday.

The one-ton whale, nicknamed Luna, will be captured and transported to the southern tip of Vancouver Island where experts hope he will link up with his family pod when it returns to the border region this summer... [Link]

(08/04/2004) Bird Beak Deformities Concern Scientists

JUNEAU, Alaska - A bird beak deformity first recorded among black-capped chickadees near Anchorage has been increasingly seen in crows in Southeast Alaska, broadening an already mysterious phenomenon.

Black-capped chickadees, Northwestern crows and 27 other species of birds in Alaska have been reported with beaks up to three times their normal length. The deformity often strikes mature birds and reduces their ability to feed and preen effectively. In many birds, the deformity leads to death... [Link]

(09/04/2004) Dig discovery is oldest 'pet cat'

The oldest known evidence of people keeping cats as pets may have been discovered by archaeologists.

The discovery of a cat buried with what could be its owner in a Neolithic grave on Cyprus suggests domestication of cats had begun 9,500 years ago.

It was thought the Egyptians were first to domesticate cats, with the earliest evidence dating to 2,000-1,900 BC.

French researchers writing in Science magazine show that the process actually began much earlier than that... [Link]

(10/04/2004) Save Our Squirrel, EU Tells Finland

BRUSSELS, Belgium - Pteromys volans is in danger and Finland must do something about it, European environment regulators said.

Otherwise known as the flying squirrel, Finland is the only place where the species is found in the European Union.

But the Nordic nation is not doing enough to protect its habitat, according to European officials, so the European Commission said it was taking the country to court.

Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstrom said Finland must take action because its laws have placed too strict limitations on what could be considered the squirrel's breeding and resting places... [Link]

(12/04/2004) Barcelona Challenges a Spanish Tradition - The future is unclear for bullfighting

The bullfighting season has kicked off, but the end of the "Corrida" could be nearer than many think. This week, Barcelona became the first city in Spain to officially oppose the bloody sport. But no ban is in sight.

As recently as January, bullfighting in Spain was the subject of an academic honor when the University of Cordoba in southern Spain begin offering a degree program in the artistry-filled sport. But not everyone in the country shared the city's enthusiasm for the sport: This week, politicians in Barcelona brandished their own capotes and swords, and took aim at bullfighting, a popular, albeit bloody, national pastime... [Link]

(13/04/2004) Canada embarks on mass seal hunt

Previous seal hunts have provoked international outrage Canada's largest seal cull for more than 50 years is taking place despite protests by environmentalists and animal rights groups.

The government is allowing more than 300,000 seals to be killed, arguing that the campaign is both ecologically sound and economically justified.

Protests helped end the hunting of young seals for their pelts off Canada's east coast 25 years ago.

Some activists say their efforts to report this cull are being blocked... [Link]

(14/04/2004) Hollywood Asked to Help Save Tassie Devil

MELBOURNE - Movie studio Warner Bros., which earned million of dollars from its Tasmanian devil cartoon character "Taz," has now been asked to help save his real-life cousins in Australia that are being decimated by facial cancer.

Tasmanian devils on Australia's southern island state of Tasmania, the only place where these carnivorous marsupials are found in the wild, are being wiped out, with grossly disfigured animals dying within months of contracting the disease.

Environmentalists have approached the Hollywood studio to help raise funds to battle the disease, which has probably killed between a third and a half of the Tasmanian devil population in the past five to 10 years. Only about 70,000 to 80,000 remain... [Link]

(15/04/2004) Germans go wild for "Pig Brother" Web site

BERLIN - A German Web site dubbed "Pig Brother" has attracted more than a million visitors in under two weeks with its 24-hour live Webcam coverage of a family of wild boar, the site's creators say.

The site, launched in March by the German Hunting Protection League, offers day and night coverage of three males, three females and more than 50 offspring in an enclosure in their natural habitat of the Eifel mountains in western Germany... [Link]

(16/04/2004) Animals think in their own way, but unlike humans

Does your dog know if you've had a bad day? Probably, but don't expect your cat to catch on.

Do chimpanzees understand why those who can't see them don't offer them treats? Do vampire bats have the ability to show gratitude by returning a favor?

The answers depend on what is meant by "think," according to University of Florida psychology Professor Clive Wynne, who writes about these creature features and others in a new 244-page book, "Do Animals Think?" being published this month by Princeton University Press.

While animals can do many clever things and even reason, they don't have the ability to reflect on what they are doing, one important element of thinking, said Wynne, who has studied animal behavior for 20 years in a variety of species ranging from pigeons to marsupials...[Link]

(17/04/2004) Female chimps learn quickest

LONDON - Young female chimpanzees learn certain hunting and gathering skills from their mothers much faster than their male counterparts - who prefer to spend their time playing, researchers say.

In a study of wild chimps from the Gombe National Park in Tanzania, researchers found distinct sex-based differences in the way the young animals developed the skill of fishing for termites, despite their mothers paying equal attention to both sexes and being as tolerant with males as females... [Link]

(19/04/2004) Vivid picture of slaughterhouse cruelty

Pigs limping out of transport trucks on their way to slaughter, cattle crammed together for a 67-hour journey across the country and a cow being hoisted by its back leg without being properly stunned.

These images, recorded on video by a Canadian animal rights activist, are slated for public showing at the launch of the much-anticipated review into the province's meat inspection system tomorrow in Peterborough... [Link]

(20/04/2004) Britain's secret profits from the seal cull

By Ian Herbert, Genevieve Roberts and Roland Hancock

British retailers insist they do not stock their products, fur traders claim they are a mere sideline and a Welsh fashion designer caused a national outcry a few years ago by using them on the catwalk. But the seals whose slaughter has turned the Canadian ice blood-red this week are earning British traders healthy revenues, according to figures seen by The Independent.

