Free Republic

Terrified workers at a mining compound in one of Russia's most isolated regions are refusing to go to work after a pack of giant bears attacked and ate two of their colleagues. At least 30 of the hungry animals have been seen prowling close to the mines in northern Kamchatka in search of food, where the mangled remains of the two workers, both guards, were found last week. The co-workers at the compound in the Olyotorsky district are trapped and frightened: the gruesome discovery has left them too scared to venture out. A team of snipers, with orders to shoot...

It is time, says a U of T biologist, that we began 'to think of humans as part of the natural world' July 13, 2008 Murray Whyte Staff Reporter Consider the Jefferson salamander. About average-finger length, its grey skin mottled with black. Amphibious, spawning in Southern Ontario's quickly vanishing woodland vernal pools. Prognosis: Dying. Now, the urban raccoon. Plump and furry, not so adept at fishing as its rural cousins, perhaps, but expert at garbage-tipping. An adaptable squatter in buildings both abandoned and, as homeowners near High Park well know, occupied. Prognosis: Thriving. The tiny Jefferson, its numbers dwindling to...

Where on this great earth of ours could King Kong’s descendant survive an attack from an army of zoo workers carrying guns and tranquilizing darts? If you said Skull Island you’re right, but you’re also living in a fantasy world. Those living in the real world know the only logical place would be Japan, and sure enough, that’s where this latest ape-human drama played out. (Ichiro the chimp, a 42-year-old resident of Ishikawa Zoo in Japan, managed to escape to the roof in order to cool down during a heatwave. But it took a lot of work from the zoo...

A popular oceanic visitor of Laniakea Beach, Hawaii paid his respects to his murdered Hawaiian Sea Turtle friend.Link

Bears Trap Geologists In Russia By Sky News SkyNews - Tuesday, July 22 03:07 pm At least 30 hungry bears have trapped a group of geologists at their remote survey site in Russia's far east after killing two of their co-workers last week. (Advertisement) The team of geologists on Russia's seismically active Kamchatka peninsula refused to leave their camp after the bears showed up, a spokesman for the region's emergency services ministry said. He said: "In the interests of safety they didn't come out to work - the people are scared by the invasion of bears." A bear killed two...

SACRAMENTO — A year after billionaire hotelier Leona Helmsley bequeathed $12 million to her dog, Trouble, thousands of California cats and canines may soon be in the money too -- though perhaps not so deep -- thanks to a measure signed Tuesday by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The bill the governor signed into law provides for enforcement of "pet trusts" set up by animal owners to pay for continuing care for Spot and Mr. Whiskers after the owner's demise.

Global warming and kittens. While it may seem hard to see the connection between the two - a climate phenomenon that melts glaciers and acidifies oceans, and cuddly, 4-ounce balls of fur - experts say there could be one. Each spring, the onset of warm weather and longer days drives female cats into heat, resulting in a few months of booming kitten populations known as "kitten season." "The brain receives instructions to produce a hormone that basically initiates the heat cycle in a cat," said Nancy Peterson, feral cat program manager of the Humane Society of the United States, "and...

ROME (AFP) — One of Italy's leading animal rights groups said Monday it was launching an Internet petition to demand Pope Benedict XVI stop wearing fur during religious ceremonies at the Vatican.Lorenzo Croce, chairman of the Italian Association for the Defence of Animals and the Environment (AIDAA), denied being provocative or wanting to make an anti-religious statement."We just want to ask him in a message of love and peace to give a strong signal towards the protection of animals and the environment through a small but very significant personal sacrifice," Croce told the Italian news agency ANSA.Since his election Pope...

Costa Rican artiste Guillermo Habacuc Vargas is making headlines for tying a dog from the street in an art gallery as part of an exhibit to starve it to death. The title of his exhibit "Eres Lo Que Lee" was written across the gallery in dry dog food. The food and a bowl of water were both out of the dog's reach. Eventually the animal died of starvation. The artist claimed the dog was sick and would have died anyways. Now Vargas has been selected to represent Costa Rica in Visual Arts Biennel of Central Americas 2008. The organizers have...

