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John Feikema and Christopher Arnet, who prosecutors say used high-powered rifles to kill three wild burros, face prison sentencesTwo men who used high-powered rifles to kill three wild burros in southern California’s Mojave desert more than two years ago pleaded guilty on Monday to federal charges related to the shootings, prosecutors said.The men wore tactical gear including night vision goggles as they targeted the...

Arthur Schubarth, 80, pleads guilty to trafficking in ‘audacious’ and unlawful scheme to cross-breed sheep for lucrative saleA Montana rancher illegally used tissue and testicles from wild sheep killed by hunters in central Asia and the US to breed “giant” hybrid sheep for sale to private hunting preserves in Texas, according to court documents and federal prosecutors.Arthur “Jack” Schubarth, 80, of Vaughn, Montana, pleaded...

Bangkok customs officers arrest six after finding 87 animals, including lizards, birds, a monkey and snakesThai customs officials have arrested six Indian nationals for attempting to smuggle dozens of wild animals, including a red panda and cotton-top tamarin monkey, out of the country.Officers found 87 animals, including monitor lizards, birds and snakes, packaged inside the suspects’ checked luggage at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport. They were...

Four-metre shark euthanised after becoming beached on shore at Kingscliff on Tweed CoastFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastA great white shark washed up on to a beach on the New South Wales north coast, shocking locals and attracting a crowd of beachgoers.The 4m shark was seen swimming close to...

Lieutenant governor ‘pardons’ animal and Republican local politician adopts it after it’s saved in New OrleansA piglet that was rescued after being tossed like a football near a Mardi Gras event in New Orleans was “pardoned” on Wednesday and has found a permanent home with a Louisiana lawmaker.The weeks-old pig – dubbed Earl “Piglet” Long, a play on the name of the 45th governor...

Animal welfare groups say smell from the build-up of faeces and ammonia on the ship are indicative of the conditions animals endureAuthorities in Cape Town have launched an investigation after a foul stench swept over the South African city.Officials inspected sewage facilities for leaks and an environmental health team was activated before the source of the smell was discovered: a ship docked in the...

Controversy in West Bengal centres around Akbar and Sita, named for a Hindu deity, being placed in the same enclosureAn Indian Hindu nationalist organisation has launched a court petition to stop two lions named after a Hindu deity and a 16th-century Muslim emperor from sharing a zoo enclosure.Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), a prominent rightwing Hindu organisation, went to court in the state of West...

Chronic wasting disease, which affects deer and other cervids, confirmed in Canada but experts divided over risk to humans‘Zombie deer disease’ epidemic spreads in YellowstoneThe Canadian province of British Columbia has released a strategy to combat the spread of chronic wasting disease (CWD) as it continues to move across North America.Officials in the westernmost province this week ordered the testing of any road-killed deer,...

Bears use ice to access food, but study of animals in Canada shows them struggling to adapt to more time on land amid climate crisisPolar bears in Canada’s Hudson Bay risk starvation as the climate crisis lengthens periods without Arctic Sea ice, despite the creatures’ willingness to expand their diets.Polar bears use the ice that stretches across the ocean surface in the Arctic during...

Passenger returning from the DRC said luggage contained dried fish, but inspection revealed four dead monkeysA US customs and border protection dog has caused a stir at Boston’s often bustling airport after sniffing out something unusual in luggage from a traveler returning from Africa: mummified monkeys.The passenger returning from a visit to the Democratic Republic of the Congo reported that the luggage contained dried...

Mammal ‘made contact with equipment’, disrupting a subway line and shutting off water in latest escapade of city’s ‘trash pandas’A lone Toronto raccoon was able to cut power to nearly 7,000 people in the city’s downtown core on Thursday night, highlighting the fraught coexistence between residents of Canada’s largest urban centre and the divisive “trash pandas”.Hydro One, Ontario’s power utility, said a raccoon “made...

Ecologists condemn watchdog decision, accusing it of making reckless changes to allow easier logging of state forests containing glider habitatGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastNSW’s environmental watchdog has put the endangered greater glider on a fast track to extinction by watering down logging protections, experts say.Ecologists from WWF-Australia and Wilderness Australia have condemned the watchdog, accusing it...

