Animals

Snuggles Project Warms Cages of Shelter Animals With Knitted Blankets

Snuggles Project Warms Cages of Shelter Animals With Knitted Blankets Shelter life isn't easy but more than a million people around the world have knitted or crocheted blankets for these cats and dogs.Humans aren’t the only ones who like a soft blanket under our butts.  The global Snuggles Project aims to place comforting, donated homemade blankets…

A Novel Way To Get Kids Excited About Books: Reading To Shelter Cats

A Novel Way To Get Kids Excited About Books: Reading To Shelter Cats Sean, 10, son of Book Buddies founder Kristi Rodriguez, has increased confidence reading in front of his classmates, after practising on cats.What to do when kids hate reading or are a little bit behind? Why not get them to read to cats? Yes, cats. And what to do when kids love reading…

Knitting Sweaters for Oil-Slicked Penguins Not Good For The Birds

Knitting Sweaters for Oil-Slicked Penguins Not Good For The Birds Yes, those are oil-slicked penguins wearingPenguins wearing tiny hand-knit sweaters. The optics are unbeatable, and the backstory compelling: penguins drenched in oil as a result of an oil-spill accident are protected in “penguin sweaters” that keep them warm and prevent them from preening…

Toronto Partnering with Cat Rescue Groups to Combat Feral Cat Explosion

Toronto Partnering with Cat Rescue Groups to Combat Feral Cat Explosion Kittens are among Toronto's huge feral cat population.To the delight of multiple volunteer cat rescue and advocacy groups, the City of Toronto, once regarded as hostile on the issue of homeless cats, has declared Oct. 16 to 22 Feral Cat Awareness Week to draw attention to the plight…

We Wuv Weiner Dogs: Why They Need Rescuing

We Wuv Weiner Dogs: Why They Need Rescuing If  Rolo is wearing histhey could talk, the wiener dogs in the care of Canadian Dachshund Rescue would tell you that being ridiculously cute has its drawbacks. For one thing, it tends to obscure some of the unique characteristics specific to the breed that require firm and knowledgeable training in puppies to…

Help Stop Barbaric Bear Bile Practice That Ends Up In Your Wine, Toothpaste, Shampoo

Help Stop Barbaric Bear Bile Practice That Ends Up In Your Wine, Toothpaste, Shampoo World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) is ramping up its Bear Bile campaign, bringing awareness to the barbaric industry in East and South East Asia where thousands of bears are being held captive in small cages so that bile can be extracted from their gall…

Retired Racing Greyhounds In The Thousands Need Homes

Retired Racing Greyhounds In The Thousands Need Homes Greyhounds play group — photo credit: Douglas Gladwin.With the possible exception of pugs, perhaps no breed of dog inspires such ecstatic devotion in their owners as greyhounds, those sleek, narrow, elegant sighthounds able to trace their lineage back thousands of years across multiple cultures. Used…

Veterinarian Locks Self In Hot Car For Pet Experiment

Veterinarian Locks Self In Hot Car For Pet Experiment Dr. Ernie Ward alive and well after locking himself in hot car to prove heat kills.It’s a grimly predictable summertime news story: the hapless pet that perishes in a sweltering car while its owner runs an ostensibly quick but ultimately too-long errand. Just yesterday, a Walmart employee was fired for…

Conservationists Hope Protected Land Fosters Moose Sex

Conservationists Hope Protected Land Fosters Moose Sex Moose looking for mate in Maritimes — photo credit: Mike Dembeck.It’s not every day one encounters a phrase as kooky and provocative as the “Moose Sex Project.” So it’s not surprising that Paula Noel, program manager for the New Brunswick office of the Nature Conservancy of Canada, is giggling like a…

Horses, Cows Facing Emergencies Central to Innovative Course

Horses, Cows Facing Emergencies Central to Innovative Course This horse got stuck in a mud hole — photo credit: Tomas Gimenez.Most would agree that having an emergency preparedness plan for dealing with fire, flood and other disasters and accidents is a sound idea albeit one rarely practiced outside of institutions. Deborah Chute and Dr. Rebecca Gimenez…

Orphaned, Injured Wildlife Saved By Mother/Daughter Team

Orphaned, Injured Wildlife Saved By Mother/Daughter Team Rescued baby squirrel at Heaven's Wildlife Rescue.Ontario’s raccoons, foxes, squirrels, muskrats, turtles, coyotes and possums have an excellent friend in Peggy Jenkins. Jenkins runs Heaven’s Wildlife Rescue, a centre devoted to rehabilitating orphaned, injured and displaced wildlife “patients”…

Golden Retrievers Bring Comfort, Joy To Disaster Survivors

Golden Retrievers Bring Comfort, Joy To Disaster Survivors Comfort Dogs lolling about in Boston before they venture out to do their comforting — photo courtesy of Lutheran Church Charities.Dogs have long distinguished themselves in the service of humans, both informally as trusted companions and professionally as seeing-eye or sniffer dogs. But rarely…

Liz Marshall Documents Animal Suffering In Our Ghosts In The Machine

Liz Marshall Documents Animal Suffering In Our Ghosts In The Machine From Our Ghosts In The Machine documentary: this rescued beagle still has the tattoo from when it was experimented on in a research lab — photo credit: Jo-Anne McArthur.Liz Marshall knows the topic of animal rights is a tough subject. She knows most people would rather look away. That’s…

Cat Build-A-Shelter Program Reaches Milestone

Cat Build-A-Shelter Program Reaches Milestone Cat lovers get busy with winter shelter-building workshops.Those behind the Toronto Humane Society’s winter shelter-building workshops — which transform everyday materials such as Rubbermaid storage bins, Styrofoam insulation, some tape and straw into life-sustaining makeshift homes for street cats in winter…

WWF-Coke Arctic Home Initiative Puts Polar Bears First

WWF-Coke Arctic Home Initiative Puts Polar Bears First Polar bear near Churchill, Manitoba — photo credit: © WWF-Canada / Geoff York.Creatures don’t come more iconic than the polar bear. Resilient, strong, free — and possessing the cutest babies ever — polar bears are at once powerful symbols of the rugged far north and striking reminders of what could be…