Bears and mountain lions are getting into trees, trash and backyards all over Colorado, lured by the smell of easy prey and free meals. They're getting smarter, they're getting fatter, and they're getting killed more frequently, thanks to the thoughtlessness of the humans living in their midst, say Colorado Division of Wildlife officials. In the northeastern quadrant of the state, which includes metro Denver, there have been some 47 reports of human-bear encounters since April. A remarkable number of them involve hummingbird feeders, trash left outside, steaks left on the barbecue, garage doors left open. In Aspen and numerous other...

A one-thousand dollar reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or people involved in the recent burning of several dogs. As we told you last week, five dogs were discovered at three different locations in the Tulsa County area. All had been burned down the middle of their backs with acid or some other type of chemical. Two of the dogs have since died. We know they were burned," Deputy David Long told NewsChannel 8's Bill Mitchell last week. "Whether it was some kind of acid or some kind of accelerant that...

DOGS will lead the way in SAS raids after being parachuted in to spy out rebels for troops, The Sun can reveal. Fearless German Shepherds are being trained to jump from aircraft at 25,000ft wearing their own oxygen masks and strapped to special forces assault teams. Once down in hostile terrain in Iraq or Afghanistan, the dogs will be sent in first to seek out insurgents’ hideouts with tiny cameras fixed to their heads. The cameras will beam live TV pictures back to the troops, warning of ambushes or showing enemy leaders’ locations. The amazing tactic – on which The...

A Canadian woman says she plans to release a giant lobster after she paid $1,000 to rescue the crustacean from a fish market. Laura-Leah Shaw forked over $1,000 to purchase the 22-pound lobster, dubbed Big Dee-Dee, from the Big Fish seafood market in Shediac, New Brunswick, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported Sunday. The report said two unnamed Ontario groups contributed $1,000 each to rescue the animal, which is thought to be 100 years old. Big Fish was auctioning Dee Dee off for an opening price of $1,000, the Broadcasting Corp. said. Denis Breau, owner of the fish market, said at...

A mountain lion is chased up a tree in downtown Palo Alto. Another one is shot after mauling a Chihuahua at a Watsonville mobile home park. In Los Gatos, a lion hits a car while trying to cross Summit Road. Peninsula and Silicon Valley residents rarely ponder the lives of mountain lions trying to survive in the Santa Cruz Mountains. But urban development — the razing of habitat for homes, roads and parking lots — is the chief obstacle the wild cats face every day as they hunt for deer and fulfill their instinct to roam hundreds of miles, looking...

SYDNEY, Australia -- An elderly Australian woman knocked over and savaged by a large kangaroo on her farm was saved when a dog rushed to her aid and chased the animal away, her son said Saturday. Rosemary Neal, from western New South Wales, was attacked by a male kangaroo estimated to be up to two meters (six feet, six inches) tall and weighing 100 kilograms (220 pounds) as she crossed a field to check her horses, her son Darren said. "The kangaroo has just jumped up and launched straight at her. He hit her once and she just dropped and...

The Wisconsin Humane Society is buying one of the largest dog breeding facilities in the nation, and plans to close the kennel and find new homes for the more than 1,100 dogs there, the society announced Friday. The action appears to be an unprecedented step in the campaign by U.S. humane societies against puppy mills."We have not heard of this ever being done by a local facility," said Cory Smith, program manager of animal sheltering issues for the Humane Society of the United States. "You see these places and it's heartbreaking. So when you know that people are making a...

PETA Expands Ad Campaign That Uses Teen Pregnancy to Push Pet Message Friday, July 18, 2008 By Catherine Donaldson-Evans Fox News Animal rights group PETA is rolling out its controversial "Sex Talk" ad — in which two parents urge their daughter to have a lot of sex and "pop out all the kids you want" — in the top 10 teen pregnancy states to promote spaying and neutering of pets. The 30-second commercial was launched in January in Britney and Jamie Lynn Spears' hometown of Kentwood, La., after news emerged of then 16-year-old Jamie Lynn's pregnancy. The "Zoey 101" star,...

