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Birthday treats for Britain's dogs
LONDON (AFP) - One in three dog owners in Britain admits to celebrating their pet's birthday with a present or special treat, a new study showed.
The survey of 1,600 dog-owners revealed that many of them buy toys or clothes for their pooches, or pamper them with a grooming session -- and that one in 10 sends a birthday card.
Harriet with the Irwins
Tortoise Believed to Have Been Owned By Darwin Dies at 176
SYDNEY, Australia — A 176-year-old tortoise believed by some to have been owned by Charles Darwin has died in an Australian zoo.
The giant tortoise, known as Harriet, was long reputed to have been one of three tortoises taken from the Galapagos Islands by Darwin on his historic 1835 voyage aboard the HMS Beagle.
Kicking the habit no monkey business for chain-smoking Chinese chimp
BEIJING (AFP) - Xiku the chain-smoking chimpanzee has almost kicked his deadly habit thanks to the efforts of zoo keepers in China, but it has taken a beer or two to help get him through detox.
Xiku became addicted to smoking while mimicking the habits of humans during a career as a circus performer, the state-run Xinhua news agency said Friday.
By the time he was sent to a zoo in Urumqi, the capital of China's northwest Xinjiang region, in 2002, Xiku was already smoking 10 cigarettes a day.
That number doubled as visitors threw him cigarettes for amusement, but he is now down to smoking four a day after some unorthodox efforts from zoo keepers, Xinhua said.
"At the beginning, he became irascible when he wanted to smoke, jolting windows and doors," Xinhua quoted one of the keepers as saying.
"We sometimes gave him some sunflower seeds or a bottle of beer to help him shake off the addiction and visitors are no longer allowed to throw him cigarettes."
Sea lions and dolphins may join war games
HONOLULU - Alongside the submarines, ships and airplanes participating in large-scale military exercises in the Pacific this month, a team of sea lions and dolphins are expected to patrol the sea.
These marine animals will be flown in from San Diego for simulated mine recovery and mine detection during the biennial RIMPAC war games.
Six bottle-nosed dolphins would find the mines, while four California sea lions would help recover them.
"There are a number of mechanical systems that work to some degree in those areas, but not as well as the Navy would like them to work," said Tom Lapuzza, spokesman for the Navy's Marine Mammal Program. "Unmanned vehicles are becoming better at finding mines and being able to deal with them, but they are still not as good as the dolphins are."
Bush to create largest marine sanctuary
WASHINGTON - President Bush is creating a vast new marine sanctuary Thursday, extending stronger federal protections to the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands and its endangered monk seals, nesting green sea turtles and other rare species.
The nation's newest national monument, which will be given a native Hawaiian name based on suggestions from state residents, covers an archipelago stretching 1,400 miles long and 100 miles wide in the Pacific Ocean. It's home to more than 7,000 species, at least a fourth of them found nowhere else.
Bush was announcing his creation of the nation's 75th national monument at a White House ceremony. The decision immediately sets aside 140,000 square miles of largely uninhabited islands, atolls, coral reef colonies and underwater peaks known as seamounts to be managed by federal and state agencies.
Florida to remove manatee from endangered list
MIAMI (Reuters) - Florida's wildlife commission voted on Wednesday to remove the manatee from the state's endangered species list, a move environmentalists fear could erode safeguards for the popular sea creature.
State officials said the "downlisting" to threatened from endangered would have no impact on protections afforded the massive, lumbering marine mammal often called the sea cow.
Manatees inhabit Florida's canals and coastal waters, where they are frequently killed or injured by boats. A survey this year found about 3,100 remaining manatees.
Lion kills man who went into Kiev zoo cage
KIEV, Ukraine - A lion killed a man who climbed into its enclosure at the Kiev zoo, police said Monday.
The lion attacked the 45-year-old Ukrainian late Sunday after he used a rope to climb down into an enclosure with four lions, said police spokesman Volodymyr Polishchuk.
Ukrainian TV channel NTN broadcast interviews with witnesses who said the man told them that he believed God would not allow the lions to hurt him.
Sadie Says: The moral of the story here, is that many animals, even if they like humans, are still wild and should never be provoked. In other words, never jump into a cage with lions. They will eat you. They're not being mean, they're just being themselves.
Many won't evacuate without their pets
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - On the first day of the hurricane season, two high-level U.S. officials said on Thursday pet care must be part of disaster preparations or animal-loving Americans will ignore evacuation orders and stay home with their pets.
"People are not going to leave," said George Foresman, undersecretary for preparedness at the Homeland Security Department, unless they can take their pets with them or be certain of their care.
Some 60 percent of U.S. households have pets -- 358 million animals in all, according to the Humane Society of the United States. In one poll, half of pet owners said they would refuse to evacuate without their pets, said Ron DeHaven, head of the Agriculture Department agency in charge of animal welfare.