Neglected Dairy Calves Find Haven at California Sanctuaries

Source: Farm Sanctuary Farm Sanctuary, which operates the largest rescue and refuge network for farm animals in North America with shelters on the east and west coast, and Animal Place, which operates two facilities — a 600-acre sanctuary in Grass Valley, CA and a 60-acre farmed animal adoption center in Vacaville — have taken in five sickly calves, discards of the dairy industry. All five calves arrived Friday, July 8th, to Animal Place’s Rescue Ranch facility in Vacaville.... Read More

Endangered Tigers Find a Wild New Home

Source: LiveScience Kazakhstan has announced plans to open its arms to a group of oversized, furry immigrants from neighboring Russia — endangered Amur tigers. A vast land of sprawling steppes (the flat and open land that covers huge swathes of central Asia), Kazakhstan was once home to Caspian tigers, one of the nine tiger subspecies, but the big cats disappeared from the central Asian country — at the time a Soviet republic — in the late 1970s, driven to extinction by... Read More

Farm Sanctuary Celebrates 25 Years of Progress for Farm Animals

Source: Farm Sanctuary This year Farm Sanctuary, the organization responsible for bringing farm animal issues into the mainstream consciousness celebrates its 25th anniversary. As the nation’s leading farm animal protection organization, Farm Sanctuary urged passage of the first U.S. laws to protect animals on farms, initiated the first cruelty convictions at stockyards and slaughterhouses, and established the first and largest rescue and refuge network for farm animals in... Read More

Loyal Dog in Japan Reveals Canines’ Social Roots

Source: Jenna Bryner, LiveScience A partially wet and muddied dog, seeming to shiver from both confusion and cold, runs toward a cameraman in the Arahama area of Sendai, Japan, leading him over to an injured fellow canine, lying among the wasteland of debris caused by the earthquake and tsunami that hit on March 11. “I think it’s an important story, because it stresses that not only do dogs bond with humans but they bond to one another as well,” said Marc Bekoff,... Read More

USDA Seeks Comments on Disabled Livestock Petition by Farm Sanctuary

Source: Farm Sanctuary The USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is asking for public comments on a Petition for Rulemaking submitted by Farm Sanctuary, the nation’s leading farm animal protection organization, requesting that regulations be extended, beyond cattle, to prohibit the slaughter of non-ambulatory pigs, goats, sheep and other farm animals. Non-ambulatory livestock, commonly referred to as “downers” or “downed” animals, are animals... Read More

Why World Food Prices Are Poised to Keep Climbing

Source: Lester Brown, Treehugger In February, world food prices reached the highest level on record. Soaring food prices are already a source of spreading hunger and political unrest, and it appears likely that they will climb further in the months ahead. As a result of an extraordinarily tight grain situation, this year’s harvest will be one of the most closely watched in years. Last year, the world produced 2,180 million tons of grain. It consumed 2,240 million tons,... Read More

The Lost Emperor: A Colony of Penguins Disappears

Source: Wynne Parry, LiveScience A small colony of emperor penguins on an island off the West Antarctic Peninsula is gone, and the most likely culprit is loss of sea ice caused by warming. Although it has been predicted that penguins could suffer greatly because of global warming, this is the first time the disappearance of a colony has been documented. The researchers, however, caution that their study is hampered by a lack of long-term information on emperor penguins, both at... Read More

Well Rehabilitation Program Brings Clean Water and Escape From Arranged Marriages in Rural India

Source: Sara Novak, Treehugger Ram Rati has been overcoming obstacles since she was a child. Married off at age 11, she escaped and made ends meet grinding wheat. But today Rati is a hero in her community. She was tired of the wells in her village breaking down so she decided to fix them herself. Now she’s a trained well mechanic, bringing her Northern India village fresh water and offering hope to struggling women. Read More  Read More

Japan Suspends Annual Whale Hunt

Source: Frank Zeller, AFP Japanese whalers have suspended their Antarctic hunt, citing harassment by environmentalists, and are considering ending their annual mission early, a fisheries agency official said on Wednesday. Activists from the US-based militant environmental group the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society have pursued the Japanese fleet for months to stop its harpoon ships from killing the giant sea mammals. Read More  Read More

Shell Shock: 25 Turtle Species in Terrible Trouble

Source: LiveScience Turtles are among the most endangered vertebrates on Earth: roughly half of the world’s 300 species are threatened with extinction. A new report profiles the 25 most vulnerable. Turtle and tortoise populations have been decimated by illegal hunting— for both food and the pet trade — and habitat loss, and many species will go extinct in the next decade unless drastic conservation measures are taken, according to the new report, issued by a coalition... Read More