LIVE pigs are due to be shot by US Army troops, who will then treat their gunshot wounds in an exercise for soldiers headed for Iraq. The medical trauma exercise is due to take place in Honolulu today and will be conducted under the supervision of vets. Major Derrick Cheng, a spokesman for the 25th Infantry Division, said: “It’s to teach Army personnel how to manage critically injured patients within the first few hours of their injury.” The soldiers are learning emergency lifesaving skills needed on the battlefield when there are no medics, doctors or facility nearby, he said. But...

Spain's parliament is poised to pass a bill granting great apes -- chimps, gorillas, orangutans and bonobos -- human rights. Oh, don't worry, they are starting small, offering just four of the 50 rights that human Europeans enjoy. Spain's proposed rewriting of our own Declaration of Independence reads something like this: All apes are endowed by parliament with certain inalienable rights, among them life, personal safety, limited freedom of movement and the right to claim property through court-appointed (human) guardians. Not exactly Jeffersonian, but a revolution in human thinking nonetheless. The poster boy, er, ape, for this great new cause...

A part-albino Golden Eagle has been found in Southern Colorado and 850KOA has obtained exclusive, copyright photos of the bird just before he was transferred to the Nature and Raptor Center of Pueblo. The male eagle is thin and is being treated for parasites. The eagle's feathers are in such poor condition that it cannot fly. However, Raptor Center Director Diana Miller believes the rare eagle will recover and will be released in the Hoehne area in about three months. The eagle was found in the Pinon Canyon area of Southeastern Colorado by Rancher Tony Hass. His wife, Connie, took...

Obnoxious cats laughed at us when dog leash law fever spread throughout this country’s cities, but now we canines are the ones chuckling as the first kitty leash law shot comes across the bow. If it passes, cats can say goodbye to freelance pooping and hello to being watched while doing their business. (Howard Feiner is so annoyed with the cat droppings in his yard, he has logged the kitties’ leavings and put flags up to mark the spots. He has done this for a couple of reasons. He’s in court with his neighbor...

It's easy to snickeringly dismiss the recent disclosure that the late hotelier Leona Helmsley not only left $12 million to her dog but nearly all of the rest of her estate - an estimated $5 billion to $8 billion (yes, billion) - to dogdom. No correlation, after all, has ever been evident between wealth and sanity. Apes may resemble humans, but they never get punished for stealing a banana. Photo: Courtesy Great Ape Project More significant by far was another recent bit of animal news, the Spanish parliament's June 25 vote in support of extending the right to life and...

A startled bear — perhaps hungry for a plasma TV — broke into a Circuit City store in Colorado Springs this morning. "It's been pretty jumping this morning," ... The ursine intruder shattered a glass sliding door to enter a customer pickup area and cracked a second glass door, before fleeing into a nearby residential neighborhood and disappearing. "When I called my assistant manager, luckily the cops were still here and they verified my story,"... It's been a wild time in the Springs, after residents reported see what might have been an African lion — or a big dog —...

An animal tracker hired by city officials was heading into Foothills Park in Palo Alto tonight to hunt down and kill a mountain lion that attacked a man over the weekend, authorities said. Foothills Park and the adjacent Pearson-Arastradero Preserve were closed today after officials learned of the incident, the first known mountain lion attack in Palo Alto, said Palo Alto Police Agent Dan Ryan. The 50-year-old hiker was uninjured but narrowly escaped with his life after the cat leaped onto him from behind about 4 p.m. Saturday, sending man and beast tumbling down an embankment, Ryan said. The Portola...

Beware the bear. The Department of Natural Resources is getting reports of black bears being sighted this summer in southwest Wisconsin, including Dane, Sauk, Richland and Iowa counties. DNR wildlife biologist Becky Roth said there's little cause for alarm because the bears are normally timid and try to avoid contact with people, but they could cause problems if scavenging for food around homes or campsites. The local sightings were near Blue Mounds in western Dane County, near Barneveld in Iowa County, near Richland Center in Richland County and near Lake Delton in Sauk County, all during the past three weeks....

