Welcome to my blog.
All in Animal Companions
New York lawyer James Sexton wants to protect the interests of the most vulnerable parties involved in divorce court: the pets. To that end he’s offering legally binding prenuptial agreements to safeguard the interests of furry and feathered household members on his platform TrustedPetnup.
Marine scientists who study orcas have been busy. They’ve seen the killer whales wearing fish as a fashion statement, using kelp to exfoliate, and of course harassing yachtsmen, just to be jerks. Now comes news that the apex predators are engaging in more altruistic behavior: they’re bringing us gifts.
A 70-year-old Egyptian man traveling on a tourist visa attempted to smuggle more than 100 pounds of undeclared food in his luggage as he entered the country at Dulles International Airport. That was bad, but the man, Hamed Ramadan Bayoumy Aly Marie, made matters much worse when he kicked the dog that had sniffed out his contraband, a 5-year-old beagle named Freddie.
A New York judge this week ruled that dogs can be treated as members of a person’s “immediate family” and as such, a dog’s family can sue for emotional damages if the dog is harmed.
Caldwell Cigar Company has just released a new line of smokes they’re calling “Lost & Found Give A F*CK.” It sounds aggressive but they’re not trying to scare aware customers, they’re actually helping out homeless pet owners.
The first, and perhaps only, corgi to become a canine cop is based in Weifang, Shandong province in eastern China. The 1 ½ year old short-legged dog named Fuzai will do anything for food treats, for good or ill.
If a movie has both Bill Murray and a gigantic dog in it, it’s got to be a comedy, right? Definitely not, if we’re talking about “The Friend,” a 2024 film about life, death, and grief. Murray plays Walter, a big-deal writer in New York who commits suicide, leaving behind three ex-wives, a couple of girlfriends, and a great dane called Apollo.
A 4-year-old named Juno outran a field of 16 to win the Musselburgh Racecourse Corgi Derby in East Lothian, Scotland. The Easter Sunday event, now in its fourth year, attracts corgis from all over the greater Edinburgh area.
A volcano near Anchorage is expected to erupt soon, according to the Alaska Volcano Observatory. Elevated levels of volcanic gas emissions, increased earthquake activity, and ground deformations all point to the likelihood that Mount Spurr, about 80 miles west of the capital, will blow its stack in the coming weeks or months.
In December 2023, marine biologists in New Zealand’s Hauraki Gulf came upon an unusual sight: an octopus riding on the back of a shark. The team was looking for “workups,” or feeding frenzies, according to University of Auckland professor Rochelle Constantine.
It took Guinness World Records several months of counting, but finally it’s official: last fall the German town of Regensburg hosted the largest gathering of dachshunds ever. An estimated 897 of the long-eared, stump-legged wieners paraded through the medieval town while their humans marched alongside, many dressed in festive top hats and lederhosen.
It’s that time of year again. This weekend animal shelters and zoos around the world are fundraising by encouraging people to perform symbolic acts of vengeance against their exes. The “anti-love” campaigns can take many forms.
A giant schnauzer named Monty with a pronounced beard and a jaunty gait wins Best In Show this week at the Westminster Dog Show. The 5-year-old had reached the final round in the previous two years; he finally won it all, besting an impressive field of competitors.
Last summer the UK became the first country in Europe to legalize pet-food meat grown in a lab. This week the company Meatly has put its lab-grown dog treat called Chick Bites on the store shelves for the first time.
A grieving dog who waited for months outside a convenience store in Thailand after his owner died has been adopted – by a Thai princess. The dog, named Moo Daeng, hung around his usual spot outside a 7-Eleven in Nakhon Ratchasima every day after his owner — who was homeless — died in November.
In April 2023, Elodie Cappé found an abandoned boar piglet near the rubbish bins on her horse farm in Chaource, France. She tried to release the piglet back into the wild, unsuccessfully, so she named it – Rillette, after the local dish of shredded pork – gave it a pen, and had the boar sterilised and vaccinated.
The miniature donkey called Perry – short for Pericles – died last week in Palo Alto at the age of 30. Perry’s claim to fame was as the model for the gabby character “Donkey” in the movie Shrek.
At year’s end the American Kennel Club recognized five very good dogs in its annual Humane Fund Awards for Canine Excellence. The categories include Exemplary Companion, Search and Rescue, Service Dog, Therapy Dog, and Uniformed Service K-9.
“Pish for thee, Iceland dog! thou prick-ear'd cur of Iceland!” Thusly Shakespeare described the Icelandic sheepdog more than 400 years ago (Henry V, Act II). Now the UK’s Kennel Club will formally recognize the breed, and it’s high time. Long before Shakespeare, the dog was celebrated in the Icelandic Sagas a thousand years ago.
