Animals

Police search for whoever discarded an emaciated bulldog inside a trash bag in Iowa

Police are trying to find out who taped a bulldog inside a trash bag and abandoned him in Des Moines.

Feds propose protection for giant salamanders devastated by Hurricane Helene

New Zealand scientists suspect specimen of world’s rarest whale died from head injuries

Greece’s only miniature therapy horses bring joy to many, but their charity is struggling

Huge and rare Mekong catfish spotted in Cambodia, raising conservation hopes

Huge and rare Mekong catfish is spotted in Cambodia, raising conservation hopes

Six critically endangered Mekong giant catfish — one of the largest and rarest freshwater fish in the world — were caught and released in Cambodia recently in just a few days, offering new hope for the survival for the species. The underwater giants can grow up to 10 feet (3 meters) long and weigh up to 300 kilograms (661 pounds), or as heavy as a grand piano.

Watch More

A fugitive dog gains fame amid city-wide effort to recapture him

U.S. wildlife officials plan to list monarch butterflies as endangered species

Ukrainian man fleeing war rescued with his kitten on a perilous journey through Romanian mountains

More News

Fresh fin whale meat is auctioned for the first time in decades in Japan

Meat from fin whales caught for the first time in nearly 50 years off Japan’s northern coast has fetched up to more than $1,300 per kilogram at auction, as officials try to keep the struggling industry alive.

Movie Review: ‘Kraven the Hunter’ is another misfire in the Spider-Man universe

Kraven the Hunter can climb sheer walls like a gorilla, snatch fish out of streams like a bear and outrun deer.

★★★★

New approach to Rocky Mountain grizzlies sought ahead of the second Trump presidency

Environmental groups are asking the U.S. government to do more to protect grizzly bears in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho.

Brazilian beef and leather companies fall short in tackling deforestation, a study finds

The next United Nations climate conference will be held in Belem, the capital of an Amazon region where widespread deforestation has turned the surrounding rainforest from a vital carbon sink into a significant carbon source.

A fugitive gains fame in New Orleans eluding dart guns and nets

For months, a fugitive dog known as Scrim has transfixed the city of New Orleans. The 17-pound mutt has gained fame eluding a tenacious band of citizens wielding a tranquilizer dart gun and night vision binoculars.

Monarch butterflies to be listed as a threatened species in US

U.S. wildlife officials have decided to extend federal protections to monarch butterflies. Fish and Wildlife Service officials on Tuesday announced plans to list monarchs as threatened.

Greyhound racing is increasingly rare worldwide. New Zealand now plans to outlaw the practice

New Zealand’s racing minister says the country will outlaw greyhound racing, citing the injury rates for racing dogs.

Chinese gold mining threatens a protected UN heritage site in Congo

For eight years a Chinese mining company has been vastly expanding inside an endangered World Heritage Site, accused by locals and conservationists of decimating the environment.

Takeaways from AP’s report on Chinese gold mining threatening endangered protected site in Congo

For eight years a Chinese mining company has been vastly expanding inside an endangered World Heritage Site, accused by locals and conservationists of decimating the environment.

Rescuers rush to save geese and ducks soaked in oil due to spill in Boston river

Wildlife rescuers are rushing to tend to dozens of geese and ducks that were soaked in oil after a spill in a Boston river.

Ukrainian man fleeing war rescued with his kitten on a perilous journey through Romanian mountains

A Ukrainian man who embarked on a perilous journey fleeing his war-torn country into Romania has been rescued from a deep mountain ravine in subzero temperatures with an unlikely companion: his months-old kitten named Peach.

Two family dogs kill a 5-year-old girl at her home near Los Angeles

Authorities say two family dogs attacked and killed a 5-year-old girl at her Southern California home.

Indigenous Mayans want their sacred cenotes to have personhood status

A lawsuit filed in Mexico seeks personhood status for the Ring of Cenotes, a group of hundreds of subterranean lakes that surround the northwest of the Yucatan peninsula in a semicircle.

An elephant dies of apparent heart failure in Pakistan weeks after family reunion

An elephant has died of apparent heart failure at a Pakistani safari park, less than two weeks after being reunited with her sister.

Movie Review: A wordless Latvian cat parable about climate change is the year’s best animated movie

“Flow” is quite easily the best animated movie of the year and one of the most poetic ecological parables in recent memory, writes AP Film Writer Jake Coyle in his review.

★★★★

Berlin’s new panda twins have been named. Meet Leni and Lotti, or Meng Hao and Meng Tian

Germany’s new panda twins now have names — or rather, two names apiece. The two female cubs, born at the Berlin Zoo on Aug. 22, were introduced Friday as Meng Hao and Meng Tian.

World’s oldest-known wild bird lays an egg in Hawaii at age 74

The oldest-known wild bird in the world has laid an egg at the ripe age of 74, her first in four years. The U.S.

California farmers are hopeful Trump administration will deliver more water to fields

Since winning election, President-elect Donald Trump has been talking about immigration, border security and government efficiency.

California teacher dies after she was bitten by a bat inside a classroom

A central California teacher died last month after she was bitten by a bat inside her classroom that presumably had rabies.

Lawsuits seek to protect Hawaiian seabirds from too-bright streetlights

Without seabirds returning to terra firma, Polynesian seafarers might never have found the remote Hawaiian Islands.

Global warming fills New England’s rich waters with death traps for endangered sea turtles

Cold-stunned sea turtles, sometimes near death, wash up on Cape Cod every fall and winter.

European nations vote to lower protections for wolves after farmers push to allow culls

European nations have approved plans to scale back the protection for wolves in a victory for farmers over environmentalists that has caught the political limelight in the European Union.

Critically endangered leopard dies at age 21 in California zoo

A critically endangered species of leopard has died at age 21 in a Southern California zoo. Officials at the Living Desert Zoo and Gardens in Palm Desert say Amur leopard Zoya died of old age last Tuesday after over a decade there.

Hong Kong will display 2,500 panda sculptures to capitalize on a local bear craze

Thousands of giant panda sculptures will greet residents and tourists starting on Saturday in Hong Kong, where enthusiasm for the bears has grown since two cubs were born in a local theme park.

This whale species is so rare it’s never been seen alive. A dissection may decode its mysteries

Scientists and culture experts in New Zealand have begun the first-ever dissection of a spade-toothed whale, the world’s rarest whale species.

Colorado officials are hunting a coyote that attacked and injured a 4-year-old girl

Colorado Parks and Wildlife officers are hunting a coyote that attacked a 4-year-old girl on Thanksgiving after she mistook it for a dog crouching behind a tree.

Family of pilot who died on an animal rescue flight to receive remains of dog killed in crash

The ashes of a big-eyed, brown and white puppy named Lisa that died last week in a plane crash in New York’s Catskill Mountains will be delivered to the late animal rescue pilot’s family.

Bee ‘rescuer’ in Peruvian capital plies his trade with passion, free of charge

Alfredo Santiago has a unique job in Peru’s capital city of Lima: he’s a bee rescuer. The 35-year-old began as a beekeeper but added rescuing the stinging insects to his services.

Houston firefighters rescue dog stranded on bridge pier in chilly water

A dog is reunited with its owner after being rescued from the chilly waters of a Houston bayou. The little dog was spotted Friday stranded on a bridge pier in the Sims Bayou in southwest Houston.

Pooches in pullovers strut their stuff at London’s canine Christmas sweater parade

Pooches in pullovers have paraded past Buckingham Palace in a charity walk of dogs in Christmas sweaters. About 130 pets, and their owners, walked from St.