Washington state wildlife biologists who conducted a "howling survey" believe a gray wolf pack may be living in western Okanogan County. Washington state wildlife biologists who conducted a "howling survey" believe a gray wolf pack may be living in western Okanogan County. Biologists conducted the survey in the area on July 7. They made wolf-like howls in several areas, and heard both adult and juvenile howls in response. The Department of Fish and Wildlife says that if confirmed, it would be Washington's first known resident wolf pack since the species disappeared from the state in the 1930s. While individual wolves...

Small and neat, there are little fir trees dotted around the lawn, tubs of flowers on the terrace and rows of firewood stacked neatly by the fence. Rabbit owners in Witten and Dortmund are worried about their pets There used to be a rabbit hutch, too, at the end of the garden. But not any more. "One morning, when I came out to feed my rabbits, I was surprised to see that the hutch door was open," recalls Elfriede. "I looked inside and saw Rocco just lying there. His head was missing. A little later I found Felina in the...

If you caught your son burning ants with a magnifying glass, would it bother you less than if you found him torturing a mouse with a soldering iron? How about a snake? How about his sister? Does Khalid Shaikh Mohammed — the Guantánamo detainee who claims he personally beheaded the reporter Daniel Pearl — deserve the rights he denied Mr. Pearl? Which ones? A painless execution? Exemption from capital punishment? Decent prison conditions? Habeas corpus?

This week's outrage comes to us courtesy of the fringe animal "rights" group known as the New Jersey Animal Rights Alliance (NJARA). We've reported before on animal "rights" groups that try to push their agenda via "educational materials" that are foisted upon our school systems. The propaganda usually consists of the same, radical, scare tactics and lies we've seen time and again and come to expect. This time, however, the NJARA has served up a version that, even by current standards, is utterly ridiculous. "The Zargon Connection" is part of NJARA's "Humane and Responsible Teachers" curriculum designed for grades pre-K...

A rare white stag has been observed on the west coast of the Highlands. The animal has been seen with other red deer by a member of the John Muir Trust, which has kept its location a secret to protect it from poachers. The killing of a white stag on the Devon and Cornwall border last year sparked outrage. Fran Lockhart, partnership manager for the trust, caught the young Highland deer on camera. She described it as "ghost-like". She said: "I am thrilled to know that there is a white stag roaming free out there in the Scottish Highlands and...

Horses that draw carriages in Rome face dangerous traffic, pollution, heat, heavy loads, plus the animals rest in dark and humid stables and it's time to ban the popular tourist attraction, animal rights activists said Tuesday. "They are in disastrous condition, forced to work in an urban environment and exposed to a million dangers," said Claudio Locuratolo, one of the 1,700 volunteers of ENPA, an association of activists who patrol the streets to monitor the horses' condition. According to the association, about 90 horses carry tourists to see the city's landmarks on busy streets full of speeding cars and motorbikes....

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today announced it has removed the Preble's meadow jumping mouse populations in Wyoming from protection under the Endangered Species Act. The service said it is also amended the listing for Preble's to indicate the subspecies remains threatened in the Colorado portion of its range. "For Colorado basically nothing changes," A new management plant with a new critical habitat map will be developed by 2010... The determination is based on a better understanding of the distribution of and threats to Preble's meadow jumping mouse populations in Wyoming and Colorado

An aggressive black bear was shot and killed in a remote section of Denali National Park by park staffers on July 4... The black bear had threatened the life and safety of three park employees ... Three seasonal National Park Service technicians were conducting a botany field study along the remote river when a sub-adult black bear approached their camp ... The three tried to scare it away by yelling, waving their arms and throwing objects at the bear. After being chased off into dense brush, the bear circled back to the camp three or four times. At one point,...

