Animals & Pets News

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Global warming is driving tropical plant and animal species to higher altitudes, potentially leaving lowland rainforest with nothing to take their place, ecologists argue in this week's issue of Science.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Most Europeans have reservations about cloning animals for food, while 67 percent see cloning as justified if used to preserve rare animal species, a survey that could help forge EU policy in the area showed on Thursday.

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - Animal authorities in western Ohio have a possible sequel to "Snakes on a Plane": a case of a snake in a car. The Clark County Humane Society is looking for the owner of a 7-foot-long boa constrictor found under the hood of a vehicle in Springfield.

NEW YORK - New York City police are investigating a rabbi's complaint that he received a thousand threatening e-mails over the slaughter of chickens before a Jewish holy day.

BARCELONA (AFP) - Half to three-quarters of major Antarctic penguin colonies could be damaged or wiped out if global temperatures are allowed to climb by more than two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), according to a report released Wednesday.

SYDNEY (AFP) - Hundreds of new marine species and previously uncharted undersea mountains and canyons have been discovered in the depths of the Southern Ocean, Australian scientists said Wednesday.

MILAN, Italy - The PETA animal rights organization is targeting Armani in its latest anti-fur campaign.

BARCELONA (AFP) - From tiny tree frogs to gorillas, wild animals already facing extinction due to habitat loss, pollution and hunting must now cope with the added threat of virulent disease, conservation scientists said Tuesday.

ROME (AFP) - Italy's fishing of bluefin tuna is "totally out of control," the Worldwide Fund for Nature charged Tuesday, calling for a three-year moratorium on fishing for the species in the Mediterranean.

CANBERRA (Reuters) - The parents of a 7-year-old boy who broke into an Australian outback zoo and fed a string of small animals to its resident crocodile are likely to be sued after police said the boy was too young to be held responsible.

CANBERRA (Reuters) - The parents of a 7-year-old boy who broke into an Australian outback zoo and fed a string of small animals to its resident crocodile are likely to be sued after police said the boy was too young to be held responsible.

SYDNEY, Australia - A 7-year-old boy broke into a popular Outback zoo, fed a string of animals to the resident crocodile and bashed several lizards to death with a rock, the zoo's director said Friday.

BEIJING - Everyone needs some chicken soup for the soul — even pandas.

KAMPALA (AFP) - A new family of mountain gorillas, one of the world's most endangered species, is ready for interaction with tourists, the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) told AFP Friday.

BRUSSELS (AFP) - Europe's plan of action to tackle climate change is being undermined by pressure from industry and may no longer achieve its original green goals, the environmental group WWF said Friday.

BUDAPEST (AFP) - Whether geese enjoy being force-fed is hardly the question: the future of Hungarian foie gras production now depends on whether customers' sensitivities or gourmet tastes will prevail in the war over animal rights.

MAMMOTH LAKES, Calif. - Federal investigators said Thursday they found human remains amid the wreckage of missing adventurer Steve Fossett's airplane in the mountains of eastern California. The remains were found among a field of debris that stretched 400 feet long and 150 feet wide in a steep section of the Sierra Nevada.

A catastrophic event 72.5 million years ago left a herd of giant, horned dinosaurs buried to become fossils. Now scientists have identified the extinct creatures as a new species.

ORLANDO, Fla. - Climate change threatens to kill off up to a third of the planet's species by the end of the century if urgent action isn't taken to restore fragile ecosystems, protect endangered animals and manage growth, scientists warned Wednesday as a wildlife summit opened.

LONDON (Reuters) - Some colorful cichlid fish in Africa's Lake Victoria formed a new species by adapting their vision, showing that geographical isolation is not essential for divergence, researchers said Wednesday.

HONOLULU - The federal government took a new, ecosystem-based approach to the endangered species list on Tuesday, proposing an all-at-once addition of 48 species, including plants, two birds and a fly, that live only on the Hawaiian island of Kauai.

HELENA, Mont. - Environmental groups sued the federal government Tuesday to protect wolverines under the Endangered Species Act, saying the Interior Department disregarded scientific conclusions that the species was in jeopardy.

ISLAMORADA, Fla. - A dog is recovering after a Florida Keys carpenter dove in to save his pet from a shark. Greg LeNoir said he took his 14-pound rat terrier Jake for a daily swim at a marina Friday.

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. - A federal court Monday overturned the Bush administration's decision to remove gray wolves in the western Great Lakes region from the endangered species list.

WATERBURY, Vt. - Mooove over, Holsteins. PETA wants world-famous Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream to tap nursing moms, rather than cows, for the milk used in its ice cream.

GENEVA (AFP) - The World Wildlife Fund on Thursday criticised the release of four poachers who admitted to killing 18 rhinos in Zimbabwe, saying such lax law enforcement is unravelling conservation progress.

BILLINGS, Mont. - Federal wildlife officials have asked a judge to put gray wolves in the Northern Rockies back on the endangered species list — a sharp reversal from the government's prior contention that the animals were thriving.

SYDNEY (AFP) - Four hundred sheep died in a road accident in Australia, prompting animal rights activists on Tuesday to repeat their call for an end to the long distance transportation of livestock for slaughter.

SYDNEY, Australia - Marine scientists have discovered hundreds of new animal species on reefs in Australian waters, including brilliant soft corals and tiny crustaceans, according to findings released Thursday.