Black Market For Dogs Is Big Business In Germany

Lured by lower prices for pedigree puppies, German dog lovers are turning to Eastern Europe to find their Fido. But often the cut-price pooches come with diseases and behavioral problems, and sometimes die after just a few days. Animal welfare organizations are trying to halt the trade.

The silver-gray Volkswagen van stands a little way away from the entrance to the car park, next to the bustling market in the Polish town of Slubice. The driver opens the back door of the vehicle. His freight requires some fresh air. It is whimpering.

Inside the van, there are cages stuffed with dogs. A litter of tiny Yorkshire terriers rub against each other, young attack dogs peer out between the bars of their cage and two husky puppies perch in their own feces.The driver, a Polish man, doesn’t speak much German. At least, he doesn’t speak much German when his clientele question him about the ages, origins or vaccinations of his cargo. Instead he shrugs and pulls out a packet of animal passports, certificates required in the European Union for pets crossing borders. They are obviously forged.

First Animals Found That Live Without Oxygen

In the muck of the deep Mediterranean seafloor, scientists have found the first multicellular animals capable of surviving in an entirely oxygen-free environment.Some types of bacteria and other single-celled organisms can live without oxygen, but nothing as complex had been found as these three species of Loricifera, a group of marine-sediment dwellers who inhabit one of Earth’s most extreme and little-known environments.

“The discovery of these life forms opens new perspectives for the study of metazoan life in habitats lacking molecular oxygen,” wrote researchers led by Roberto Danovaro, a marine biologist at Italy’s Polytechnic University of Marche, in a study published April 6 in BMC Biology.

Study Gives Scientists A Sense Of How Animals Bond

Scientists have pinpointed how a key hormone helps animals to recognise others by their smell.Researchers at the University of Edinburgh have shown that the hormone vasopressin helps the brain differentiate between familiar and new scents.The study, published in the journal Nature, suggests that when the hormone fails to function, animals are unable to recognise other individuals from their scent.

The ability to recognise others by smell is crucial in helping animals to establish strong bonds with other animals.The research, funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), may offer clues about the way people make emotional connections with others through smell and deepen our understanding of the role scent plays in memory.Many scientists think a failure in this recognition system in humans may prevent them from forming deep emotional bonds with others.

Man's Dog Turns Him In To Police

A German man on the run from police was given away by his own dog, which revealed its master’s hiding place by wagging its tail while standing next to the small cupboard he was cowering in, authorities said on Monday. Police called at the 52-year-old man’s flat in Euskirchen near Cologne in western Germany on Friday, and an acquaintance of his opened the door carrying the suspect’s dog.

“The man claimed not to know where the wanted man was. When he put the dog down, it proceeded with a wagging tail to a small cupboard… and stood expectantly in front of it,” police said in a statement.This prompted the officers to search the cupboard, which was just over a yard high and two and a half feet wide, where they found the man “hunched up inside.”A police spokesman told AFP he was not able to say what the man was wanted for, but that it was “not a capital crime.”He declined to give the man’s name, nor that of his erstwhile four-legged friend, reportedly a Jack Russell terrier.

(source)

Man's Dog Turns Him In To Police

A German man on the run from police was given away by his own dog, which revealed its master’s hiding place by wagging its tail while standing next to the small cupboard he was cowering in, authorities said on Monday. Police called at the 52-year-old man’s flat in Euskirchen near Cologne in western Germany on Friday, and an acquaintance of his opened the door carrying the suspect’s dog.

“The man claimed not to know where the wanted man was. When he put the dog down, it proceeded with a wagging tail to a small cupboard… and stood expectantly in front of it,” police said in a statement.This prompted the officers to search the cupboard, which was just over a yard high and two and a half feet wide, where they found the man “hunched up inside.”A police spokesman told AFP he was not able to say what the man was wanted for, but that it was “not a capital crime.”He declined to give the man’s name, nor that of his erstwhile four-legged friend, reportedly a Jack Russell terrier.

(source)

World's Biggest Bunny

Annette Edwards is the owner of Amy a three-year-old bunny – the largest bunny in the world. She is 4 ft in length and weighs 56 pounds and thanks to her appetite she is certain to beat the previous record holder. Roberto owned by Mrs Edwards .

