Pets & Wildlife

Wolverines threatened with extinction as climate change melts their snowy mountain refuges, US says

November 29, 2023, 8:23am Latest News

The North American wolverine will receive long-delayed threatened species protections under a Biden administration proposal released Wednesday in response to scientists warning that climate change will likely melt away the rare species’ snowy mountain… Read story

U.S. Bureau of Land Management to end use of ‘cyanide bomb’ to kill coyotes and other predators, citing safety concerns

November 28, 2023, 5:38pm Latest News Updated 2 hours ago

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management has halted the use of spring-loaded traps that disperse cyanide powder to kill coyotes and other livestock predators, a practice wildlife advocates have tried… Read story

Male walrus Balzak (pronounced bell’-zik) and female walrus Lakina (pronounced la-kee’-na) arrived in Tacoma from Aquarium du Québec.

Why Tacoma’s aquarium keeps amassing more walruses

November 28, 2023, 6:06am Life

It is a good thing Old MacDonald did not have a walrus on his farm. Because there is no onomatopoeia that could distill the noises this animal makes. Read story

A Cooper’s hawk feeds on a small bird in Minneapolis on May 5, 2009. The Cooper’s hawk is on the list for change by the American Ornithological Society; it was named after William Cooper, a naturalist born in 1798.

Bird species to be renamed

November 28, 2023, 6:02am Life

The world’s largest group of ornithologists announced Nov. 1 that it would begin work renaming 70 to 80 North American bird species named for people — some deemed racist, exclusionary, or implying “ownership of an entire species by one human.” The project begins next year. Read story

A Loggerhead Sea Turtle makes it way to the Atlantic Ocean in this undated photo in Juno Beach, Fla. By most measures, it was a banner year for sea turtle nests at beaches around the U.S., including record numbers for some species in Florida and elsewhere. Yet the positive picture for turtles is tempered by climate change threats, including higher sand temperatures that produce fewer males, changes in ocean currents that disrupt their journeys and increasingly severe storms that wash away nests.

Sea turtle nests break records on U.S. beaches, but global warming threatens their survival

November 24, 2023, 7:48am Life

INDIAN ROCKS BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Just as they have for millions of years, sea turtles by the thousands made their labored crawl from the ocean to U.S. beaches to lay their eggs over the past several months. This year, record nesting was found in Florida and elsewhere despite growing… Read story

Veterinarian Dr. Kwane Stewart, known as, “The Street Vet,’’ gives a Parvo vaccine injection Jan. 11 to Pepper as owner Christina Crayton, 39, helps hold him in Skid Row in Los Angeles.

Don’t want to give Spot shots?

November 24, 2023, 6:04am Life

Individuals who are skeptical of vaccines for themselves are also more like to question the need or efficacy of getting shots for their four-legged companions, according to a recent study. Read story

Dogs are coming down with unusual respiratory illness in several states, including Oregon

FILE - Owners bring their dogs to a park in Los Angeles on Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2022. Veterinary laboratories in several states, including Oregon, Colorado and New Hampshire, are investigating an unusual respiratory illness in dogs that causes lasting illness and doesn’t respond to antibiotics. The Oregon Department of Agriculture, which is working with state researchers and the U.S. Deparment of Agriculture’s National Veterinary Services Laboratory to find out what is causing the illnesses, has documented more than 200 cases of the disease since mid-August 2023.

November 18, 2023, 5:57am Life

Veterinary laboratories in several states are investigating an unusual respiratory illness in dogs, and encouraging people to take basic precautions to keep their pets healthy as veterinarians try to pin down what’s making the animals sick. Read story