animals

The number of humans bit by sharks declined in 2008 and the leading shark attack researcher blames the recession. George Burgess, director of the International Shark Attack File, says sharks bit 59 people around the world in 2008, down from 71 the year before. Sharks bit fewer people not because...

We've written about pet owners struggling to keep their dogs and cats. But Black Beauty is being stung by the economy as well.The Associated Press wrote about it recently, and so have numerous local papers around the country. As The Daily Record, smack in the middle of Washington state, reports,...

The typical way to figure out if an animal that bit you has rabies is to kill it, cut off its head and express ship it-- unfrozen--to your state health department for a test that will take 10 to 14 days. The state probably won't charge you, but you'll pay shipping costs, spend weeks worrying...

Here in tax-strapped California, Arnold and the legislature are thinking of all types of ways to balance the budget. One way is to increase taxes, of course. Now a "luxury" tax on golf course fees, sporting events and trips to Disneyland, I can sort of understand; those do seem like non-essential...

Human doctors can't sell prescription drugs because it would be a conflict of interest to have them dispense certain medicines for profit. A lot of veterinarians, however, count on prescription drugs as an income stream. DVM Magazine recommends charging a $20 dispensing fee and Veterinary Economics...

When I walk down the pet aisle in K-mart, I see lots of reasonably priced dog foods -- but none I would actually feed my dog. When I was younger and poorer and had never heard of melanine, K-mart seemed fine. But then I was terrified -- along with just about every other dog owner -- by the pet food...

When you think about getting a pet, the number one consideration is probably time. Do you have the energy to walk a dog several times a day? Do you have someone in your neighborhood who can feed the cats while you're traveling? Usually, if a person can handle the time commitment of pet ownership,...

For the last year we've heard some pretty horrific stories about the ways animals are really getting the shaft in the recession. People abandoned dogs in houses to get back at real estate companies. Shelters everywhere are packed as people give up their dogs and cats. But this week the American...

The BBC spent two years researching the grim realities of purebred dogs for their documentary Pedigree Dogs Exposed, which aired in August. The BBC's big findings were that, much like we've all suspected, lots of pedigree dogs are more likely to be sickly because they're chosen for breeding on...

Madeleine and T. Boone Pickens, the billionaire couple who swooped in to New Orleans with a rented jet and saved hundreds of dogs and cats after Hurricane Katrina, announced this week they plan on saving 35,000 wild horses from potential slaughter by creating a new home for them. The horses --...