In her quest to breed the world’s biggest rabbit, Annette Edwards has struck 24-carrot gold.Three-year-old Amy, a Continental Giant, now weighs three and a half stone and is 4ft from the tip of her nose to her bumper bobtail.Huge: Amy the rabbit, from Worcester, weighs in at almost three stone – making her the world’s biggest. She is pictured with her owner Annette Edwards

Thanks to her huge appetite, she is almost a stone heavier and six inches longer than the previous record holder Roberto, also owned by Mrs Edwards.Both of them dwarf a previous pretender to the throne, a German chap nicknamed Herr Rabbit which was officially a mere 22lb and 3ft 1in.It won’t be long, however, before Amy has to surrender her title.She and Roberto have been busily breeding in their reinforced hutch at their home in Worcester, and Mrs Edwards is confident that one of their 32 offspring will turn out even larger.

World's Biggest Bunny

Annette Edwards is the owner of Amy a three-year-old bunny – the largest bunny in the world. She is 4 ft in length and weighs 56 pounds and thanks to her appetite she is certain to beat the previous record holder. Roberto owned by Mrs Edwards .

In her quest to breed the world’s biggest rabbit, Annette Edwards has struck 24-carrot gold.Three-year-old Amy, a Continental Giant, now weighs three and a half stone and is 4ft from the tip of her nose to her bumper bobtail.Huge: Amy the rabbit, from Worcester, weighs in at almost three stone – making her the world’s biggest. She is pictured with her owner Annette Edwards

Thanks to her huge appetite, she is almost a stone heavier and six inches longer than the previous record holder Roberto, also owned by Mrs Edwards.Both of them dwarf a previous pretender to the throne, a German chap nicknamed Herr Rabbit which was officially a mere 22lb and 3ft 1in.It won’t be long, however, before Amy has to surrender her title.She and Roberto have been busily breeding in their reinforced hutch at their home in Worcester, and Mrs Edwards is confident that one of their 32 offspring will turn out even larger.

Ear Implants For Dogs?….Believe it.

Gregg Miller does. He invented them.Miller, an inventor who works out of his basement at his home in Oak Grove, calls the implants “revolutionary.”“In all of animalkind, no one has ever been successful in coming out with an ear implant that works,” Miller says.

They’re called PermaStay Ear Implants, used for canines with broken ears. Consumer demand from dog owners drove Miller to the invention.Miller’s previous invention, plastic testicles for animals that have been neutered – aptly named “Neuticles” – led him to invent the implants. Some of the owners who gave their dogs fake testicles asked Miller about ear implants.“You talk to all the pet owners,” Miller says. “They called up and said ‘how come you don’t make implants for dogs with broken ears?’ I’ve heard that a thousand times.”

So five years ago, Miller began been working on the invention.

Elephants Through Ante-Natal Classes

With perfect precision and poise, this is a heavyweight dance line-up that would impress Arlene Phillips.But there’s a serious purpose to the act, as this band of pregnant elephants are exercising as part of their zoo’s ante-natal classes.
The mums-to-be have to do a daily workout as well as being walked by their keepers three to five miles each day to stay in trim.The routine is so popular that two baby elephants, Tarak and Shanti on the furthest right, have joined in the fun as well.

The elephants are expected to give birth between April and November this year at their zoo in Hanover, Germany.
Meanwhile in Australia, Dr Thomas Hildebrant was flown in from Berlin to oversee the final days of Asian elephant Dokkoon’s pregnancy.Zoo keeper Steve Blanchard also took Dokkoon through some birthing exercises during the final stage of her pregnancy.

Reindeer Poop Raises $20,884 For Miller Park Zoo

Turning reindeer dung into gems for necklaces and ornaments has raised a pile of money for the Miller Park Zoo.The last two ornaments for the year were sold Sunday bringing the total raised for the zoo to $20,884. The fundraiser organized by the Miller Park Zoological Society brought in about $5,000 in 2008.

Chief “gemologist” Susie Ohley estimated about 300 necklaces and more than 2,000 ornaments were made this year, the second year of the project.”For sure this has been great for the zoo,” said Ohley, spokeswoman for the zoological society. “We are very appreciative of the support and attention this project has given us.”

The “Magical Reindeer Gems” are dime-sized pieces of dung from the zoo’s reindeer that have been dehydrated, sterilized and spray-painted with glitter and strung together with wire and beads.

The necklaces were added this year to the product line after people buying ornaments asked if there were any jewelry.Initially, Ohley said 100 necklaces would be made for the year, but the nationwide demand for the reindeer dung products pushed their gem making into overtime, she said.