EU import/export data for 2003 shows that nearly 6,000 seal pelts were imported to Britain, many of them from Canada. Another UK import was seal oil, a new by-product which is being marketed as a superior alternative to fish oil health supplements. British consumers may be put off by this week's pictures of sealers clubbing animals over the head but the nation's fur brokers and manufacturers are evidently not.

The figures suggest that hundreds of the pelts are being handled by British brokers, who import them from Canada via Norwegian tanneries and mark them up for export to Russia. The country has a Baltic Sea cull of its own and does not share western Europe's distaste for the cull. Saudi Arabia and South Korea are the next biggest markets for the British seal fur brokers... [Link]

(21/04/2004) 4 Gorillas Adjust to New S. Africa Zoo

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - Four young African gorillas, captured illegally and held at a Malaysian zoo, are adjusting well to their new home at the Pretoria National Zoological Gardens, officials said Monday.

Animal activists, however, said the gorillas would be better off at a sanctuary in the West African nation of Cameroon, where poachers are believed to have caught them.

The gorillas - one male and three females about 3-4 years old - arrived at the Pretoria zoo Wednesday. After six weeks' quarantine, they will be transferred to the zoo's gorilla enclosure, which is being refurbished to a "state of the art" exhibition center, said Willie Labuschagne, the zoo's executive director... [Link]

(22/04/2004) Rampant Rhino Gets Amorous with Car at UK Park

LONDON - A rampant rhinoceros gave a group of visitors a glimpse of nature in the raw at a British safari park when he tried to have sex with their car.

Sharka, a two-ton white rhino, got amorous with Dave Alsop's car when he stopped with three friends to take pictures of the animal mating with his partner Trixie at the West Midland Safari Park. The 12-year-old rhino tried to mount the Renault Laguna from the side, denting the doors and ripping off the wing mirrors before Dave drove away with a puffing Sharka in pursuit... [Link]

(23/04/2004) Therapy Dogs' Help Calm Human Patients

Nathan Torres gave a wordless shout and rushed into the hall as fast as his little 18-month-old legs would carry him. His father, Luis Torres, smoothed out the kinks in the tube attaching Nathan to medical equipment, stretching it out to help the toddler reach for warm muzzles and furry backs. The therapy dogs had come to visit.

Nathan would be flying to Denver to see a specialist for his pulmonary hypertension. But, for that moment last month, the Albuquerque boy had a distraction from doctors and tests at the University of New Mexico's Children's Hospital. His mother, Mayra Torres, crouching in the doorway to supervise, smiled at his enthusiasm.

"He really likes it," she said. [Link]

(25/04/2004) Man With Tigers Leaves Texas Rest Stop

ANNA, Texas - A man trying to build a home for a truckload of tigers and other wild animals abruptly drove away Friday from a truck stop where he had kept the creatures for four days. Animal-welfare officials told him he couldn't keep the animals parked there.

James Garretson, whose care for the animals is being investigated by federal officials, had been staying at the truck stop while trying to raise money for a permanent sanctuary in Florida.

He said he may take the tigers, a wolf, baby lion and bear to the home of a friend who has a permit to keep large animals in Texas. Garretson left the truck stop about 30 miles north of Dallas after a confrontation with Dave Garcia of the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Garcia, who handles animal enforcement issues for Collin County, said Garretson's permit to exhibit animals only allows him to keep them in the truck when traveling... [Link]

(26/04/2004) Cameroon Gorillas Back in Africa But Far from Home

JOHANNESBURG - Four young gorillas from Cameroon that were smuggled to a Malaysian zoo arrived in South Africa last week where they will remain in captivity, a senior zoo official in Pretoria said Thursday.

"The animals are doing extremely well," said Willie Labuschagne, executive director of South Africa's National Zoo in Pretoria. He said they were in quarantine and would be exhibited in the zoo by the end of May... [Link]

(27/04/2004) Biggest birds' hatch UK comeback

The bird has not been seen in Britain since 1832 Efforts to re-introduce the world's heaviest flying bird to Britain nearly 175 years after it died out have seen conservationists head to Russia.

It is one of the few countries in which the Great Bustard is known to still roam in the wild. The British Great Bustard Group is flying to the Saratov region of Russia to find 40 chicks to bring back.

The chicks' nests are threatened with destruction in Russia so British authorities have importation licences... [Link]

(28/04/2004) BBC tests your pets intelligence

The BBC in the UK is searching for the cleverest dogs and cats in the country. On Saturday May 1st at 6pm, BBC1 television will broadcast a series of IQ tests that every pet owner can try out on their pets at home. [Link]

(29/04/2004) Empathy not a unique human trait

Empathising with others is often considered a uniquely human characteristic - the result of complex reasoning and abstract thought. But it might in fact be an incredibly simple brain process ­ meaning that there is no reason why other animals cannot empathise too. [Link]

(30/04/2004) Call to Shoot 20,000 Australian Koalas

SYDNEY (Reuters) - A koala population explosion on an Australian island has prompted calls for 20,000 of the furry, native marsupials to be shot to stop them destroying their island habitat and end a koala famine.

Some 30,000 koalas on Kangaroo Island, off the coast of the state of South Australia, are stripping the island of its native gum trees, destroying the ecosystem and causing a koala famine, say environmentalists and national parks officials... [Link]