Wellington - One of the world's rarest birds - the flightless takahe, a native of New Zealand where only about 200 individuals are known to survive - has been killed by a conservation worker by mistake, it was reported on Saturday. The takahe was believed to have been extinct until some were found in the remote Fiordland region of the South Island 60 years ago and although the Conservation Department has since run an intensive breeding programme to ensure their survival, they remain highly endangered. A department spokesman confirmed that a worker killed one last month while shooting a flock...

Always there have been the bears in and around Anchorage. Never before has there been a bear mauling in town. Not that the horrific attack on 15-year-old mountain biker Petra Davis last weekend came as a shock to those familiar with local bears. A small group of wildlife biologists with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game have been warning for years that something like this could happen ... Some who have been hiking, running and mountain biking in the park and the adjacent Chugach State Park for decades say they see more bears and more bear sign than ever...

A Ketchikan jury correctly convicted a Greenpeace ship's captain of criminal negligence for sailing in Alaska waters without the proper oil spill response plan, the state appeals court ruled Thursday. The opinion partly cancels a 2005 decision by a Ketchikan judge to overturn guilty verdicts against Greenpeace Inc. and Arctic Sunrise Capt. Arne Sorensen of misdemeanor charges. At the time of its anti-logging campaign, the ship was carrying more than 70,000 gallons of "petroleum products," according to district court documents. In Alaska, non-tank vessels larger than 400 gross tons must file an oil spill response plan application five days before...

<p>The criminal case has been dropped against the owner of Lewis, a cat whose possible death sentence turned the scratch-happy Fairfield feline into a national "claws celebre."</p> <p>A judge dismissed a reckless endangerment charge against Ruth Cisero on Thursday, concluding she had met terms of the special probation she was granted two years ago under a program for first-time offenders.</p>

Hollywood, CA (BANG) - Sharon Stone has been offered a free brain scan. Animal rights group PETA are determined to discover why Sharon "demonstrates a lack of empathy" towards animals by wearing fur, and so have written her a letter telling her they would be willing to pay for the scientific scan.The letter reads: "Scientific studies suggest that the prefrontal regions of the brains of people who lack empathy might be underdeveloped. Here's our offer - would you allow PETA to pay for a scan of the prefrontal region of your brain to determine if comments and actions that seem...

The Ravens probably have enough on their plate right now, what with a new coach and a new quarterback and Derrick Martin's recent citation for alleged marijuana possession and impersonation of a Cincinnati Bengal, but they still found time to run afoul of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

Police say evidence is that cats weren't killed as she says. HICKORY The woman who claims that she saved a kitten thrown from an SUV onto U.S. 321 on June 13 was charged with animal cruelty yesterday. Hickory police arrested Heather Nicole "Nikki" Bradshaw, 31, at the police department after she went there to talk with the investigating officer. Bradshaw was charged with three counts of misdemeanor cruelty to animals, filing a false police report and resisting a public official. "The past few weeks have torn me up," she said. The police "are just trying to find an easy way...

Shortly after losing her nearly 9-year-old standard poodle to cancer, Jana Kohl decided she wanted her next dog to be small and portable. Like many others, she turned to the Internet in search of a purebred toy poodle. One especially cute puppy from a breeder in Texas caught her eye. Kohl called the breeder and mailed a deposit. A friend warned her of the horrors of puppy mills, but Kohl admits she only "half-listened." Still, Kohl, who was already active in the fight against factory farming, decided to fly to Texas herself so she could dispel her friend's concerns. The...

Don’t get me wrong. I have no objection to anyone choosing to be a vegetarian, a Vegan, or pro-Ana for that matter. Short of cannibalism by murder, everyone should eat — and not eat — whatever they want to.I was married to a vegetarian and was a vegetarian, myself for five years — after my divorce. I even wrote an article in 1986 regarding my ignored suggestions to McDonalds and Burger King that they could get customers like me in — who wasn’t frequenting their fine establishments because nothing was offered for my wife — by putting veggie patties...

