Australia, The Land Down Under, is full of beautiful beaches, incredible landscapes…and scary things that can kill you. Speaking of scary, meet Martha, the giant golden orb spider who made herself right at home in someone’s garage in Buderim, on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. Golden orb spiders typically eat flies, beetles, and moths – as well as small birds and bats. To read more on this story, click here:Man Finds Giant Bird-Eating Spider Guarding His Garage
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This is awful: authorities in Florida have recently been warning more owners about a statewide increase in horses being slaughtered and harvested for their meat. Horse theft and slaughter cases in various counties across Florida have left owners reeling and searching desperately for solutions. Brena Kramer of Zephyrhills knows about this horrific crime firsthand. She claims three intruders tried to slaughter her beloved horses for their meat. If it weren’t for Brena’s two rottweilers, she says things would have ended much differently. She believes the dogs chased off the intruders. Brena ran to their barn as quickly as she could and found one of the horses was left with a rope still tied around its neck. The horses were left with cuts and scrapes all over their faces, especially near their eyes, along with rope burns near their mouths. Brena is now sharing her story to warn other horse owners in her area and beyond. “It is common down South. It’s something most horse owners know about, especially in Florida,” she told Fox13. “They will bleed them out and start butchering while the horse is bleeding.” Thankfully, there are a couple of heroes who were watching over the horses during the incident. Learn more in this video.
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A post-it and several sheets of paper were tapped to the door of a vet clinic – all to describe the resident cat. A chunky cat named Fat Fred has captured people’s attention and apparently the clinic has received many inquires about him – so they decided to post a witty note. Someone was strolling by the clinic when they noticed the note and snapped a photo to share online. KneeAppallingTanIceCream posted the hilarious sign to Imgur with the caption, “Walking by a vet clinic when I saw this sign…” and it immediately went viral. To read more on this story, click here:Overweight Cat Is Going Viral After Passerby Shares Vet Clinic’s Hilarious Sign
Unicorns may not exist, but did you know that “magical rabbits” do? Okay, so they’re not really magical, but they’re certainly something special. “Magical rabbits” are also known as Ili Pika, and they are one of the most endangered species on the planet. Pictures of them are exceptionally rare. In fact, the pictures seen in this post are the first images to surface of the elusive rabbits in 20 years. Conservationist Weidong Li first discovered these cute animals in the 1980’s. The second time they were spotted was in the Tianshian mountains, located in the northwestern region of China. The species was originally known as “Ochotona iliensis”, but Li changed its name in honor of his hometown. Sadly, the species population has plummeted even farther since they were first discovered. Experts now estimate that there are fewer than 1,000 of these rabbits still alive.
Li feels a great responsibility to keep them safe, being as he was the person who discovered them in the first place. He’s said that he would feel very guilty if they went extinct on his watch. So he actually retired from his day job early in order to spend more of his time observing these creatures in their natural habitat. But because of their rarity, it’s hard to establish any scientific data on them. What scientists do know definitively is that they are a member of the rabbit family, and there aren’t many of them left. This is one of many issues that is blamed on global warming. Humans play a big part in the elimination of species in general, and this case is no different. We need to come together and make an effort to save the creatures of our planet. Images of the Ili Pika have been released in order to raise some awareness about these special animals and their endangered status.
Bringing rescue dogs and prisoners together in a remarkable rehabilitation programme in California is helping inmates learn valuable lessons On an idyllic sun-drenched day in California, I find myself in jail. But unlike the 5,000 or so inmates of North Kern State Prison, located 150 miles north of Los Angeles, I’m here voluntarily, accompanied by Zach Skow, a man on a mission to bring dogs into every US prison. Skow is the founder of Pawsitive Change, a rehabilitation programme that pairs rescue dogs with inmates. He began a pilot programme at California City Correctional Facility in January 2016, teaching inmates to become dog trainers, and it’s now been rolled out to four more California state prisons and one female juvenile correction centre. To read more on this story, click here:Pets in Prison: The Rescue Dogs Teaching Californian Inmates Trust and Responsibility
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Humans and animals share many diseases. And as dramatically shown by the tigers that tested positive in the Bronx Zoo, the coronavirus is one of them. As three veterinary epidemiologists who study infectious disease, we have been asked a lot of questions about if and how the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 affects pets. Can my pet get the coronavirus? When talking about a virus, the words "get" or "catch" are vague. A more precise question is: Can my cat or dog become infected with SARS-CoV-2? The answer is yes. There is evidence from real-world cases as well as laboratory experiments that both cats and dogs can become infected with coronavirus. In Hong Kong, health officials have tested 17 dogs and eight cats living with COVID-19 patients for the coronavirus. They found evidence of the virus in two dogs: a Pomeranian and a German shepherd, though neither became sick. None of the eight cats were infected or had been sick. However, there is a separate report of an infected cat from Hong Kong. To read more on this story, click here:Can Pets Get The Coronavirus, And Can We Catch It From Them? Here's The Science
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Pet food is considered an essential item here in Ohio and in Pennsylvania, and it can get expensive LISBON, Ohio (WKBN) – We’ve seen thousands of people go through food donation lines here in the Valley, but one thing that often gets overlooked is the need for pet food. Pet food for dogs and cats was one of the items we saw people panic buying in March. During that time period, dog food sales spiked almost 54 percent, which made finding it difficult. Pet food is considered an essential item here in Ohio and in Pennsylvania, and it can get expensive. Buying dog food when you’re unemployed or furloughed can be tough as the average bag costs about $20 to $30. To read more on this story, click here:Lisbon Business Donates 50,000 Pounds of Pet Food
Spain, which is enduring one of the world’s biggest and deadliest outbreaks, grapples with moral and practical questions on caring for animals when their owners are suddenly sick. MADRID — The coronavirus strikes. The patient — at home, sometimes alone — becomes desperately ill. The ambulance finally arrives to take the person away. Then, a second team, clad in hazmat gear, follows to rescue a household member abandoned in the chaos and suddenly in need of a new caregiver: the patient’s pet. The teams, from the Madrid animal shelter El Refugio, end up placing the pets in foster homes with people who will care for them temporarily while Spain’s strict lockdown is in place and so much is in flux. To read more on this story, click here:When Pet Owners Fall Ill With Coronavirus, What Happens Next?
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