At least 80 pairs recorded in 2023 after species began breeding again in 1979, having disappeared from UK in 16th centuryBritain’s tallest bird, the spectacular, wetland-loving crane bred in higher numbers last summer than at any point since they disappeared from the UK in the 16th century.At least 80 pairs of cranes were recorded in 2023, up from the previous high of 72 two...

Exclusive: Pet owners risk contaminating their hands with neurotoxins for at least 28 days after application, scientists findVets should limit the use of flea treatments containing pesticides on dogs and cats, scientists have said, after a study revealed the vast amount of toxic substances in them that end up in rivers.Pet owners using these flea treatments risk contaminating their hands with fipronil and imidacloprid,...

Serious animal welfare concerns over exporter’s plan to resume journey, MP says, with animals set to spend 60 days ‘on a stinking hot ship’Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastA stranded live export ship carrying about 16,500 animals will be partially offloaded in Western Australia before resuming its journey to export the livestock.About 16,500 animals are packed into...

Open letter calls for Soil Association certification to be removed from industry, amid concerns of negative environmental impactThe British body that certifies food in the UK as organic has been accused of misleading consumers over its labelling of Scottish farmed salmon.Thirty charities, conservation and community organisations, including WildFish, the Pesticide Action Network and Blue Marine Foundation, say the negative environmental impacts of the industry...

A truck and trailer en route to Fort Wayne for a Shriner’s event caught fire, prompting a rescue by local law enforcementA truck hauling zebras and camels for a series of weekend circus performances caught fire early on Saturday on a north-eastern Indiana highway, prompting a police rescue of the animals, which roamed along the freeway, some munching on grass.The tractor-trailer caught fire at...

Four-year-old dog named Efruz ‘loves the sea’, according to his owner, and often perches on a surfboard to ride wavesClad in a yellow vest, little Efruz balances himself on the front of the surfboard as waves foam around him and his companion as they skim over the Pacific waters off Peru.Efruz is a four-year-old Jack Russell terrier and he is a common sight these...

Sawangjit Kosoognern charged with illegal possession after video showing animal being driven around Pattaya gains 2.6m viewsA Thai woman has been charged with illegal possession of a lion cub, police said on Friday, after a video of the animal cruising in a Bentley went viral online.The police ordered an investigation after a video showing a lion cub riding around the raucous Thai resort town...

Hunting by Kenyan lions impeded in ‘ecological chain reaction’ as big-headed ants fail to stop elephants stripping acacia trees – the cats’ ambush coverWhen a lion decides to chase down a zebra it seems as though nothing can stop it. But now researchers have discovered these enormous predators are being thwarted by a tiny foe: ants.Scientists have found the spread of big-headed ants in...

The first successful embryo transfer in a southern white rhino paves way for using technique to save rarer northern cousinsThe critically endangered northern white rhino could be saved from the brink of extinction after scientists performed the first successful embryo transfer in white rhinos.After the last male northern white rhino, Sudan, died in 2018, the disappearance of the species looked imminent. Just two infertile...

Conditions at Ciudad Juárez zoo on US-Mexico border not suitable so container takes Benito to conservation park 1,000 miles away A giraffe named Benito has started a 50-hour road trip to leave behind the cold and loneliness of Mexico’s northern border city of Ciudad Juárez to find warmth – and maybe a mate – in his new home 2,000km (1,200 miles) to the south.A...

State-owned railway company RZhD apologises as conductor faces calls to be sacked and potentially prosecutedA cat has died in Russia after being thrown off a train in freezing temperatures by a conductor who has faced calls to be sacked and potentially prosecuted.The state-owned railway company RZhD has apologised to the owners of Twix, the ginger-and-white cat who was dumped into the snow in Kirov...

Quick-thinking state police officer enlists pet canine to carry rescue equipment to man who fell through iceA man who fell through the ice on a frozen Michigan lake was rescued after a quick-thinking state police officer used the stranded man’s dog to get rescue equipment to him and pull the man to safety.Bystanders called 911 on Thursday after the 65-year-old Traverse City man fell...