Information about animals
Crufts winner’s animal cruelty conviction prompts complaints to Channel 4
Animal charities call for ‘extreme’ breeds to no longer be eligible for prizes and full vetting of competitors
Animal charities have complained to Channel 4 after the winner of Crufts best in show was found to have been convicted of animal cruelty, and said the winning dog is an “extreme” breed that has had a “lifetime of suffering”.
After Lee Cox and his four-year-old Clumber spaniel Bruin won best in show at the prestigious dog competition, it emerged that Cox had a previous conviction for animal cruelty.
Continue reading...Thousands of pets being abandoned in Dubai as owners flee over Iran war
RSPCA say animals could become ‘hidden victims’ of conflict as charities in Gulf city report being overwhelmed
Thousands of pets are being abandoned in Dubai as their owners flee the Middle East because of the Iran war, animal charities have said.
The RSPCA said pets of fleeing UK nationals could become “hidden victims” of the conflict as people who had relocated to the Gulf city scramble for an exit and struggle to bring their animals.
Continue reading...Birdwatch: Blue tits are feisty and fascinating but often taken for granted
They will soon be looking for nest sites to begin the huge effort of raising their brood of between eight and 10 chicks
If there were an award for the most underrated British garden bird, the blue tit may well come out on top. Feisty and fascinating, this colourful little creature is so common and familiar that we often take it for granted.
This could be because of the blue tit’s ubiquity. In both the main garden bird surveys in the UK – the RSPB’s annual Big Garden Birdwatch and the long-running BTO Garden BirdWatch – the species is always in the top five. With roughly 3 million breeding pairs, blue tits are as common in urban and suburban gardens as they are in rural ones.
Continue reading...Ultrasound repellers could keep hedgehogs off roads, scientists hope
Study shows animals hear very high frequencies, making it possible to design a deterrent to cut deaths
Hedgehogs have been discovered to hear high-frequency ultrasound, raising hopes that they could be deterred from dangerous roads with ultrasound repellers.
Vehicles are estimated to kill up to one in three hedgehogs, a big factor in the much-loved mammal’s drastic decline across Europe over recent decades.
Continue reading...Sale of rat poisons could be restricted to protect Australian wildlife
Regulator recommends rodenticides be removed from Bunnings and supermarkets shelves and sold only to licensed professionals
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Widely available rat poisons could be removed from shelves at Australian supermarkets and other retailers after a federal regulator recommended they be declared a restricted product.
It is a win for conservationists and scientists who for years have called for rodenticides to be banned or highly restricted due to their impact on wildlife. Native animals including tawny frogmouths, powerful owls and quolls have been found dead after eating poisoned rats and mice.
Continue reading...Country diary: The art of noticing rewards with a mini glittering web | Jeni Bell
Knightwood Inclosure, New Forest: I realise my knowledge of my favourite haunt is the size of the spidery-speck hanging in the heather
In soft sunlight the woodland wakes. Brimstone butterflies boast their presence, a raven pair rattle overhead, and the first scents of warming earth drift upwards. Spring shouts its arrival across Knightwood Inclosure, home of the New Forest’s girthiest tree, the Knightwood Oak. It falls on deaf ears though; knelt in mud, immersed in undergrowth, I’m mesmerised in micro.
In front of me, suspended on barely-there thread, hangs a speck of a spider. It was the disco-ball water droplets, clinging to its intricately woven web, that enticed me in. The spider is so small that my eyes and camera struggle to focus, flicking from a cream and tawny-coloured orb to a faded heather flower. When I do lock on, the abdominal markings gain clarity: inky black lines encasing two small spots.
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