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LONDON (AFP) - A British grandmother was heavily fined and electronically tagged for selling a goldfish to a child, triggering criticism Wednesday of over-zealous use of animal protection laws. Pet shop owner Joan Higgins, 66, was fined 1,000 pounds (1,500 dollars, 1,120 euros) also given a dusk-to-dawn curfew for selling an animal to a person under the age of 16, but her 47-year-old son Mark -- also ordered to do community service -- slammed the ruling as a farce. The pair were prosecuted after the local council sent a 14-year-old boy

Note: The following text is a quote: http://sanfrancisco.fbi.gov/pressrel/2009/sf022009.htm FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 20, 2009 Four Extremists Arrested for Threats and Violence Against UC Researchers On February 19 and 20, the Joint Terrorism Task Force arrested four animal rights extremists suspected of terrorizing University of California researchers. A complaint filed in federal court in San Francisco on Thursday alleged Adriana Stumpo, 23, of Long Beach, California; Nathan Pope, 26, of Oceanside, California; Joseph Buddenberg, 25, of Berkeley, California; and Maryam Khajavi, 20, of Pinole, California used force, violence, or threats to interfere with the operation of the University of California in...

A pit bull that severely mauled a young girl inside her East Anchorage home Tuesday afternoon was shot by a neighbor who followed screams to the scene to find the girl's baby sitter fighting the dog in the front yard. The girl's injuries were so severe that witnesses at first told police the 6-year-old was dead, killed in the attack by one of her family's pets. The girl, however, was still alive and was rushed to Alaska Native Medical Center, where she underwent surgery Tuesday afternoon for what police called life-threatening injuries to her neck and head. Her mother was...

Trying to protect child and dog puts mom in cub's path. A twig snaps, thunder claps, and Christine Whitteker jumps. You'd jump too if a yearling black bear had just torn some flesh from your abdomen and thigh at the doorstep of your home. Whitteker, 38, was recovering Monday evening at her Conifer Park Estates mountain home, nursing her wounds and still feeling unsettled about 19 hours after the bear cub made a beeline for her as she stood at her sliding door to protect herself, her 10- year-old daughter, Micheala Gaze, and her Australian shepherd mix, Sadie, which narrowly...

Animal rights militants threatened yesterday to deliver a "knockout blow to the fur trade" as part of the most extreme campaign in their history. The Animal Liberation Front is threatening to launch "10 attacks a night" on organisations and individuals across Britain this winter. As hundreds of extremists from across the world gathered at a training camp in Kent today to learn direct-action tactics, the ultra-hardline wing of the movement warned the UK to brace itself for a sharp escalation in violent activity. The 3,000 members of the Animal Liberation Front, a shadowy umbrella group for various terrorist cells, have...

Abortionist Saves Ducks "Rush-hour traffic stopped on 15th Street, N.W. in Washington, D.C., last Friday morning, according to The Washington Post. A mother duck and her four ducklings were the reason. But as they made their way through the city, not everyone was captivated by the traffic-light-reading-impaired birds," Kathryn Jean Lopez writes at National Review Online (www.nationalreview.com). "So humans soon began moving in, sometimes nearly putting their lives on the line for the ducks: "Passer-by Pat Getter shot into the street after the ducks, yelling at cars, 'Stop! Stop! Stop!' She threw up her hands as though she were facing...

THE placing of a mythical monster on Sweden’s endangered species list, in an apparent fit of bureaucratic zeal, has caused an administrative problem for the country’s authorities. "During a routine inspection of the environment court in Jaemtland recently, we came across a decision that attracted our interest," said Nils-Olof Berggren, a Swedish parliamentary ombudsman. "The court had turned down an application from a man who wanted to search for and hatch the monster’s eggs, probably believing [the application] was just a joke." However, Mr Berggren found there was an actual decision from 1986 placing the monster under protection. "We decided...

UK animal lab scrapped Cambridge decision leaves scientists worried and activists contemplating what next | By Philip Hunter   Cambridge University's decision this week to abandon a high-profile project to build a neuroscience laboratory involving research on primates has been hailed as a victory by animal rights groups and condemned as a devastating blow for British science by senior researchers and decision makers. “It's an appalling decision for science and British science in particular,” said Ian Gibson, head of the House of Commons Select Committee on Science and Technology.It will almost certainly lead to the research going to another...