Animal News

Thailand enters global race for vaccine with trials on monkeys

By AFP

Saraburi - Thailand is conducting tests on macaque monkeys as it races to produce a cheaper, alternative coronavirus vaccine it hopes will be ready by 2021, a top researcher said Monday.

Unsung heroes? How hoverflies play key pollination role

By AFP

Apo - That bee you see buzzing from flower to flower might actually be an undercover operator: a hoverfly. And a team of scientists wants you to stop taking them for granted.

China offers farmers cash to give up wildlife trade

By AFP

Bejing - Farmers in China are being offered cash to quit breeding exotic animals as pressure grows to crack down on the illegal wildlife trade that has been blamed for the coronavirus outbreak.

Puppy scammers target lonely Aussies during lockdown

By AFP

Sydney - Australia is suffering a wave of puppy scams as fraudsters target the lonely and locked down with fake online offers of cavoodles, French bulldogs and other popular pooches, authorities said.

Canada zoo to send pandas home after bamboo shortage

By AFP

Ottawa - A Canadian zoo is shipping two pandas home to China after the coronavirus pandemic left it struggling to source the massive bamboo stockpiles needed to feed the giant creatures.

Lion tamers live-stream shows from Cairo living room

By AFP

G - In his Cairo living room, Egyptian Ashraf al-Helw reprimanded his lioness Joumana for not obeying him after bringing her home for live-streamed performances during the coronavirus pandemic.

Rhino killed as poaching attempts increase amid India virus lockdown

By AFP

Guwahati - A rare one-horned rhino has been killed as poaching attempts increase in one of India's best-known national parks during the coronavirus lockdown, officials said Sunday.

Belgian llama holds key to possible corona treatment

By AFP

Ghent - Scientists the world over are scrambling to perfect an anti-viral treatment for the novel coronavirus, and following what might seem to be some unusual trails.

Indian officials capture rare snow leopard, send it to zoo

By AFP

Shimla - A rare snow leopard captured as it savaged livestock in a remote village in the Indian Himalaya will be sent to a zoo instead of being released, officials said Sunday, triggering outrage from activists.

Forget me not: Japan aquarium seeks video-chats for eels

By AFP

Apo - A Japanese aquarium closed during the coronavirus outbreak is asking people to make video calls to their eels so the sensitive creatures remember humans exist and don't pose a threat.

For Singapore penguins, shuttered zoo is flippin' fun

By AFP

Fpo - One cute group is making the most of Singapore's partial virus lockdown -- penguins at the city-state's zoo, who are being given the run of the empty complex and revelling in the chance to do some exploring.

Worried and wary: S.Africa's safari industry waits out virus pandemic

By AFP

Under the golden, late afternoon South African sun, an elephant emerges from around the curve in a dusty path. Disturbed, the imposing animal raises its trunk to sniff out the four-wheeled intruder.

Virus pushes Indonesia zoo animals to brink of starvation

By AFP

Bandung - Thousands of animals, including endangered Sumatran tigers and Bornean orangutans, are facing starvation at Indonesia's zoos as the global pandemic pushes shuttered facilities toward collapse, officials say.

Birds in paradise: Albania's flamingos flourish in virus lockdown

By AFP

Arta - With tourists home, boats docked and factories silenced under a coronavirus lockdown, Albania's pink flamingos and curly pelicans are flourishing in the newfound tranquility of lagoons dotting the country's western coastline.

South Korea assembly likely to allow entry to guide dogs

By AFP

Seoul - South Korea's parliament is likely to allow guide dogs entry to the chamber, officials said Monday, 16 years after they were banned under a rule prohibiting "disruptive objects or food".

Thai man trampled by elephant from park closed by pandemic

By AFP

Bangkok - A Thai farmer was trampled to death by an elephant foraging for food, a police officer said Friday, as the kingdom's controversial animal parks struggle to feed the giant mammals during the pandemic.

Monkeys, elephants and dogs reclaim India's streets in virus lockdown

By AFP

New Delhi - Hundreds of monkeys have taken over the streets around India's presidential palace, leading an animal offensive taking advantage of deserted streets as the country remains under a coronavirus lockdown.With India's 1.

Pandas use lockdown privacy to mate after a decade of trying

By AFP

Fpo - Stuck at home with no visitors and not much else to do, a pair of pandas in Hong Kong finally decided to give mating a go after a decade of dodging the issue.

Bengal tiger called Covid gives Mexico zoo hope during pandemic

By AFP

C - He is small and ferocious with a deadly name, but a Bengal tiger called Covid has given hope to a zoo in Mexico as the pandemic ravages the world.

Overcrowded Thai dog shelter blames coronavirus for drop in donations

By AFP

Bangkok - Cramped tooth and claw in vast cages, hundreds of dogs pass the day sleeping, fighting, or waiting to be fed at a controversial Thai shelter that does not believe in adoptions and blames a drop in donations on the coronavirus.

Customers desert South Korea's animal cafes over virus fears

By AFP

Seoul - A beige feline paces between two Gaudi-style columns at the empty 2 Cats cafe in Seoul, with upturned stools standing on the tables where humans sat to play with them in pre-virus days.

Activists slam China's use of bear bile in virus treatment

By AFP

Beijing - China has approved the use of bear bile to treat coronavirus patients, angering activists and raising fears it could undermine efforts to stop the illegal animal trade which is blamed for the emergence of the new disease sweeping the globe.

Hungry and in chains, Thailand's tourist elephants face crisis

By AFP

Bangkok - Underfed and chained up for endless hours, many elephants working in Thailand's tourism sector may starve, be sold to zoos or be shifted into the illegal logging trade, campaigners warn, as the coronavirus decimates visitor numbers.

Wuhan's virus ground-zero market hides in plain sight

By AFP

Wuhan - In the Chinese city of Wuhan, the wet market that spawned the pandemic which has brought the world to its knees now slumbers quietly behind a tidy-looking blue-and-white partition.

Slow growth in black rhino numbers cause for hope: conservationists

By AFP

Paris - The tentative recovery of Africa’s black rhino population was hailed by conservationists on Thursday as a cause for hopes that ambitious protection efforts could overcome the "acute threat” of poaching.

Rare white giraffes killed by poachers in Kenya: conservationists

By AFP

Nairobi - Kenya's only female white giraffe and her calf have been killed by poachers, conservationists said Tuesday, in a major blow for the rare animals found nowhere else in the world.

Pet dog infected with COVID-19, Hong Kong authorities confirm

By AFP

Fpo - The pet dog of a coronavirus patient in Hong Kong was confirmed to be infected with the disease, in a likely case of human-to-animal transmission, authorities said on Wednesday.

Real-life 'Rio': near-extinct macaws return to Brazil

By AFP

S - In what could be the next sequel to the hit film series "Rio," a group of near-extinct Spix's macaws arrived in Brazil Tuesday in a bid to return them to their natural habitat.

Kenya bans controversial donkey slaughter trade

By AFP

Nairobi - Kenya has decided to ban the slaughter of donkeys for use in Chinese medicine, a practice condemned by animal rights activists as cruel, unnecessary and devastating to donkey populations in Africa, a minister said on Thursday.

Emaciated lion Jupiter returning home to 'mother'

By AFP

Cali - Emaciated with a vacant gaze and without the strength to stand upright, 20-year-old lion Jupiter's life is in danger.But authorities are acting to try to save him after he was discovered in a "critical state.