Florida biologist saves drowning bear Last Updated: 12:14AM BST 30/06/2008 A biologist has dived into the Gulf of Mexico in Florida to rescue a stray black bear. Biologist Adam Warwick saves a 375-pound black bear from drowning in Gulf waters Warwick performed the daring rescue when the bear bolted for open Gulf waters after taking the tranquilizer dart The 375lb beast had been roaming a residential area at Alligator Point, near Tallahassee, when wildlife officers decided to trap it and move it away from houses. They shot the bear with a tranquiliser dart, spooking the animal, which raced toward the...

National Inuit leader Mary Simon wears a sealskin vest while speaking as Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper (bottom L) listens in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa in this June 11, 2008 file photo. REUTERS/Chris Wattie/Files OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadians should wear sealskin to celebrate the country's birthday on July 1, an Inuit leader said on Friday, in defiance of a European movement to ban the import of Canadian seal products. "I am quite tired of other people telling us how to live our lives, without taking the time to learn about our culture and way...

A teenage girl riding in an all-night bicycle race suffered severe injuries early this morning when a bear attacked her on a trail ... Police officers with shotguns escorted medics into dark woods to retrieve the girl... "She was cut up and bit pretty good," After the mauling, the girl used her cell phone to call 911 but was unable to communicate... Another rider who came along found her sitting on the ground and said she could utter only one word: "Bear." He then used her phone to make another call for help. Sinnott said he didn't arrive in time...

Boat passengers witness shark attack June 28, 2008 CHATHAM — Fourteen passengers on a seal watch boat saw a shark attack and kill a seal yesterday during a cruise to Monomoy Island. The island, which is a national wildlife refuge, is home to hundreds of seals and also a favored feeding ground of several species of sharks. Capt. Bob Littlefield is sure the shark he saw rip a seal in half yesterday afternoon was a great white. "It was a quite a bloody mess," said Littlefield, who has been a captain on Cape Cod for 32 years. Littlefield was steering...

Madrid, Jun 27, 2008 / 01:08 pm (CNA).- The civil rights watchdog website HazteOir.org reported this week that Spain’s Socialist Party and the Green Party of Catalonia have grated orangutans, chimpanzees, gorillas and other apes the “inalienable right” of “companions of humanity.”The Committee on the Environment, Agriculture and Fishing of the Spanish Congress approved a proposal that would press the Zapatero administration to support the Great Ape project in order to guarantee apes the right to life, liberty and the right not to be tortured.  The final text of the proposal was drafted by Green party and Socialist lawmakers,...

Records: SF Tiger 'Frantic For Food' Before Attack SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5 / KCBS) ― The tiger that attacked and killed a teenager on Christmas day had lost 50 pounds since arriving at the San Francisco Zoo as a young and healthy animal two years earlier, raising concerns about whether she was getting enough to eat. A KCBS Radio investigation of zoo records shows Tatiana arrived in San Francisco in December 2005 weighing 292 pounds. She was entering the prime of her life at two and a half years old. When she was shot and killed by police in December...

Spain's parliament voiced its support on Wednesday for the rights of great apes to life and freedom in what will apparently be the first time any national legislature has called for such rights for non-humans. Parliament's environmental committee approved resolutions urging Spain to comply with the Great Apes Project, devised by scientists and philosophers who say our closest genetic relatives deserve rights hitherto limited to humans. "This is a historic day in the struggle for animal rights and in defense of our evolutionary comrades, which will doubtless go down in the history of humanity," said Pedro Pozas, Spanish director of...

Compared to their sex-mad, peace-loving Bonobo counterparts, chimpanzees are often seen as a scheming, war-mongering, and selfish species. As both apes are allegedly our closest relatives, together they are often depicted as representing the two extremes of human behaviour. Orlaith Fraser, who will receive her PhD from LJMU's School of Biological Sciences in July 2008, has conducted research that shows chimpanzee behaviour is not as clear cut as previously thought. Her study is the first one to demonstrate the effects of consolation amongst chimpanzees. In her recently published article, Fraser analyses how the apes behave after a fight. Working with...