Animal News

The exotic pet boom in recent years is not a healthy trend. Exotic animals can be cute when they're babies, but they can be a handful once full grown. Many exotic pet owners get in over their heads and aren't equipped to care for these often demanding critters. The animals suffer. "These are wild animals and they need to be in zoos or out in the wild," said Kay Johnson, head of environmental services for the city.

Draw the line on wild pets in city
Randy Scholfield
Wichita Eagle

Florida citizens deserve to know what dangerous exotic animals are lurking in their neighborhoods. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is currently taking public comment on the issue of captive exotic wildlife. The best way to protect the public and animals is to prohibit private individuals from importing, trafficking or possessing wild animals.

Got a tiger living next-door? State says you don't need to know
Jennifer Hobgood
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

When someone says they see an elephant in America, “They don’t really see what they are. You see the shell of an elephant. You are not seeing an elephant.” Life in the wild for elephants is contrasted with the misery of life in the circus in this story, which also discusses the Animal Protection Institute’s lawsuit against Ringling for violations of the Endangered Species Act for its treatment of elephants.

Life of a Circus Elephant
Jennifer Davidson
Sacramento News & Review

Commissioner Roland D. Martin announced that two changes to Maine's trapping regulations were unanimously approved by the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. The changes in rule were the result of a settlement in a lawsuit between the department and the Animal Protection Institute concerning the trapping of lynx.

DIF&W sets new trapping rules
Kennebec Journal & Morning Sentinel

A Letter to the Editor emphasizes that "elephants, lions, tigers, and other animals that cannot be domesticated should never be forced to endure the lives that these circus animals must endure. Please take your kids to an animal-free, cruelty-free circus instead."

Circus animal abuse
Christie Greene
Denver Post Opinion

Faced with rising costs of maintaining his animal, the caretaker of a 5-year-old black bear releases his “pet” to the Wild Animal Sanctuary in Colorado.

Ben the bear finds a home, and now everybody's happy
Marc Hansen
Des Moines Register

The state has agreed to restrict trapping in northern Maine to protect Canada lynx. The commissioner of Maine’s Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife signed a consent decree Thursday to settle a lawsuit by the Animal Protection Institute that claimed the agency is liable for lynx that accidentally get injured or killed by traps set for other animals.

Trapping restricted to protect Canada lynx
John Richardson
Portland Press Herald

Protests against circuses that use animals are not confined to the United States, nor just to English-speaking countries. In Switzerland, a peaceful demonstration of 100 people, some dressed as polar bears and clowns, decried the use of animals by the Knie circus after it pitched its big top tent on Lausanne’s waterfront.

Animal activists protest circus
24 heures